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Californian woman arrested again for attempted child abduction in park

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LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – A California woman who was previously arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a child from a Target store was arrested again on similar charges Tuesday.

According to Los Angeles police, the woman was identified as 27-year-old Yara Vanessa Pineda.


Officers responded to Seoul International Park in Koreatown at around 5:14 p.m. after witnesses said Pineda approached and picked up several children at the park’s playground, but let them go after being confronted by their parents.

The woman was reportedly seen arguing with her parents when they told her to leave.

  • Photo of Yara Vanessa Pineda, 27, wanted in connection with an alleged kidnapping attempt on February 25, 2024 in LA (LAPD)
    Photo of Yara Vanessa Pineda, 27, wanted in connection with an alleged kidnapping attempt on February 25, 2024 in LA (LAPD)
  • Photo of Yara Vanessa Pineda, 27, wanted in connection with an alleged kidnapping attempt on February 25, 2024 in LA (LAPD)
  • Seoul International Park is located in the 3200 block of San Marino Street in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. (KTLA)
    Seoul International Park is located in the 3200 block of San Marino Street in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. (KTLA)
  • A witness captured the moment Yara Vanessa Pineda was arrested for attempted kidnapping at Seoul International Park on May 28, 2024.
    A witness captured the moment Yara Vanessa Pineda was arrested for attempted kidnapping at Seoul International Park on May 28, 2024.
  • Seoul International Park is located in the 3200 block of San Marino Street in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. (KTLA)
    Seoul International Park is located in the 3200 block of San Marino Street in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. (KTLA)
  • Police search for suspect in attempted kidnapping
    LAPD Community Alert Notification issued on February 25, 2024. (LAPD)

Witnesses recalled the frightening scene as the woman continued running through the park.

“There was a crazy woman running around and taking little children who were running away from her,” recalled a young boy named Anwar. “They were scared. She caught them and ran away with them. She asked me for candy, but I said, ‘No!’ and ran away.”

Anwar said the woman picked up his sister and later pushed her to the ground.

One father, Alberto Lopez, remembers intervening when the woman tried to grab his young son.

“She looked like she was homeless,” Lopez said. “I said, ‘Don’t touch my boy,’ and she tried, but I said, ‘Don’t touch him!'”

“I just saw the woman, and she crawled up from behind and grabbed (my son) and I just screamed and she let go of him,” another parent recalled. “I almost had a heart attack. I was scared. I just screamed.”

The parents called police and kept an eye on her while they waited for them to arrive. Pineda fled the area before police could arrive. An LAPD blimp spotted the woman running out of the park toward Normandie Avenue.

Officers confronted her and eventually used a taser to subdue her and take her into custody. When police arrived, Pineda was seen throwing her bags at them and spitting on them, witnesses said.

Pineda was taken into custody for kidnapping.

Pineda was arrested on February 25 for allegedly attempting to kidnap a four-year-old boy from a Target store in Westlake.

In that incident, Pineda allegedly grabbed the boy from behind and carried him out of the store before dropping him off again after his parents confronted him.

The boy’s family told police they did not know the woman, but public records show she was released from jail about a week before the latest incident at the park.

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