Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The woman was able to get a good look at her assailant, said state police Sgt. Bob Stout, who is working the case with Roanoke detectives.
The abductor is described as a black man between the age of 35 and 40 with short black hair and a thin mustache. He wore blue shorts and a red-and-blue striped shirt, police said.
``We're closer than we were,'' Stout said late Monday. ``The investigation is progressing.''
State police and Roanoke detectives have been working together since Saturday night, when the woman was found walking on an Amherst County road. She was not injured, except for bruises around her wrists where she had been tied.
Police are not releasing the woman's name because she requested that it be kept confidential. Investigators said Monday she was staying in Franklin County and was well.
The woman disappeared during the height of Saturday shopping at Towers Shopping Center. About 1:30 p.m., a man holding a small handgun forced her into her car in the parking lot. The man bound the woman's wrists with neckties and forced her to lie on the car's front floor.
Her family reported the woman missing when she failed to show up as expected at their Southwest Roanoke house that afternoon.
Police looked for the woman at her Northwest Roanoke house. No one answered the door, and investigators did not see her dark red, 1992 Oldsmobile Delta 88 parked outside.
The abductor drove for more than an hour Saturday afternoon, finally stopping at a wooded area near Virginia 622 in Amherst County. Once there, he pulled the woman from the car, then drove away, police said.
By 9:15 that night, state police notified Roanoke detectives that the woman had been found, unharmed, in Amherst County.
Monday night, investigators had not made any arrests or located the woman's car, which bears Virginia license plate FKF 146.
Stout said investigators are unsure of the abductor's motive, but car theft is a possibility.
Anyone with information about the abduction can call state police Sgt. Bob Stout at (800)552-0962.
by CNB