It sounds like the guy in the trunk may well have had opportunity to escape but it does bring about an interesting point of leaving things in your car or wallet that might indicate your "value"
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...4F60F922C7ED14A186257219001767D3?OpenDocument
CAHOKIA — Laundry night for a 55-year-old Dupo man turned into a four-day ride in the trunk of his car and the loss of $3,000.
The bizarre ordeal began about 10 p.m. Oct. 24 as the man was leaving a Laundromat on Camp Jackson Road, police said Tuesday.
Two men armed with a sawed-off shotgun approached him and forced him into his 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier. A few blocks later, the man was told to climb into the trunk, where he stayed for the better part of four days.
The two kidnapping suspects dug through the glove box and found an ATM receipt showing a hefty balance.
"That's the only reason they kept him around," said Sauget Police Chief Patrick Delaney, whose department got involved in the case during a police pursuit Monday morning involving the victim's car. "He had a pretty substantial amount of money in a bank account."
With that knowledge, police said, the men drove from ATM to ATM, letting the man out to make withdrawals. Over the four days, the men forced the victim to withdraw $3,000.
The suspects let the man out of the trunk to use the restroom, and they fed him once a day.
"They would ask him what he wanted to eat, and it was fast-food type places," Delaney said. After four days, however, the man escaped and called police. He was not injured.
On Monday morning, two men believed to be the same suspects who kidnapped the Dupo man approached a woman in her car in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant on Natural Bridge Road in Berkeley. One of the men got in the car and ordered the woman to drive while the other man followed in the Cavalier taken from the Cahokia Laundromat.
The woman wrestled with the gunman and the shotgun discharged. No one was struck, but a Bel-Ridge police officer parked on a nearby lot heard the shot and tried to pull over both cars. The gunman, 23, of East St. Louis, jumped out of the woman's car and ran off. He was still at large Tuesday evening.
The driver of the Cavalier, a 25-year-old from Cahokia, drove off, leading police on a 100 mph chase on Interstate 70 and across the Poplar Street Bridge onto Illinois Route 3 into Sauget. Two tires on the Cavalier blew out and the man jumped out. Police arrested him in a baseball field near Queeny Avenue and Falling Springs Road.
Police from Cahokia and Sauget are expected to seek charges today with the St. Clair County state's attorney's office. Berkeley police said they would hold off on presenting their case to St. Louis County prosecutors until the second man is in custody. Police said the two men might have been involved in other crimes in other jurisdictions last week.
Police said the likely charges would be kidnapping, armed robbery, unlawful restraint, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and fleeing police. The man in custody was on parole for a previous carjacking and will be sent back to prison, Delaney said.
Delaney said the two men were staking out the shopping center where the Laundromat is located.
"They had been casing the place," Delaney said. "He (the victim) was scared to death that they were going to kill him. He didn't know if they were going to rob him in the strip mall or pull a carjacking. He probably had the nicest car on the Laundromat parking lot."
In Berkeley, the original plan was to hold up the White Castle, "where only four young employees were working and they thought it would be very easy," Delaney said, referring to the suspect's statement. "Why they switched to (carjacking) the young lady, I don't know."
[email protected] | 618-624-2576
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...4F60F922C7ED14A186257219001767D3?OpenDocument
CAHOKIA — Laundry night for a 55-year-old Dupo man turned into a four-day ride in the trunk of his car and the loss of $3,000.
The bizarre ordeal began about 10 p.m. Oct. 24 as the man was leaving a Laundromat on Camp Jackson Road, police said Tuesday.
Two men armed with a sawed-off shotgun approached him and forced him into his 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier. A few blocks later, the man was told to climb into the trunk, where he stayed for the better part of four days.
The two kidnapping suspects dug through the glove box and found an ATM receipt showing a hefty balance.
"That's the only reason they kept him around," said Sauget Police Chief Patrick Delaney, whose department got involved in the case during a police pursuit Monday morning involving the victim's car. "He had a pretty substantial amount of money in a bank account."
With that knowledge, police said, the men drove from ATM to ATM, letting the man out to make withdrawals. Over the four days, the men forced the victim to withdraw $3,000.
The suspects let the man out of the trunk to use the restroom, and they fed him once a day.
"They would ask him what he wanted to eat, and it was fast-food type places," Delaney said. After four days, however, the man escaped and called police. He was not injured.
On Monday morning, two men believed to be the same suspects who kidnapped the Dupo man approached a woman in her car in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant on Natural Bridge Road in Berkeley. One of the men got in the car and ordered the woman to drive while the other man followed in the Cavalier taken from the Cahokia Laundromat.
The woman wrestled with the gunman and the shotgun discharged. No one was struck, but a Bel-Ridge police officer parked on a nearby lot heard the shot and tried to pull over both cars. The gunman, 23, of East St. Louis, jumped out of the woman's car and ran off. He was still at large Tuesday evening.
The driver of the Cavalier, a 25-year-old from Cahokia, drove off, leading police on a 100 mph chase on Interstate 70 and across the Poplar Street Bridge onto Illinois Route 3 into Sauget. Two tires on the Cavalier blew out and the man jumped out. Police arrested him in a baseball field near Queeny Avenue and Falling Springs Road.
Police from Cahokia and Sauget are expected to seek charges today with the St. Clair County state's attorney's office. Berkeley police said they would hold off on presenting their case to St. Louis County prosecutors until the second man is in custody. Police said the two men might have been involved in other crimes in other jurisdictions last week.
Police said the likely charges would be kidnapping, armed robbery, unlawful restraint, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and fleeing police. The man in custody was on parole for a previous carjacking and will be sent back to prison, Delaney said.
Delaney said the two men were staking out the shopping center where the Laundromat is located.
"They had been casing the place," Delaney said. "He (the victim) was scared to death that they were going to kill him. He didn't know if they were going to rob him in the strip mall or pull a carjacking. He probably had the nicest car on the Laundromat parking lot."
In Berkeley, the original plan was to hold up the White Castle, "where only four young employees were working and they thought it would be very easy," Delaney said, referring to the suspect's statement. "Why they switched to (carjacking) the young lady, I don't know."
[email protected] | 618-624-2576
