Girl, 5, reportedly taken from home, beaten in yard

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Police are investigating the report of a 5-year-old girl taken from her home by an unknown man and beaten in her own backyard.

It happened sometime overnight Monday into Tuesday at a home in the 2600 block of North Hutchinson Street.

Officers were called to the home Tuesday morning and found a 5-year-old girl with head and facial injuries.

A photograph sent to Action News by the girl's family shows the extent of those injuries.

Police say they have questioned a person of interest. No suspect has been named and there have been no arrests.

The child's mother told police she went to bed Monday night, and when she awoke Tuesday morning, the girl was not in the house.

She said she found the girl in the back yard. She had been injured.

The girl told her mother she woke up during the night and was walking down a hallway when a man appeared from behind a closet door, took her by the hand and led her out into the back yard.

According to the mother, that's where the girl said the man began to kick her and punch her in the face.

Officers took the girl to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children where she was treated for head injuries and a facial fracture.

Police say the girl was not sexually assaulted.

They say they were able to collect DNA evidence and are testing it in an effort to identify the attacker.