Search For 'Suspicious Person' After Library Incident, Teen Approached by Man

UPDATED: 11:55 a.m. Saturday, March 23-

Kirkwood police are searching for a "suspicious person" after an incident at the Oak Bend Library on Wednesday; later, police said, a man reportedly approached a 13-year-old girl as she walked home alone.

Police sent out a news release Friday evening stating they are looking for a man after a patron of the library contacted police about an interaction between him and a teenage girl.

Authorities said they believe he may have been driving the red car in the photo included in this article.

Police tell Patch that after the library incident, a different 13-year-old girl was approached by a man matching the same description as she walked home alone.

Police believe it is the same man involved in both incidents.

Anyone with any relevant information is urged to call Kirkwood Detective Dave Smith at 314-698-3646.

Police released the following details of the incident and investigation in Friday's news release.

Around 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 20, at the Oak Bend Library located at 842 South Holmes in Oakland, MO, a patron of the library thought an interaction between a teenage girl and an adult male in his twenties inside the library seemed amiss.

The patron reported the incident to library personnel who reported it to Kirkwood Police.  Kirkwood Police later received a report of a 13-year-old female who was walking home from the Kirkwood Public Library, 140  East Jefferson, around 4:40 p.m. who was approached by an adult in a vehicle similar to the one described in the incident at the Oak Bend Library.

The adult male tried to engage the 13-year-old in conversation but she did not respond to him.  He left the area in his vehicle after she would not speak with him. 

The adult male is described as wearing glasses, having dark hair, between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-7 tall.  The male occupied a vehicle described as a newer model, red or maroon in color, Toyota Venza.  The patron from Oak Bend Library said it was possible that part of the license plate read “SG6,” although similar configurations cannot be excluded. 

This suspicious activity is being investigated by the Kirkwood Police Department, and we would encourage parents to tell their children to react exactly as the 13-year-old female did.

When she was approached by a stranger she did not speak with him and avoided him. The adult male reacted by leaving the area and the 13-year-old female told an adult about the incident when she got home.