Girl, 5, is abducted from North Philly home and beaten

A 5-year-old girl in North Philadelphia was abducted from her home by an apparent stranger and beaten in her backyard, Philadelphia police said.

The incident happened sometime late Monday or very early Tuesday on the 2600 block of N. Hutchinson Street.

“For that mom, her world is rocked,” said Capt. John Darby of the Special Victim’s Unit.

Police say the girl’s mother woke up at approximately 7 a.m. Tuesday and noticed the girl missing.

After a frantic search with the help of neighbors the victim’s mother spotted the girl in the backyard in shrubbery. She was severely injured and semi-conscious.

The girl – who shares the house with her mother and two siblings – told police that she got up in the middle of the night to find a man hiding behind a closet door.

He carried her outside, and at some point either threw her or dropped her — the girl isn’t sure which. He then kicked her several times.

The girl suffered head trauma and a fracture to her face. Police said her eyes were swollen shut and she suffered abdominal injuries.

“The level of violence, at the end of the day, is beyond the pale, Darby said.

Police do not believe at this time that the girl was sexually assaulted.

Darby said that while SVU tends to investigate sex crimes, they also tend to work on child abductions.

It appears the attacker got into the house through a first-floor window on the side of the house that may have been tampered with.

Police say they temporarily detained a man in the area but he was not considered a suspect at this time. Patrols in the area have been stepped up, and Darby reports that there have been a number of pedestrian stops.