Steven Henning (WJAR/YouTube).
A Rhode Island man is headed to prison for kidnapping an 80-year-old woman after following her home from a Wendy”s because he knew she lived alone and thought she “would not be missed,” prosecutors say.
Steven Henning, 54, was sentenced to 45 years behind bars for the kidnapping and assault of a woman at her home in Coventry, a suburb of Providence, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in June to a slew of charges including robbery, breaking and entering a dwelling of a person 60 or older, kidnapping and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Cops said they received a call shortly after 8:15 a.m. Aug. 18, 2024, from the Smithfield Police Department — roughly 30 miles north of Coventry — about a possible abduction.
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Detectives identified Henning as the suspect and he led them on a high-speed chase when they tried to arrest him. Eventually, they caught him and took him into custody.
Prosecutors said Henning targeted the woman at a local Wendy’s, followed her home and barged into her house and kidnapped her, according to a courtroom report from local NBC affiliate WJAR. He then shoved her into the trunk of his car, drove her to a wooded area in Smithfield where he strangled her with a belt. She played dead and Henning left her in the woods. She ran to safety at a nearby home.
The state explained Henning’s motive at Friday’s sentencing.
“He needed to get to Ohio in a car that would not be reported stolen and the way to do that, in his words, was to kill someone who would not be missed,” a prosecutor said.
Once in Ohio, he planned on killing his estranged girlfriend, according to prosecutors. Henning has been arrested some two dozen times in Rhode Island.
“It’s the Steven Hennings of the world about which we warn our children don’t talk to strangers,” the prosecutor said, per WJAR. “And the Steven Hennings of the world are what the elderly think about when they stay at home in solitude instead of venturing out.”
Cops credited the victim for her strength in getting Henning to prison for likely the rest of his life.
“What she went through is the stuff nightmares are made from,” police said. “And yet, she is probably the strongest and bravest person our detectives have ever met. May she breath a little easier knowing this offender will spend the next 45 years behind bars.
