ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke grand jury will consider an abduction charge against a woman accused of keeping an 83-year-old man captive in the trunk of his car for nearly three days.
At a preliminary hearing Tuesday in General District Court, Judge Julian Raney ruled there was enough evidence to certify the charge against Mitzi Horton to a grand jury that meets next month.
Horton, 31, is accused of abducting Vernon Laughon, who employed her as a housekeeper and also socialized with her, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner.
Gardner said Horton was interested in getting some money from Laughon when they got together Nov. 16.
Laughon testified that Horton was driving his car on Melrose Avenue Northwest when she stopped and put him in a choke hold as he sat in the passenger's seat.
"He blacked out, and the next thing he knew, he was in the trunk of the car," Gardner said.
Laughon spent most of the next three days and two nights in the car trunk. He got Horton's attention several times by yelling and beating on the trunk.
At one point, Horton promised Laughon through the closed trunk that she would let him out if he told her where to find money in his Patterson Avenue apartment. Laughon told her, Gardner said, but Horton did not free him.
After Laughon was reported missing, police found the car parked on Sixth Street Southwest, just south of Highland Park, with the motor running.
Horton, who also was being sought on a charge of violating her probation, was sitting in the car. She refused to talk to police and would not give her address, authorities have said.
Horton later told police that Laughon let her use the car, and authorities found the trunk key in her pocket. When they opened the trunk, they found Laughon lying in a fetal position.
Laughon, who was unable to move without pain, was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. He has since been released. Horton is in the Roanoke City Jail awaiting trial.
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