US Roblox kidnapping case: Sisters, 12 and 14, rescued after multi-state search

Omaha man Hser Mu Lah Say was charged after he allegedly abducted two minors he met on the gaming application Roblox. Photo / Martin County Sheriff's Office

Two young sisters have been rescued after an alleged abduction by a man they met via the online game Roblox.

The siblings, aged 12 and 14, from Martin County in Florida, were found after highway patrol officers stopped a vehicle linked to the suspect, according to NBC6 South Florida.

Hser Mu Lah Say, 19, was arrested in neighbouring Georgia, where the girls were found, and has been charged with two counts each of kidnapping and interference with child custody.

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said the sisters had gone missing on Saturday evening local time.

They had had their phones taken off them earlier that day as a punishment for going to a local park, he said.

The sisters then left home again to meet Say.

Police inspected the girls’ devices after being tipped off by family to an individual they were aware of who had communicated with the sisters on Snapchat.

They found a “a constant thread of communication between this individual and these two young girls to include the suspect ... driving to Indiantown, Florida, to pick these girls up and leave”, Budensiek said.

Communication between Say and girls was believed to have started on Roblox before moving to Snapchat over the summer months.

Budensiek said police believed Say engaged in a “grooming process”, with the family noticing “weird” and unexpected deliveries of food and gifts to their house.

He added that police involved in the multi-state search for the sisters noted that “these girls went willingly, but their age suggested that they had been taken and were probably being removed from our area”.

Say reportedly left his Omaha, Nebraska, home on Friday and drove more than 24 hours to the girls’ Indiantown neighbourhood.

“We talk regularly about the importance of parents and family members being vigilant about grooming and social media platforms and the impact it has on kids,” Budensiek said at a press conference today.

He added he believed police had “prevented something disastrous”, though he said he did not know what the suspect had planned to do with the girls.

Roblox’s chief safety officer, Matt Kaufman, said in a statement to ABC that the company would support police investigations.

“While no system is perfect, our commitment to safety never ends, and we continue to strengthen protections to keep users safe,” he said.

Snap Inc. issued a statement calling child exploitation an “abhorrent crime”.

“While no single safety feature or policy can eliminate every potential threat online or in the world around us, we continuously adapt our strategies as criminals evolve their tactics.”

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