Woman in Philadelphia Abduction Found Alive, Her Kidnapper Arrested, FBI Says
Woman in Philadelphia Abduction Found Alive, Her Kidnapper Arrested.
The woman who was kidnapped on Sunday off a desolate Philadelphia street
-- a harrowing crime that was caught on surveillance camera -- was
found alive today in Maryland, while her abductor was arrested,
authorities said.
Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, was found by FBI agents inside a parked car in Jessup, Maryland.
Her alleged abductor, Delvin Barnes, 37, was arrested at the scene, according to the FBI.
Ed Hanko, the special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI field
office, said that because of tips called in from the public,
investigators were "able to identify this individual, identify his car
and track it into Maryland."
FBI agents were joined by U.S. Marshals and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms
agents who located the car and approached when Barnes stepped out of
the vehicle.
Freeland-Gaither was found inside the car and is now being treated at a local hospital, police said.
Hanko said that she is "in good shape," but police still have not had a chance to interview her.
Freeland-Gaither's mother, whose name was not released, attended
tonight's news conference and said that she has been able to speak to
her daughter by phone from the hospital, but will be reunited later this
evening.
"She was very upset. She was crying," she said of her daughter.
"Thank you for keeping me up. Thank you for being there for us. I'm taking my baby home," she added.
Barnes is being held as a result of an outstanding attempted capital murder
warrant that was issued for him in Virginia, though he is expected to
face federal charges once the ongoing investigation into
Freeland-Gaither's case is complete.
Investigators said that they have no reason to believe Barnes knew his victim before the abduction.
"He's a thug and this is what he does apparently," Philadelphia Police
Commissioner Charles Ramsey told reporters. "People like this, there's
nothing that makes sense."
In the surveillance video released Monday, Freeland-Gaither can be seen fighting to get away from her attacker during Sunday's abduction.
Freeland-Gaither was pulled down the street in the Germantown
neighborhood of Philadelphia toward the man’s car, which police believed
to be a 2000 or 2002 gray Ford Taurus. At one point, she even fell to
the ground to try and get away before she was pushed into the car.
