A videotaped abduction saga that started with a violent Philadelphia kidnapping caught on tape has ended well, with the victim being rescued from her abductors and returned home to her very worried family. On November 2 Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, a 22 year old woman who was walking home, was violently abducted by what police are calling a vicious predator. Carlesha and her abductor did not know each other, he was a complete stranger. Thankfully the abduction was captured on surveillance video, and a witness took down the license plate number of the vehicle as the car pulled away with the young woman inside. The video shows Carlesha fighting with everything she has as the man drags her down the street towards his vehicle. Carlesha’s family believes that her fighting spirit is what helped her survive the initial kidnapping and the next 72 hours until law enforcement rescued her.
37 year old Devlen Barnes has been arrested in connection with the videotaped abduction. Police investigating the Philadelphia kidnapping located the victim and her kidnapper on Wednesday, and they were led to the pair thanks to GPS. When police arrived the Phildelphia kidnapping victim and her assailant were in the back seat of the vehicle along the highway in Jessup Maryland, and Freeland-Gaither was screaming for help. Carlesha suffered minor injuries as a result of her ordeal but she has returned to her very grateful family. This was a tragic story that had a happy ending, similar cases do not always end with the victim of this type of crime being found alive.