Woman arrested in kidnapping attempt at Utah elementary school

KEARNS, Utah (KSL.com) — A woman who police say went onto an elementary school property and grabbed two students has been arrested for investigation of kidnapping.

Tracey Synnove Grace Jensen, 52, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday.

The incident happened last Wednesday at Bacchus Elementary, 5925 S. Copper City Drive. Jensen is the aunt of a student for whom she does not have custodial rights. On Wednesday, however, she went to the school with the intention of taking the student, said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley.

Two students say “that they were grabbed by Tracey, and commanded to go with her,” according to a police booking affidavit.

A recess aide and the school principal, however, saw what was happening and were able to thwart the alleged kidnapping attempt as well as take pictures of Jensen’s minivan that was parked nearby. Horsley says both the principal and aide did a “phenomenal job.”

Additionally, officers obtained “security footage of Tracey and her van on school property when she was not supposed to be there,” the affidavit states. Using that information, police said they were able to identify Jensen as the woman who was at the school, located her on Monday and arrested her.

Police do not believe the incident is related to another kidnapping attempt on Thursday at Whittier Elementary in West Valley City. In that case, a male grabbed an 8-year-old girl who started kicking and screaming, which was heard by a nearby school supervisor.

Granite police said Saturday they arrested a 16-year-old boy in that case and booked him into juvenile detention after identifying him using surveillance video from a nearby business. He lives in the area and is a student at a nontraditional program in the Granite School District.