(Newser)
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A very strange crime story out of Baltimore: Violet Ripken, mother of Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr., was abducted from her house at gunpoint but is now back home, unharmed. A man reportedly forced the 74-year-old into a 1998 Lincoln Town Car between 7am and 8am yesterday, and she was found in her car near her home around 6:15am today, police say. Authorities had gotten a call about a suspicious car possibly related to the case last night.
The Baltimore County Police Department had just alerted the press to the missing persons investigation this morning, and called off the search an hour later, the Baltimore Sun reports. "This has been a very trying time for our family, but we are grateful and relieved that mom is back with us, safe and healthy," reads a Ripken family statement. The suspect is a white male aged late 30s to early 40s.
