Kidnapped Philadelphia woman found safe, suspect arrested
PHILADELPHIA -- The FBI says a Philadelphia woman who was kidnapped on Sunday has been found safe in Maryland, and her alleged abductor is in custody.
Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, was abducted Sunday night from a street in the city's Germantown neighborhood. The kidnapping was recorded by a nearby surveillance camera.
Wednesday night, the FBI announced that authorities had tracked the suspect's vehicle to Jessup, Maryland, where agents arrested the man and rescued Freeland-Gaither.
"She's in good shape, has some injuries, and was taken to the hospital," FBI Special Agent in Charge Ed Hanko said, adding that the nursing assistant was talking with investigators and her family.
Delvin Barnes, 37, is currently being held on a previous federal warrant issued in Virginia for attempted murder, assault and "malicious injury using acid, explosives or fire," Hanko said.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey thanked the public for providing leads in the case.
Earlier Wednesday, authorities had released video from an Aberdeen, Maryland gas station that showed a man they called a "person of interest" in Freeland-Gaither's abduction. Security cameras showed an unidentified man using her ATM card at a bank in the same town on Monday, just hours after the kidnapping.
"You hope, you hope, you hope but you're never really sure until you get her," Ramsey said, asking that people give Freeland-Gaither and her family privacy.
Authorities do not believe the suspect and victim knew each other.