Police: Fayetteville boys made up abduction story

Police said Tuesday that they have determined an abduction reported by two Fayetteville boys Monday night never occurred.

The brothers, ages 7 and 9, said they were playing outside their home in the 5600 block of Monks Walk Court at about 7:30 p.m. when the men pulled up in front of their home and kidnapped them.

The men were in a red, four-door truck, and the boys told police that the men put them and the skateboard and bike they were riding into the truck.

The boys said that the men took them a short distance from their house before dropping them off at a Circle K gas station on Ramsey Street, next to Methodist University.

The boys were not injured and were back home Monday night.

"There was no kidnapping, no child abduction," said Sgt. Jeremy Glass, a spokesman for the Fayetteville Police Department. "The children were cooperative today and did say that they made up the story."

Police spent hours reviewing video from security cameras at the Circle K and doorbell cameras in the neighborhood but never saw the red pickup the boys described, Glass said.

"It does put a fear in the community that's unneeded," he said. "It also has played a big burden on our resources. We put a lot of man-hours from last night to up until this morning – up until 2 o'clock this afternoon they've been working this case – until they finally determined it did not happen."