Kidnapping leaves behind neighborhood of fear

By Amanda Finnegan

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 | 4:37 p.m.

UPDATE: Boy’s grandfather arrested; focus turns to 2 others

It was quiet this afternoon on Cherry Grove Avenue, even quieter than usual, according to neighbors. No school buses. No children playing in their yards. Neighbors remained inside. And when someone knocked on a door, the person answering would open it only a crack, for fear of whom it might be.

There was no crime scene either. Nor any police. The only sign that 6-year-old Cole Puffinburger had been kidnapped two days earlier were the fliers stuffed into doors around the neighborhood. And the sense of fear that could be felt through the voices of those who live nearby.

Cole was abducted from his home just after 7 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators said up to three men knocked on the door at the child's home, posing as police officers. After entering the home, they tied up Cole's mother and her boyfriend, then ransacked the house, police said. When they didn't find money, they took Cole and left, police said.

An Amber Alert was issued for the child on Wednesday at noon. Cole is still missing. Police revealed late this afternoon that they think Cole's kidnapping was linked to drug activity.

Cole’s next-door neighbor, Guadaloupe Negrete, remembers hearing the scream of a child just after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning and the screeching of car tires just after. The police knocked on her door 10 minutes later, Negrete said.

“I didn’t even look out my window when I heard it,” Negrete said. “When you hear something like that, you don’t think something bad is going on because it’s not a neighborhood like that.”

Negrete says she thinks the abduction wasn’t at random and, through talking with other neighbors, says the kidnapping may have been drug-related, which police confirmed at a press conference this afternoon.

As the mother of a 2-year-old and the older sister of two young siblings who also live in the house, Negrete says she is afraid for herself and for her family’s safety.

“The little kids don’t want to come out. They are scared to even walk outside to go to school because they say they don’t want anyone to take them away,” Negrete said. “I’m scared to leave my door open. Even though they say it wasn’t at random, you’re scared. It’s right next door to our house. It could happen to us, too.”

Kimberley Abbott’s 6-year-old son attends Stanford Elementary with Cole. The Abbotts live two doors down from the family.

“It’s really uncomfortable. I’ve been here for seven years and this is the first time anything like this has happened. It’s very rare you even see cops in the neighborhood, let alone see them all over the place 24/7,” Abbott said.

Abbott’s 14-year-old son and some friends were pulled from school by police and asked if they had seen anything around the time Cole was abducted.

“He said at one point he did see some people walking down the street, but it wasn’t something that triggered him; he couldn’t remember who they were or what they were wearing. He wishes he could,” Abbott said.

Colleen Snellbaker, who lives across the street, said she heard the family had a large dog, until Monday when the dog disappeared.

Snellbaker, whose own children are ages 9, 6 and 6 months, shares the same feeling as her other Cherry Grove neighbors.

“It’s really scary,” Snellbaker said. “My daughter is scared to death. Every time someone knocks at the door, she thinks it’s a kidnapper.”

As for safety precautions, Snellbaker is taking even more than normal with her own children.

“We would always sit on the steps when the kids are playing outside,” Snellbaker said. “But now, I don’t even feel like having them outside.”