No leads on Orem girl or suspect

Orem police say a man and the Orem girl he allegedly abducted Thursday, seem to have "disappeared off the face of the earth."

Despite numerous tips police have received over the hotline, there hasn't been any useful information forthcoming about the suspect and his apparent victim's whereabouts, said Orem Police Lt. Bob Conner.Frederick S. Laird, a parolee from a Colorado prison, is believed to have taken his second cousin, Chelsea Lund, 11, from the home of a friend on 1600 North after Laird convinced her by phone he was taking her to get a surprise for her mother.

"The longer it goes, the more we're concerned," Conner said.

Orem Police Lt. Karl Hirst said Laird is such a smooth talker that Chelsea may still be convinced the escapade is a big game. Hirst said she may not appear to be afraid or fighting with Laird if the two are seen together.

However, Dea Lund, Chelsea's mother, said if her daughter should become aware that she's a captive, she would fight.

Lund and Chelsea's great-grandmother, Alta Ingram, appeared in front of press cameras Saturday to plead with Laird for compassion.

"Freddy, this is your grandmother - you know it's wrong, wrong, wrong," Ingram said. "If you have any compassion, oh please release our little Chelsea, please don't make her cry or beg or suffer."

Ingram said Laird has a temper. "He's really quick to fly off the handle. He wants to do things his own way," she said, adding that he would usually come back and apologize.

Laird had been invited to live with his grandmother in Murray after he was released from prison where he'd served 13 years for a conviction of aggravated auto theft, and for charges of escape and attempted escape.

He used handguns in some of his brushes with the law, said Hirst, and should be considered very dangerous and violent.

He does not have a history of sex-related crimes and has no apparent reason to have singled out the Lund girl for the kidnapping. Laird had visited Lund and her three children about four times since his April parole.

"We were the only ones who had any contact with him. The rest of the family had pretty much written him off," Ingram said. "We felt he would change his life."

Laird makes his money detailing cars and would probably be approaching people for such work, Hirst said.