Teen kidnapped in Clovis, assaulted and left in Tollhouse, authorities say

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A 13-year-old girl from the Academy area, east of Clovis, is recovering from a horrible ordeal. She was kidnapped near Shepherd and Academy just as she got home from school. The suspects threw her into the trunk of a car, beat her, and left her tied to a tree in a mountainous area thirty miles away.

The child went through a terrible trauma, but survived, and now the focus is on finding those responsible for the shocking abduction and beating of an innocent child.

It seemed like a normal day Tuesday in a nice neighborhood in the Academy area. The 13-year-old girl got off the bus and walked about a quarter of a mile to her home when she was confronted by masked men. "She had arrived home in the area of Shepherd and Academy, when she walked up near her front door that's when a couple of young men approached her and said, come with us," said Tony Botti, Fresno County Sheriff's Department.

From what we have been able to piece together-- the girl was thrown into the trunk of a car, driven up a windy mountain road for about 30 miles, then, her captors drug her up a mountain trail and tied her to a tree-- then beat her. Despite all that, she managed to get herself free and hike to a nearby house where the folks who were there said she appeared bloody and bruised. "She walked up and she was all bloodied up and said she got kidnapped, and so we went and got a phone to call 911, and she was scared and just wanted to call her dad, but so we called 911," said the Rancheria resident.

"How badly hurt was she," asked our reporter.

"Her face was all bruised up because she said she got punched, and her lips were all bloody," he responded.

The residents of the house on the Cold Springs Rancheria, where she sought help, did not want to be identified. They told us the girl told them four men took her and threatened to kill her family if she told anybody.

The suspects were described as four young men of medium build in their 20's, driving a silver late 90's BMW.

The girls neighbors also did not want to be identified, but one told Action News she was shocked but so glad the child survived. "A few neighbors and I were praying for the family, and just relieved that the story didn't end in a much more tragic way," she said.

Detectives are scouring the Academy area as well as the Rancheria where the girl was abandoned.

They have no motive for this incident and are asking the public for help.

The Sheriff's Department said the girl was not sexually assaulted.