A 22-year-old nursing assistant who was abducted on a Philadelphia street over the weekend has been found alive, and her kidnapper is in custody, police said Wednesday.
Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was discovered in Jessup, Md., after she was abducted around 9:40 p.m. Sunday and forced into a four-door vehicle. Authorities were able to track the vehicle, Edward J. Hanko, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia division, told reporters at a press conference Wednesday night.
"We got a very dangerous predator off the street," police Chief Charles Ramsey said.
Freeland-Gaither's alleged captor, Delvin Barnes, 37, was apprehended by a team of U.S. Marshals and ATF and FBI agents. He was being held Wednesday night on an unrelated Virginia warrant alleging attempted capital murder, assault and malicious injury with acid, explosives or fire, police said. Barnes couldn't be reached for comment while in custody.
Authorities, citing the ongoing investigation, did not disclose the exact circumstances that led to Barnes' capture or details about Freeland-Gaither's rescue.
Freeland-Gaither had minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital but was talking with authorities. Her mother, Keisha Gaither, thanked police and the community for their support and said she had talked to her by phone but hadn't seen her yet. Keisha Gaither said her daughter was distraught when they talked.
"She was very upset. She was crying. She just was asking for me, to tell me she loved me, she missed me, to come get her," she said. "I'm going to get my daughter. I'm going to get my baby."
Freeland-Gaither had been last seen on surveillance video being grabbed by a man and pulled toward a car Sunday night as she struggled to get away in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood.
Police and federal authorities had released a stream of images over the past two days from surveillance cameras in Maryland and from a Philadelphia supermarket hours before the abduction.
The video showed a man in a knit cap and dark coat walking down an aisle of a store and using a self-checkout station. A timestamp indicates the video was recorded eight hours before Freeland-Gaither disappeared.
A witness called 911 at about 9:40 p.m. Sunday and reported seeing a woman identified as Freeland-Gaither screaming for help as she was forced into a dark gray four-door vehicle.
Police said Freeland-Gaither's glasses and cellphone were dropped on the street, near piles of broken auto glass.
The witness said Freeland-Gaither — described by her parents as easygoing until she's threatened — broke the car's rear side windows before the vehicle sped off.
She graduated from high school in Maryland and lived with her grandfather in Philadelphia until a couple of months ago, when she moved in with her boyfriend.
Her grandmother Ana Mulero says she has worked with cancer patients and has been pursuing a career in nursing.
Freeland-Gaither's parents circulated fliers in Germantown, and Facebook groups sprung up with prayers for her safe return.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/13LdsxW
0 comments:
Post a Comment