Couple's House Guest Charged With Kidnapping Little Girl

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – It was a nightmare for a local couple who were awakened by police and told their little girl had been taken away.

It's an odd story involving bizarre behavior by a house guest.

When police were initially called to the Monaca East Rochester Bridge early Saturday morning, at first glance, it seemed like a DUI-related traffic accident.

Except Daniel Thomas Ream wasn't driving his own car and the 3-year-old inside was not his child.

"We were awakened by the Bridge Police telling us that Summer was down the Monaca Police Station," said Raymond Whitaker.

The car belonged to Whitaker, and the little girl inside was his girlfriend's daughter. Ream didn't have permission to take either.

"I feel angry, hurt, betrayed," Whitaker said. "He was supposed to be a friend of Kelly's for a long time and he did that pretty much behind our backs, 'cause we were both sleeping."

Ream had been staying with the couple for a few nights, when he apparently left the house in the middle of the night, taking the little girl and the car – unbeknownst to her mother.

The girl was also not wearing a seatbelt.

Now Ream faces a list of charges, including kidnapping for ransom, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.

"She was scared, stressed, worked up," Whitaker said. "Like the questions were asked 'why would he do that?'"

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