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Editor’s note: Due to the horrifying nature of this crime and the fact that the victim is a minor, WFAA will no longer show Salem Sabatka’s picture.
Less than 24 hours after she was kidnapped from her mother while taking a walk in their Fort Worth neighborhood, 8-year-old Salem Sabatka is back with her family and her suspected kidnapper is behind bars.
Police have not yet released a motive for the kidnapping, carried out by 51-year-old Michael Webb of Tyler, who has a criminal record with a history of terroristic threats, sex assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, among others, according to records.
The kidnapping happened at 6:38 p.m. Saturday in the 2900 block of 6th Avenue in Fort Worth, when Webb “approached [Salem Sabatka and her mother] and grabbed the child,” Fort Worth police said.
RELATED: Missing 8-year-old girl, Salem Sabatka, found safe
Salem’s mother jumped in the car and “fought ferociously” to get her back, police said, but Webb shoved Salem’s mother out of the car and drove off with Salem.
Police used security footage of a neighbor’s doorbell camera to pinpoint the moment Salem’s mother was pushed from the car. This zoomed-in video shows Salem’s mother in the top-right corner.
The mother then called the police, who started searching for Webb and the car he was driving — a four-door dark gray sedan with alloy wheels with either a “light tint” or no tint and possible paper plates.
A regional Amber Alert was issued for Salem Sabatka at about 10:30 p.m. by Fort Worth police, but many in the metroplex said they did not receive one. Fort Worth police told WFAA that they have no control over the alerts that are sent out, or the ability to expand the Amber Alert to other areas.
In a police press conference in Fort Worth Sunday, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said that the early description of the car Webb was driving in “did not fit the criteria for an amber alert because there was no license plate. The system works if you have a tag number, and in this instance we had a vehicle description, but not a plate. So we were able to leverage what we could out of the license plate and social media, and that’s what really helped us.