Info on attempted kidnapping held to avoid 'hysteria'

Matt Marshall was in bed reading the news Monday when he first learned about an attempted kidnapping at his son's elementary school.

Police arrested a 26-year-old homeless man after he tried to lure away children from Lowell Elementary School, first confronting Jamal Tobias Terry on Oct. 1, the same day teachers noticed him talking to students.

But it took weeks to get an arrest warrant. And it was even longer before nearby homeowners and parents such as Marshall learned about the incident.

"It would have been nice to know right away," said Marshall, a 41-year-old Lowell dad. "It's one of those situations that whenever there's a chance your child's in danger, you'd like to know the situation right away."

Teachers rescued boy from abductor, police say

Marshall's first question: Why?

School officials wanted to avoid creating a panic while police determined if Terry's actions were an isolated incident, said Brian Maher, superintendent of the Sioux Falls School District.

"I think there's a balance," Maher said. "Number one on student safety, and creating any sort of hysteria."

The officer who responded on the day of the incident found Terry a couple of blocks north of the school and asked him about a 6-year-old student he was leading away from the school. Terry told police the child was his nephew, according to court documents, but didn't now the child's name.

In spite of the inconsistency, police didn't feel like there was enough evidence to make an arrest.

Meanwhile, days and weeks passed as police conducted their investigation, interviewing Lowell teachers and a student. Police even had a shot at interviewing Terry when he was arrested Oct. 10 for a different incident, and asked to talk to police so he could clear his name about Lowell.

But a warrant wasn't issued until Oct. 22. Terry was arrested a couple of days later.

District officials didn't think there was a good enough reason to upset people in the neighborhood by telling them about Terry's actions once he was in custody, Maher said.

Before Terry tried to lead a student away from the school, Lowell teachers noticed him talking to a different student during the school's afternoon dismissal, according to court documents. Teachers halted a conversation between Terry and a 9-year-old, before intervening in his attempt to guide the other student north on Prairie Avenue from 17th Street.

Patty Jackels, 59, lives across the street from the school on Summit Avenue, but never heard about the arrest or the concerned teachers who confronted Terry and followed him around the neighborhood. Jackels doesn't have children, but she was renting a space last month to a woman whose daughter went to school at Lowell.

"I'm proud of the teachers for being on alert," Jackels said. "I still think they should have told us. I can't believe they didn't."

A few houses down, Dale Nustad, scooped autumn leaves from his lawn and tossed them into a tall paper bag. The 60-year-old cab driver has two daughters who went to Lowell when they were younger.

It's been years since his daughters were in grade school, but Nustad was still surprised he didn't get a phone alert from authorities. It would have allowed him and other neighbors to keep an eye out for trouble, Nustad said.

"It should have been released to the public a lot sooner," Nustad said. "That's all I'm saying."

Marshall's son is a second-grader at Lowell. The family open enrolls to Lowell because they already had a son go through the school. They know the teachers, Marshall said.

Marshall said he still trusts the school and its educators. When he went to them with questions, he got the impression they were told to keep silent.

"They were kind of put in a bad position of saying anything about something that was just considered a fluke situation," Marshall said.

Any secrecy wasn't at the district's direction, Maher said in an email. Officials released a statement Monday about school safety: "Incidents like this are part of the reason why we monitor playgrounds, bus areas, and high traffic spots before and after school with highly visible staff members who are in constant radio contact with the office. We train for, and practice, the "see something, say something" mentality for keeping our students safe. Any time there is an incident in which student safety is at risk, we owe it to our community to learn from it and take appropriate steps to mitigate future instances."

Marshall takes no solace in the idea that Terry's actions were an isolated incident. The same could be said of the 1989 abduction of Jacob Wetterling in Minnesota, or Jill Cutshall's 1987 disappearance in Nebraska, Marshall said.

"You know, it's an isolated incident just the same," Marshall said. "Small town. Just disappeared."