「Kai Zhuang 2023.12.30」
Kai Zhuang, 17,一名中国留学生在美国犹他州疑似遭遇绑架。

中国留学生在美遭绑架？中使馆回应
直播海南 2023-12-31 11:36 发表于海南

针对有媒体报道一名中国留学生在美国犹他州疑似遭遇绑架一事，中国驻美大使馆发言人30日在应询时表示，中国驻美国大使馆高度重视此案，已第一时间联系当地警方和当事人国内家属，核实了解情况，目前案件仍在调查中。

发言人称，使馆正与各方保持密切联系，关注案件调查进展，并即派员前往事发地提供有关协助。

此前报道

据《今日美国报》12月29日报道，美国犹他州里弗代尔市警方正在寻找一名17岁的中国交换生。警方说，这名学生28日从他的寄宿家庭消失了。

根据犹他州公共安全部门的信息，这名交换生的名字叫庄凯（音），他最后被看到是在12月28日凌晨3点30分的里弗代尔市。

里弗代尔在犹他州首府盐湖城以北距离48公里处。

12月29日，庄凯正式被警方宣布为失踪状态。警方表示，有理由相信庄凯被人“强行掳走”，且“在违背其意愿的情况下被拘禁”。

庄凯身高1.67米，体重约为68公斤，黑色头发和眼睛。警方不知道他失踪时的具体穿着，不过据悉他常穿一件绿色夹克。

里弗代尔警察局局长凯西·沃伦在12月29日的新闻发布会上透露，庄凯的父母居住在中国。

这对父母近日打电话给庄凯在美国的高中，声称他们收到了庄凯的照片和一则索要赎金的信息。于是，这所高中的负责人在12月28日报警。警方于12月29日发布了“失踪人口警报”。

警方联系了庄凯的寄宿家庭，这家人并不知道庄凯失踪的事。这又和早前警方声称他被强行掳走的情况有出入。

沃伦说，警方目前还没有发布安珀警告（美国发生儿童绑架案时，警方透过各种媒体向社会大众传播的一种警戒告知），是因为案件中目前还没有嫌疑人。里弗代尔警方正在和联邦调查局、中国驻美大使馆合作，尽早把失踪的庄凯带回家。

“现阶段，我们知道的信息非常有限。”沃伦表示。

已经退休的警官伯特伦告诉当地电视台KUTV，由于庄凯是国际交换生，且未成年，联邦调查局以及犹他州警方、里弗代尔警方可以调用全国性资源来调查这起案件。

伯特伦说，这起案件的复杂性在于，如果绑匪在美国，而他们索要赎金的人在中国，那么绑匪究竟要怎么才能拿到钱？

伯特伦还分析说，庄凯的父母收到索要赎金的信息，这也意味着本案有许多可能性。

其中一种可能性，是这起“绑架”是彻头彻尾的骗局，“有可能庄凯本人也参与了”。

另一种可能性，就是绑匪对庄凯父母的情况十分了解，知道他们的家产，也知道他们愿意花多少钱赎回自己的儿子。

伯特伦说，按照惯例，美国联邦调查局会调用大量的人力、物力来对此类案件进行调查。

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Foreign exchange student, 17, missing in Utah as parents receive ransom note in China: police
Published Dec. 30, 2023, 5:12 a.m. ET

A high school foreign exchange student was declared missing in Utah on Friday as his parents in China received a ransom note alongside a photo of the boy, police said.

Kai Zhuang, 17, who resides in Riverdale, Utah, located 34 miles north of Salt Lake City, while he attends school was last seen Thursday morning.

“The parents reported to school officials they received a photograph of their child that would indicate he was abducted and they requested a ransom,” Riverdale Police Chief Casey Warren said at a press conference.

The school contacted the police department regarding a possible kidnapping at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Zhuang’s host parents told police they were unaware of the student’s disappearance, claiming that they saw him the day before and heard him in the house around 3:30 a.m.

After Zhuang did not reemerge on Friday morning, an Endangered Missing Person Advisory was issued for the teen, describing him as a 5’9″- 5’10” Asian male, approximately 150 pounds, with black/brown eyes and brown/black hair.

Police officials initially suspected Zhuang had been “forcefully taken from his home and held against his will,” according to KUTV.

Warren, however, later clarified that there was “no evidence to suggest he was forcefully taken from the home in Riverdale.”

An Amber alert was never sent out for Zhuang’s disappearance as police do not have any identities on who may have kidnapped the teen, the motive, or if the kidnappers knew him, his family or host family.

Police provided few details, but did add they were working with the FBI, the US Embassy in China and China officials to help locate the missing juvenile, as “several investigative efforts” are already in place.

“At this point the information we have is very limited, detectives and officers in other jurisdictions have been helping us out,” Warren added. “We’ve been working vigorously around the clock to try to locate him and make sure he’s safe.”

In 2022, 2,600 of 5,800 reported missing Asian males were between the ages of 0-17, according to the FBI.