A 10-year-old girl who was abducted from an apartment in Canby, Oregon, in the early hours of Wednesday has been found alive, and a man has been arrested, police and federal marshals said. The Canby Oregon kidnapping ended on Wednesday afternoon when officers found the girl at a home in Oregon City, about 13 hours after she was taken, and took the suspect into custody.
The U.S. Marshals Service identified the arrested man as Vince Edgar Chavez, calling him the prime suspect in the kidnapping. Canby police said the girl was found alive and well on Wednesday afternoon, and the Marshals Service said she was taken to a local medical facility for treatment of her injuries and further evaluation. A second child, a 12-year-old who was assaulted inside the apartment during the abduction, was still receiving medical treatment when police briefed reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Canby police, the case began at about 1:39 a.m. on Wednesday, when an unknown man entered an apartment at a complex in southeast Canby. Inside, police said, the man assaulted a 12-year-old child and then abducted the 10-year-old girl. Officers were called at about 1:47 a.m., eight minutes later, and arrived to find the younger girl gone and the older child injured.
Police immediately activated detective units, checked the surrounding area, identified witnesses and asked partner agencies for help. Within hours, the investigation had grown far beyond one small police department. Detectives and forensics experts from the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team joined the search, along with Oregon State Police troopers and FBI agents. Canby Police Chief Jose Gonzalez later told reporters that nearly 30 investigators, some from across the country, had descended on Canby in the early morning hours.
While the girl was still missing, police issued a public appeal, releasing her photograph and asking anyone in the southeast Canby area around 1:30 a.m. who had surveillance footage, or who had seen anything unusual, to come forward. Investigators interviewed family members, canvassed the neighbourhood and worked to collect surveillance video from security cameras as they tried to develop a suspect and vehicle description. Police said both of the girl's parents were cooperating with investigators.
The breakthrough came in Oregon City, the neighbouring city in the same county. Law enforcement officers located Chavez in the 500 block of Pleasant Avenue, according to the Marshals Service. In a joint operation involving the Marshals Service's Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office SWAT deputies, Oregon City police, a tactical negotiations team from Washington County and the FBI, officers entered the residence as Chavez tried to escape out the rear of the house. He was arrested without further incident, the Marshals Service said.
Inside the residence, officers found the girl tied up in a closet, the Marshals Service said. She was taken to a local medical facility for treatment of her injuries and further evaluation. Canby police announced at about 3:30 p.m. that she had been found alive and well, and Chief Gonzalez confirmed at an afternoon news conference that a suspect was in custody. The 12-year-old who was assaulted in the apartment was still receiving medical treatment at the time of that news conference, police said.
Canby is a small city in Clackamas County, south of Portland, and Oregon City is its neighbouring city in the same county. The abduction took place at the Orchards Apartments in southeast Canby, according to local reporting of the police account. The case number cited by police in their appeal for tips was 26-021300.
Abductions of children from inside their own homes by a stranger are rare, and they trigger a different kind of police response from most missing-child cases. Rather than a single agency working a local report, they typically draw in county major-crimes detectives, state police and the FBI almost immediately, because the first hours are critical and because the suspect may move the child across city or county lines. That is what happened in Canby: by Wednesday morning, local detectives were working alongside federal agents and forensic specialists, reviewing video, interviewing witnesses and tracing leads around the clock.
The speed of the resolution — roughly 13 hours between the 1:39 a.m. abduction and the 2:45 p.m. arrest — reflects that scale of response. Chief Gonzalez credited his own officers' long hours developing leads, as well as the resources of the partner agencies, for bringing the girl home. The Marshals Service's task force, which specialises in tracking violent offenders, was the unit that ultimately located the suspect in Oregon City.
It is also a case that shows how much of a modern abduction investigation happens away from the scene itself. Detectives spent Wednesday canvassing neighbourhoods, collecting doorbell and security camera footage, and interviewing family members to establish who might have known the apartment, how the intruder entered, and where he might have gone. Police have not yet said publicly how they traced Chavez to the Oregon City address, and that detail may only emerge if charges are filed and the case reaches court.
For all that is now known about the rescue, several central questions remain unanswered, and police have been careful not to fill the gaps with speculation. As of Wednesday evening, authorities had not said what relationship, if any, Chavez had to the children or their family, nor what motive investigators believe lay behind the abduction. They had not said how the intruder entered the apartment, whether he was armed, or whether a vehicle was involved.
Nor had any charges been announced. The Marshals Service described Chavez as the prime suspect and said he was captured, but the formal charging decision rests with the Clackamas County District Attorney. Canby police said the case would go to the district attorney's office first thing on Thursday morning, and that more information would be released after that decision. Until then, Chavez stands accused in the court of public reporting as a suspect, not as a convicted offender, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence in any proceedings that follow.
Police have also released no detailed update on the medical condition of either child beyond the facts that the 10-year-old was taken to a medical facility for treatment and evaluation and that the 12-year-old was still receiving treatment on Wednesday afternoon. That restraint is deliberate: both children are minors, and investigators and medical staff will be working to support them and their family before any further detail is shared. This article does not name the 10-year-old, in line with standard practice for child victims, even though her name was circulated publicly while she was missing and police were asking the public for help finding her.
District of Oregon Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Eddie Sanchez praised the coordination behind the rescue. "The Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force along with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office and Canby Police Department led this coordinated effort, bringing together resources to ensure the safe recovery of a kidnapped child," Sanchez said. "This case demonstrates the power of collaboration and our unwavering commitment to protecting our communities and holding violent offenders accountable."
Chief Gonzalez, speaking at the Wednesday afternoon news conference, cited the resources of multiple agencies in the investigation and praised the long hours his own officers spent developing leads to help bring the girl home. Canby police said in their afternoon update simply: "She's been found."
State Senator Christine Drazan, a Republican from Canby who is running for Oregon governor, thanked the officers and the community in a post on X. "I am deeply grateful for the swift and dedicated response from Canby Police, the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team and the FBI," Drazan wrote. "I couldn't be prouder of our Canby community." She thanked everyone who shared the information and helped spread the word, and said the community should wrap its arms around both children and their family as they begin to recover from what she called a horrific tragedy.
That sense of a community holding its breath, then exhaling, ran through the local coverage. For most of Wednesday, Canby residents had been sharing the police appeal and checking on neighbours; by late afternoon, the news that the girl was alive had replaced the search with relief — and with questions about how such an intrusion could happen in an apartment where children were sleeping.
The Canby case matters first and most obviously because a child is alive who, for 13 hours, was feared lost. Abduction cases that end with a child found alive are the outcome every parent and every officer hopes for, and they are far from guaranteed. The rescue also matters because it shows the value of the multi-agency machinery that now swings into action when a child is taken: local detectives who know the streets, county major-crimes teams with forensic capacity, state police, FBI agents and a federal fugitive task force, all working the same case within hours.
It matters, too, as a reminder of a hard fact about home security. The abduction happened not on a street or at a park, but inside an apartment in the middle of the night, with another child present who was assaulted. Police have not said how entry was gained, and families will inevitably ask what, if anything, could have prevented it. Until investigators explain the entry method, any advice beyond the basics — locked doors and windows, exterior lighting, and neighbours who notice strangers at night — would be guesswork, and this article will not offer it as though it were established fact.
Finally, the case will now test the criminal justice system in Clackamas County. The district attorney's charging decision on Thursday will determine what offences Chavez faces and what evidence prosecutors believe they can prove. If the case proceeds, court filings may reveal the motive, the relationship question and the investigative trail that led officers to Pleasant Avenue — details that police are properly withholding while the investigation is still live.
The immediate next step is the Clackamas County District Attorney's charging decision, expected on Thursday morning. Canby police have said more information will be released after that decision, which could include the charges, the suspect's first court appearance and any further detail about how the girl was located.
Beyond that, the investigation continues. Police said tips were still welcome even after the arrest, and anyone with information about the events of early Wednesday morning in southeast Canby is urged to contact Canby police or Oregon State Police, referencing case number 26-021300. Detectives will also continue working with the two children and their family, and the older child's medical treatment continues.
If charges are filed, the case will move into the Oregon court system, where Chavez will have the opportunity to answer the allegations. US News Pulse will update this story when the district attorney announces charges or when police release further verified information.
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What happened in Canby, Oregon? At about 1:39 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, a man entered an apartment in southeast Canby, assaulted a 12-year-old child inside and abducted a 10-year-old girl, according to Canby police.
Was the girl found? Yes. She was found alive on Wednesday afternoon at a residence in Oregon City and taken to a medical facility for treatment and evaluation, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Who was arrested? The U.S. Marshals Service named Vince Edgar Chavez as the prime suspect. He was arrested at the Oregon City residence after trying to escape out the rear of the house, and was taken into custody without further incident.
Has he been charged? Not as of Wednesday evening. Canby police said the case would go to the Clackamas County District Attorney's office on Thursday morning for a charging decision.
What about the 12-year-old? The 12-year-old was assaulted during the abduction and was still receiving medical treatment when police briefed reporters on Wednesday afternoon. No further medical detail has been released.
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