BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — Deputies in Bartow County are looking for a masked stalker who tried to lure two girls into the woods.
Channel 2's Berndt Petersen went to Adairsville, where the kids and the alleged stalker came face to face.
Keisha Bagley never thought the day would come when she would not allow her children to play outside unless she or their father was with them.
"My daughter cried for a while after it happened. She won't sleep in her room. We can't go to sleep until she does," Bagley said.
Sunday morning, Keisha's 11-year-old daughter and a 10-year old friend were out in the yard of the home in Adairsville. They walked near the woods to pick up a ball and were face to face with a man in a black ski mask. He gestured to them to come toward him. They ran; so did he, and now Bartow County deputies are looking for him.
"It's not far off a major highway that services our county. It could have been a vagrant that was walking up and down the road. It could have been somebody familiar with that area or had targeted that area," said Bartow County Sheriff's Deputy Jonathan White.
The sheriff's office has stepped up patrols in the area around Stoners Road.
Neighbors have been alerted. Bagley hopes they catch the man. It has changed her family's life.
"(It's) really bad. It scares me a lot. You don't think of it happening in Adairsville. It's a small town," Bagley said.
The family also told Petersen they thought the stalker came back that night.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Bartow County Sheriff's Office at 770-382-5050.
WSBTV
