In the latest, perhaps most ominous incident, a man tried to lure a 13-year-old girl into his car in the 1000 block of 22nd Street Northeast.

According to Auburn police, the girl had been walking to school between 7:10 and 7:30 a.m. March 3 when the man honked his horn at her, pulled over and began running in her direction.

The man gave up the chase, however, when the girl pulled out her cell phone and called police.

That is just of seven child luring incidents that have plagued Auburn since December 2013, according to Auburn Police Commander Mike Hirman.

A Lea Hill resident described another at a recent community meeting at Wesley Homes. She said that her daughter and the daughter’s aunt, ages 12 and 13, were walking along 320th to put a flower at a recent accident site, “when a man, 27 to 30 years of age, driving back and forth, stopped next to them and tried to talk them into getting into his car.”

The cases vary and involve different characters.

And it’s that very lack of a pattern or trend that has so far frustrated Auburn police detectives who are investigating the incidents.

For example, the vehicle descriptions are dissimilar, the suspects vary from Hispanic, to black to white, the locations shift from Lea Hill to north in the valley, downtown and south.

One incident involved two men.

“Even the victims are different genders,” Hirman said. “The only commonality is the age of the victims varying from 11 to 14 years.”

If anybody has information that might be helpful to Auburn police, they are urged to call 253-931-3080.