Girl admits she made up abduction story

A 13-year-old girl who claimed she fought off a would-be abductor while baby-sitting in Riverton now admits she made up the story.

On Saturday night, the girl claimed she saw a man outside the house where she was baby-sitting, and when she opened the door, the man grabbed her by the shirt. The girl was able to fight the man off, run back inside and lock the door.

Although investigators took the report seriously — as they do all attempted abductions — "there were things that didn't add up," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.

Detectives received information about either an e-mail or text message sent to the girl the next day, prompting even more resources from the sheriff's office to get involved.

"That's when things started falling apart for her," he said.

Investigators were going to start seizing computers and going through phone records, Jaroscak said. The girl, apparently feeling pressure from the investigation, told her father Monday night that she made up the story about the abduction attempt.

"She began to realize the serious nature of what she had done," Jaroscak said.

As with most fabricated stories, once the girl told one lie, it snowballed into more and more lies just to maintain the story, and that became impossible for the girl to do, he said.

There was no word Tuesday if the girl would face any charges.