Narberth man held in beating, abduction
He was arrested at his mother's N.J. home where, police said, he had left his child after abducting her.
Glenn L. Minch Jr., 26, accused of abducting his 18-month-old daughter after severely beating her mother at their Narberth home on Tuesday evening, was arrested yesterday in Woodbridge, N.J.
Narberth Police Chief Tom Grady said Minch was taken "at his mom's house." Minch had left the child with his mother after fleeing Pennsylvania.
"They always come back," Grady said of Minch's return to his mother's home, where police found the child on Wednesday.
Courtney Baird, 34, the mother of the child, Macie, remained in critical condition at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Grady said. Privacy regulations prevented him from saying more about her condition.
Grady said the child was "in the care of the [maternal] aunt, safe and sound and in good health."
By late afternoon yesterday, a Narberth officer and a Montgomery County detective were "on the way to present him before a judge" for an extradition hearing, said Grady. The chief did not know when Minch would be returned to Pennsylvania.
Grady said an arrest warrant had been issued charging Minch with "attempted murder, aggravated assault, theft of the car." Grady was unsure whether kidnapping was in the original warrant.
A spokesman for New Jersey State Police said Woodbridge police "arrested him without incident." Police there were not available for comment.
The hospital issued a statement from "the Baird family" late yesterday which thanked police and asked for privacy. The family's members were not further identified.
"First and foremost," it read, "we want to acknowledge the heroic actions of the Narberth Police Department. Without their quick response, we believe that Courtney would not be alive today.
"We are thankful for all the individuals and agencies involved in the Amber Alert and subsequent search for Courtney's daughter, Macie."
The family also thanks the "overwhelming response from the media, who helped spread the word, and members of the public who called in with their tips. . . . It has provided enormous comfort for us to have her home safe."
Baird suffered serious injuries to her throat and back.
The abduction triggered an Amber Alert. Grady said an eight-hour investigation by officers from several jurisdictions resulted in finding the child with Minch's mother at about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
After Minch had left the child with his mother, Grady said, "he traveled further." Police leads traced him "as far as New York City" before he returned to Woodbridge.
Narberth police had arrested Minch "three or four times" since the couple moved to Narberth three years ago, Grady said, but not in the past year.
The arrests were all for "disturbance charges," he said, resolved when Minch pleaded guilty and paid fines.
The couple lived in a two-story house divided into three apartments on a corner of Essex and Woodside Avenues in Narberth.
A mail carrier delivering mail there on Wednesday said Minch seemed to be home most of the time and "wasn't a good guy."