New York Daily News – by NINA GOLGOWSKI
Two thugs wanted in the abduction of a 14-year-old girl during an armed home invasion in Georgia are now demanding $10,000 for her return, according to local reports.
The family of Ayvani Hope Perez rallied Tuesday to raise money to meet the men’s demands, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, after the teen was forced from her Ellenwood home at gun point around 2 that morning.
Since the horrific ordeal WSB-TV reports that family has spoken to Ayvani over the phone when her kidnappers contacted her family.
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Composite sketches were released of the men suspected of taking Ayvani Perez, the 14-year-old from Georgia who was taken from her home by two armed men during an apparent home invasion. Georgia.
Authorities say the two suspects both described as black males, one with shoulder-length dreadlocks, broke into the home that morning through a back door before demanding money and jewelry.
Ayvani’s mother, Marie Perez, tried to hide her two children, including her 15-year-old son, but was discovered by the two men as she called 911, police said.
FIND AYVANI PEREZ/VIA FACEBOOK
Ayvani’s mother said robbers demanded money and jewelry, but when she had neither, they grabbed the 14-year-old.
When the single mother came up empty-handed to their demands, she told police the men shot the family dog then grabbed the 14-year-old in her pajamas and drove off in a grey or silver sedan, possibly a Charger or Malibu, police said.
By late Tuesday night, the teen’s family waited in both fear and anticipation as the money was on its way to the kidnappers, AJC reports.
Ayvani’s father, 47-year-old Alberto Perez, flew into Atlanta from El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday morning to be by his ex-wife’s side once hearing the shocking news of his daughter, his sister told the paper.
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Clayton County Police Lt. Marc Richards updates the press at the Brookgate subdivision in Jonesboro, Ga. Police believe the attack was random.
“He was devastated, not knowing what to do,” Ayvani’s aunt Suky Guerrero said.
The ransom, described as more money than the family could afford, was confirmed by a law enforcement officer speaking to the paper. The demand was one the teen’s father had yet to hear of, according to Guerrero, because of his known inability to pay it.
BEN GRAY/AP
A Clayton County Police officer questions a driver in Jonesboro, Ga., after home invaders snatched Ayvani Hope Perez early Tuesday. Her family worked into the evening raising her ransom.
According to Clayton County police spokesman Phong Nguyen, the early morning attack on the family appears to be random.
The single mother and her two kids only moved into the home last month, he said.
BEN GRAY/AP
Toni Hill walks her granddaughter home from the bus stop Tuesday afternoon after a 14-year-old was abducted in their neighborhood in an apparent random attack.
Ayvani is described as Hispanic with black hair, brown eyes and is 4 feet, 9 inches tall and 93 pounds.
She was last seen wearing a pair of blue-and-grey Star Wars pajama pants and a blue-and-grey superhero shirt.
“We are extremely concerned, because if anybody could hurt a puppy just like this, what else could they do. We are very concerned,” Nguyen told WSB-TV Tuesday.
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Abductors took Ayvani around 2 a.m. Tuesday, her mother said, despite her best effort to hide her children from the invaders.
Both the FBI and GBI are working with local law enforcement.
As of 11 a.m., Wednesday a GoFundMe fundraising account set up by an invidual not related to Ayvani has raised a little more than $800 toward its $10,000 goal. The organizer promises to donate all of the proceeds to the girl’s family.
Anyone with information on the girl or the suspects is asked to call a special tips hotline at 770-477-3513 or Clayton County police at 678-610-4781.
ngolgowski@nydailynews.com