Photos of suspect in Vi Ripken abduction released

ABERDEEN, Md (WMAR) - The Aberdeen Police Department is offering a cash reward in the search for the person in this picture.

Police believe the suspect is connected to Vi Ripken’s abduction on Tuesday.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Ripken was taken from her home in Aberdeen at gunpoint.  The suspect transported Ms. Ripken in her own vehicle around Harford and Baltimore County.

He dropped her back at her home early yesterday morning, safe and unharmed.

Police say the suspect is a white male, 5’10” tall, 180 pound, short brown hair, and glasses.

Anyone with any information is asked to call police at 410-836-5432.

Those with information that leads to a conviction may be eligible to receive more than $2,000.00 in rewards.

5pm update---

He slipped into Vi Ripken’s garage with a gun to abduct her one day, and he slipped away after driving her back to the same neighborhood the next, but the same man couldn’t avoid being captured on camera, and now police are hoping someone will recognize surveillance camera images of him and turn him in.

In Ripken’s hometown of Aberdeen, people are still buzzing about the abduction of the matriarch of the Ripken family and wondering if the man targeted her because of her famous son.

"I don't know.  It just seems like it was someone who had been there before or knew them.  I don't think it was random," said Tina Warfield.

"I don't think they knew what they were doing," said Patricia Murray of Port Deposit.

"I think they were mentally off their rocker,” added Mary Jane Mattingly, “That's what I say.  It would have to be."

"When it first happened, I thought it was somebody kind of like Michael Jordan's father, just random and didn't know who they were dealing with or more like somebody trying to do some kind of ransom or something crazy," said Donovan Clifford of Aberdeen.

Investigators have interviewed neighbors and checked every vehicle in the area surrounding Vi Ripken’s house, but have not released any information on how the suspect could have come and went without being detected.

It also remains a mystery as to why a person would commit such a crime---abduct someone, and then return them unharmed the very next day.

"I guess she's tough like her son,” said Denny Crownover of Havre de Grace, “Maybe God helped him."

If you recognize the man in the picture, you should call the Aberdeen Police at 410-272-2121.