Two people have been charged with allegedly kidnapping a woman from the Kansas City area Sunday night and driving her about an hour away before they were caught, officials said.
Jose Gonzalez, 20, of Kansas City, Kansas and an unnamed 17-year-old boy were charged with second-degree kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting arrest by fleeing. Their cash bond is set at $25,000.
The sheriff’s office learned around 10:15 p.m. that an 18-year-old was being held against her will and had been taken from the Kansas City area, according to a news release. The woman identified the suspects and their vehicle in a text to her mother, who told law enforcement officials.
Within minutes, a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and a Bates County sheriff’s deputy saw the suspect vehicle in Passaic as it traveled into a construction zone on Interstate 49.
The trooper tried to stop the suspect vehicle near 52 Highway and I-49, but the pursuit continued until it was headed north on TT Highway. That’s where troopers deployed spike strips, causing the suspect vehicle’s tires to lose tread, officials said.
Two deputies used their vehicles to try to pin in the suspect vehicle, but it broke free. Then, Sheriff Chad Anderson, who’d been called in to assist, peformed a PIT maneuver with his patrol truck and pushed the suspect vehicle to the side of the road where deputies could stop it.
The woman was rescued from the vehicle. She was taken to a hospital, where she was reunited with family and met by the Bates County Victim Advocate.
Deputies searched the vehicle and found a loaded Draco AK47 pistol. The suspect vehicle was towed from the scene.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing additional charges in the case.