Cal Ripken Jr. talks of mom's kidnapping

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BALTIMORE, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Baltimore Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. addressed reporters Friday in an effort to help find the perpetrator of last month's kidnapping of his mother.

Police said Violet Ripken, 74, was abducted at gunpoint July 24 from her Aberdeen, Md., home. She was returned uninjured, left tied up in her car close to her home after being driven around Maryland for 24 hours by her abductor.

The Hall of Famer said at a news conference "it was the worst feeling you could imagine" when police told him his mother was missing, The Baltimore Sun reported.

"We couldn't find Mom," he said. "I actually physically got in the car and drove around out there. It's like finding a needle in a haystack, but it made me feel like I was doing something. I think we were hardening ourselves to the worst possibility. I know I was."

Ripken made the appearance in an effort to generate tips about the identity of the kidnapper, who was described as a white male in his mid-30s to mid-40s with glasses and short brown hair.

The motive behind the kidnapping remains unclear.

"It's bizarre on many levels and it's unsettling on many levels," he said. "It's strange, to say the least."