“It looks like you may have saved this girl’s life,” sheriff’s deputies tell man who dialed 911.
By Knowles Adkisson / Associate Editor
A 28-year-old man was arrested last week for allegedly kidnapping a teenage girl in Malibu. He is being held on $2 million bail.
According to a police report, Alexis Fantauzzi forced his way into a 17-year-old girl’s car while she was waiting at a stoplight at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Webb Way on June 12 at 6:30 a.m. He then reportedly forced his way into the driver’s seat of the car and drove around for several hours before stopping to get gas. While at the gas station, the victim signaled to bystanders that she needed help, but the suspect sped off before anyone could approach the car. A witness then called the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department to report the incident, and deputies located the car and arrested the suspect a short time later.
Michael Miller, the Malibu resident who called 911 at the Arco gas station at the intersection of Heathercliff Road and PCH, recounted the incident with The Malibu Times.
Miller was standing outside the gas station when a gray sport-utility vehicle with an Idaho license plate pulled up to the gas pumps. A young man stepped out to pump gas, Miller said, while a young woman of about 19 with shoulder-length blonde hair sat in the front seat of the car, crying.
“I guess what I thought was they were boyfriend and girlfriend, maybe they were having some sort of argument, so I started to turn away,” Miller said.
But out of the corner of his eye, Miller said he saw the girl become more agitated. The windows of the SUV were closed, forcing Miller to try to read the girl’s lips.
“She was saying, as far as I could tell, ‘help me,’” Miller said. “So at this point I started thinking this is something that shouldn’t be dismissed.”
Miller approached the man, who was pumping gas, and asked, “What’s going on here?” Instead of responding, the man put the gas hose back in the pump and got in the car. Miller then told the man, “Look, this girl’s very upset, you should let her out of the car now. Because if you don’t I’m just going to end up calling the police anyway.”
But according to Miller, the man did not make eye contact, instead backing up the car and driving south on PCH.
Miller then walked into the gas station and called 911 to report a suspected kidnapping. He told dispatchers the car was driving south on PCH, but also suggested that deputies check Kanan-Dume Road, “because that was the closest way for anyone to get out of town.”
Ten or 15 minutes later, Miller said he received a call from deputies stating that the car had been apprehended on Kanan-Dume Road, aided by Miller’s suggestion.
“It looks like you may have saved this girl’s life,” Miller said deputies told him.
Deputies also told Miller that when the man abducted the girl he asked her how to get to the 101 Freeway. When she told him she didn’t know, he drove north on PCH to Point Mugu, then turned back and ended up at the Arco station to pump gas.
“My kids are very proud of me,” Miller said. “I’m a hero around my house for the first time ever.”
The District Attorney’s office has filed felony charges of kidnapping to commit another crime, kidnapping while carjacking, vandalism, annoy or molest a child and attempted escape from arrest against the Fantauzzi.
Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station deputies refused to comment on the matter, citing an ongoing investigation.