A 64-year-old man from Queens, identified as Wayne Noel, kidnapped a 9-year-old girl from a supermarket in New York City and sexually assaulted her. The following day, he died in a car crash while attempting to evade the police, according to law enforcement officials.
The incident occurred on a Thursday evening around 7 p.m. at a Key Food supermarket on Jamaica Avenue. The young girl was shopping with her grandmother, a well-known figure in the community, when the elderly woman momentarily left to use the restroom. Seizing the opportunity, Noel approached the child and coerced her to follow him, as per the police report.
Noel allegedly grabbed the girl by her hair and forced her out of the supermarket. He then pushed her into his vehicle, drove to a nearby location, and sexually assaulted her. The assault was interrupted by a passerby, prompting Noel to drive away.
However, Noel returned to the vicinity of the supermarket and assaulted the girl again, according to NYPD Assistant Chief of Detectives Jason Savino. After the second assault, Noel abandoned the girl on the street and fled the scene.
The following day, around 12:30 p.m., police officers spotted the suspect’s vehicle near 212th Street and Hillside Avenue. When they attempted to pull him over, Noel sped off, running a stop sign and colliding with another vehicle. He was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Initially, when the police issued a warning about the kidnapping, they were unaware of the suspect’s identity. However, on Friday, individuals who recognized Noel from the supermarket’s surveillance footage helped identify him, Savino said.
Noel had a criminal record, including a 2022 arrest for robbery. In that incident, he reportedly used a knife to force a woman into his vehicle and drove off. The woman, however, managed to escape.