A 14-year-old boy walking his family's dog near his home on General George Patton Road in Bellevue was approached by a man driving a vehicle marked local locksmith who told him to get in the car, according to the boy's mother. The boy refused, the driver shut the car door and sped off, and the shaken teenager ran inside his house upset and frightened, his mother said.
The incident happened just before 6:30 p.m. on August 6 in the River Plantations neighborhood, a large residential subdivision near Sawyer Brown Road and General George Patton Road, as reported by WSMV. The boy's mother said the man had been following her son near their home before the encounter, and she described the incident as very dangerous. She called police immediately after her son came inside.
Neighborhood Cameras Capture the Encounter
Neighborhood surveillance cameras captured the incident, and police are now reviewing that video as part of their investigation, the station's report notes. Officers also attempted to call the phone number listed on the marked vehicle, but it goes to a voicemail that has not been set up. Police are continuing the investigation and have asked anyone with information to call them.
The community falls under the jurisdiction of the Metro Nashville Police Department's West Precinct, which patrols a 108-square-mile zone stretching from the Vanderbilt area west through Davidson County, according to Nashville.gov. Open questions in the case include the driver's true identity, whether the locksmith markings on the vehicle were legitimate or fraudulent, and whether homeowners' surveillance footage will yield a clear license plate.
Parents Add Cameras, Voice Fear for Kids Walking Alone
The boy's mother said she has since added more surveillance cameras outside her home, noting that cameras were installed to help keep the community safe. Sharika Costa, who has a 5-year-old child that recently started kindergarten, is among the parents in the neighborhood who are worried about children walking through the area.
The case echoes other recent Middle Tennessee incidents involving minors and vehicles. In April 2024, Metro Nashville Police arrested a 26-year-old man on attempted kidnapping charges after he allegedly stalked a 15-year-old off a bus and chased her toward her high school before she got inside safely. And in January 2026, police apprehended two teenagers connected to a Christmas Eve incident in which a suspect opened fire and forced a 16-year-old boy into a vehicle at gunpoint before releasing him unharmed.
What Tennessee Law Says About Attempted Kidnapping
Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-303 and § 39-12-101, kidnapping is a Class C felony, while a criminal attempt to commit kidnapping is classified one degree lower as a Class D felony, according to FindLaw. Tennessee law defines kidnapping as false imprisonment that knowingly and unlawfully removes or confines someone in a way that substantially interferes with their liberty under circumstances exposing them to a substantial risk of bodily injury — false imprisonment alone, without that risk, is only a Class A misdemeanor.
What the National Data Shows
National missing child data analyzed by the National Child Protection Task Force shows that non-family abductions by strangers make up less than 1% of all missing children reports filed in the United States, per the National Child Protection Task Force. Still, federal research on non-family child abductions indicates that roughly 80% of stranger abduction attempts begin within a quarter-mile of the child's home, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Separately, the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team has found that in about 70% of the cases it assists, the perpetrator had a known prior relationship with the victim rather than being a stranger.
Child safety organizations and law enforcement clearinghouses now recommend teaching kids to recognize specific suspicious behaviors, such as a driver stopping to offer a ride or ask for help, rather than relying only on traditional stranger-danger warnings that can confuse children in the moment, per guidance cited by the Virginia State Police. For now, Metro Nashville Police say their review of the neighborhood's surveillance footage continues as they work to identify the driver.
