Mom abducted, daughter missing

The woman who made a 9-1-1 call yesterday was stricken with fear.

In a terrified voice, police said, 38-year-old Bonnie Ann Sweeten told how she had been grabbed by two men after a minor accident in lower Bucks County, shortly before 2 p.m., shoved into the back of a Cadillac and driven away.

She said that her 9-year-old daughter, Julia Rakoczy, had been with her but remained in her vehicle, a GMC SUV. It was not at the scene when cops arrived.

An Amber Alert was issued for the girl.

Lt. Frank Vanore, Philadelphia police spokesman, said that the woman told the 9-1-1 operator that she was driving her silver-colored 2005 GMC Denali SUV on Street Road near Southampton Road in Upper Southampton Township when a black Cadillac rear-ended her vehicle.

She said that she got out of the vehicle and two men jumped out of the Cadillac, grabbed her and forced her into the trunk.

"It seems like a very distressed call," Vanore said. "You could tell she was scared."

The woman gave her name and how to reach her husband, Richard Larry Sweeten, of Feasterville, but she said nothing about what her abductors might have said to her, Vanore said.

Julia Rakoczy was described in the Amber Alert as being 4 feet 1 with long brown hair, blue eyes and a dime-sized birthmark on her forehead.

Although the abduction occurred in Bucks County, Vanore said that the 9-1-1 call was traced to a tower that placed it near 12th and Walnut streets, in Center City.

The FBI joined the investigation later in the day.

"We're treating this as an abduction," said FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver, while acknowledging that there were "inconsistencies" in the woman's account.

The Denali's Pennsylvania license number is GYK8998.

Bonnie Sweeten is described as 5 feet 11 with blond hair and blue eyes.

Last night, the Sweeten home on Saxon Drive near Bristol Road, Feasterville, was the mecca for well-wishers, many of them visibly upset and teary-eyed. There was no one in the house, and visitors stood outside.

Kate Carr, who said that she is Bonnie's aunt, arrived with her teenage son.

"I'm still in shock," she said through her tears. "But she's a good mom. She loves her kids, and she is protecting Julia. I know she's protecting her."

Bonnie and her husband also have an 8-month-old daughter, and Bonnie has another daughter, Paige, 15, from a previous relationship.

Also at the house was Ryan McFadden, 15, who works with Richard Sweeten in his landscaping business, which he operates from his home.

McFadden said that he and his mother heard about the abduction on the news and he came racing to the house.

At least 10 people left messages of support on Bonnie Sweeten's Facebook page last night, including one that said: "The whole class of '89 is praying for you."

Sweeten's page said that she graduated in 1989 from Bensalem High School.

Under the section for favorite quotations, she added, "I always tell Paige and Julia 'Make Good Choices' before they leave for school or go on a trip without me or a parent."

Reports that Philadelphia police impounded a black Cadillac that was suspected to have been involved in the incident could not be confirmed last night.*

Staff writers Gloria Campisi and David Gambacorta contributed to this report.