Imagine you”re walking in a lonely area and someone comes up behind you, grabs you and threatens you with a knife. You”re supposed to scream for help and try to use some means of self-defense — like an elbow to the throat or a knee to the groin — to disable your attacker and escape. But what if…
What if you freeze in fear or surprise? What if you”re overpowered? A 17-year-old Bloomingdale girl had to answer these terrifying questions. About 6 p.m. July 13, the girl (who asked that her name not be used) was heading toward her car outside the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. A man reportedly came from nowhere, held a knife to her throat and forced her into his car.
“He came up behind me. There was nothing I could have done,”” she told KidNews in a phone interview.
But what she did after she was forced into her abductor”s car probably helped save her life. It was certainly key in helping police nab a suspect.
“I tried to keep myself calm,”” she said.”I hoped my keeping calm would calm him. I knew that if I did anything to make him angry… I mean, I sensed that he was pretty serious.””
She said, “I was really scared, but didn”t want him to know that. I didn”t want him to think he was more powerful.”
As her abductor drove her away from the mall, he tried to make conversation.”He asked my name, my history,”” she said.”Real fast I came up with (fake) answers. I tried to talk to him in a calm, almost friendly, way.””
Although she didn”t think of it at the time, she told KidNews that she believed her acting in high school theater helped her play a part and hide her fear from her abductor.
While they talked, she memorized physical details about him, his car and their surroundings (she told police she was able to loosen and peek from under tape he had placed over her eyes).
“When you’re in a situation like that, your senses are so heightened. You just notice everything,” she said.
But only, she added, if you keep a clear head. Not that it was easy.”To tell the truth, I was wondering if I was going to be kidnapped or killed,” she said.”But what good would it have done if I’d panicked and lost my head?”
Perhaps because she cooperated with him or for reasons only he knows, after several hours her attacker released her unharmed, at least physically. (Her emotional state is another question: In addition to the trauma of her ordeal, her abductor forced her to touch him sexually.)
Police were able to put together a sketch based on her description of her attacker. She also recalled a Bensenville city sticker and a broken antenna on his car.
Based on the info she provided, police arrested Robert R. Koppa of Palatine, a convicted rapist and murderer. Koppa was out on parole after serving 13 years of a 30-year sentence for the 1980 murder of Julie Angel, 15, of Chicago.
“I was extremely lucky,” the 17-year-old girl said. But police have praised her level-headedness and attention to detail. Others are calling her a hero. She just wants to put this ugliness behind her.
But before she does, there is one more thing she has to do: “I will do everything I can to make sure he (Koppa) never gets out, that he’s put away for the rest of his life,” she said.”For my two younger sisters and for Julie”s mom and sister.”
