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LRU kidnapping: Woman forced to drive to Cherryville

Police: ‘Obviously it is a very bizarre incident’

Robert C. Reed | Hickory Daily Record

Local law enforcement officials are investigating the abduction of an 18-year-old Lenoir-Rhyne University employee.

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: November 5, 2009

HICKORY - A Conover woman was kidnapped early Wednesday morning as she left Lenoir-Rhyne University after working her shift at the Bears Lair in the student center, authorities said.

The woman and a female co-worker left the building at about 12:30 a.m. and walked to their cars, according to Capt. Gary Lee of the Hickory Police Department.

When the victim got in her car, a black male armed with a pistol popped up from his hiding place in the back seat and ordered her to drive him to Cherryville, authorities said. As she drove, the man reportedly held his pistol against her head.

At some point during the ordeal, the victim used her cell phone to call her brother in Virginia. She told him she was being kidnapped.

Her abductor made her end the call, Capt. Thurman Whisnant said.

Her brother then contacted their father in Conover who called Hickory police about 1:30 a.m. and reported the kidnapping, according to police reports.

At some point her father was able to re-establish telephone contact with her. She did not speak into the phone, but her father could hear her crying, Lee said.

Once in Cherryville, the suspect was met by a man in a red pickup truck in a rural area. The suspect got out of the victim's car, got into the pickup and left the area, Lee said.

The victim was not assaulted or robbed during the incident. "She was not injured in any way," police spokeswoman Libby Grigg said.

Crime scene investigators are processing the woman's vehicle for any evidence and viewing surveillance video from Lenoir-Rhyne, Lee said.

"It's definitely our main case right now," he said.

The suspect is described as a slender black male, 5-feet 8-inches to 6-feet tall with dreadlocks down to his shoulders, a mustache and a thick beard that hangs down to his chest. He was wearing dark pants and a dark jacket at the time of the abduction.

"Obviously it is a very bizarre incident, but we are treating it as a serious incident," Whisnant said. "We want people to be vigilant but not paranoid."

The victim declined to speak to reporters saying, "I was advised not to say anything."

University spokeswoman Margaret Allen confirmed the abduction of an 18-year-old woman from the campus shortly after midnight and said campus security is cooperating fully with the HPD's investigation.

Anyone with information about the incident or the suspect is asked to contact the Hickory Police Department at 328-6146.