Carlesha Freeland-Gaither is alive and safe at home with her family 72 hours after she was snatched off the streets of Philadelphia by a “vicious predator.”
The 22-year-old nurse was rescued from a car in a Maryland parking lot Wednesday afternoon, NBC Philadelphia reports.
Her abductor, 37-year-old Delvin Barnes was taken into custody when he tried to flee the car.
“I’m taking my baby home. Thank you,” said Carlesha’s mother Keisha Gaither who hugged and thanked detectives at a news conference Wednesday night.
“It’s very special for all of us. You hope, you hope, you hope, but you don’t really know until you’re actually able to get her, and make sure she’s OK. So it’s very important that this has a happy ending,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.
Unlike most stranger abductions, Carlesha’s story had a happy ending thanks to the hard work of federal and local law enforcement officers.
“He’s a thug and this is what he does apparently,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. “He’s a vicious predator. He’s off the streets.”
After receiving a tip from the public, police found Barnes’ Ford Taurus using the GPS tracking device that was installed in the car by a car dealership. The GPS was installed because Barnes had bad credit.
From NBC Philadelphia:
Barnes and the victim were in the backseat of the car when agents arrived, but he quickly jumped into the driver’s seat to try and flee, Jones said. Agents blocked his way and took him into custody.
Freeland-Gaither screamed hysterically for help as the arrest was taking place, telling the agents she was the woman who had been abducted in Philadelphia, Jones said.
“Once she had time to process what had happened you could tell she was emotionally distraught,” he said.
Barnes, who has ties to Philadelphia, apparently attacked Freeland-Gaither at random, detectives said. He is being held on an warrant for attempted murder of a 16-year-old girl last month in Charles City County, Virginia.
Detectives got a break in the case from a woman living in Havre De Grace, Maryland. In her driveway, the woman found a bag of trash that included a receipt from an ACME supermarket in Northeast Philadelphia, a bag of Herr’s potato chips and shattered glass.
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told NBC10 that she initially thought it was just trash, but later called authorities after talking to a friend about the case.
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