Carjacker Who Abducted Mom, 2 Kids Caught: Police

WHEELING, IL — A day after being identified from surveillance footage, the man who police say stole an idling car from a drug store parking lot with a mother and her two young children inside was taken into custody Wednesday. Leon Spektor, 38, who is homeless, was arrested around 8:30 a.m. in the 300 block of West Chicago Avenue, according to Wheeling Police Deputy Chief Todd Wolff.

Police said he stole a car from the parking lot of the Walgreens at 10 N. Milwaukee Ave. around 3:20 p.m. Sunday with the mother of a 1-week-old infant and a 3-year-old child. They were eventually freed close to 25 miles away, in the 4700 block of West Belmont Avenue in Chicago.

Within a day, police had identified Spektor, who they said was known around Wheeling, as a possible suspect.

Investigators provided a photo lineup with his image to the mom he allegedly briefly kidnapped and robbed of a cell phone and cash, and she was able to him, police said.

Spektor is due in court Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Rolling Meadows for a bond hearing.

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_{Top photo: Surveillance footage of the suspect in a Nov. 12 carjacking and kidnapping reported in Wheeling (left, via Wheeling PD) Booking photograph of Leon Spektor from a 2015 arrest in Chicago (right, via Chicago PD)}