Police in South Carolina tracked down a man who wore a ski mask and camouflage vest with his name on it to kidnap his on-again off-again girlfriend, an arrest affidavit says.
The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic-related call around 5 a.m. Saturday to a home in the 15000 block of County Line Road in Andrews. While en route the caller said the victim had been taken against her will by 42-year-old Jonathon Perry. The caller said Perry and the victim were last seen at a nearby gas station but deputies couldn’t find them.
Deputies then searched a vehicle in the woods behind the gas station that matched the description of the suspect vehicle but did not find anything. Searches of abandoned buildings in the area also turned up negative.
Detectives interviewed the caller who said earlier in the night, around 2 a.m., Perry showed up at the home with a gun and demanded to know where the victim was. Perry allegedly hit the side of the home with an object, causing a window to shatter. He then crashed into the home with his car several times, the affidavit said. He returned around 5 a.m. and grabbed the victim, who was outside, and allegedly fled the scene with her. A witness identified Perry as the kidnapper.
A short while later, deputies located the suspect’s Grand Vitara not far from the victim’s home. The car was found stuck in the mud. Deputies found Perry and the victim nearby in a cemetery. They also found a gun with no magazine in the area. Neither Perry nor the victim were injured.
The victim told deputies she was in the front yard when Perry allegedly came up to her and grabbed her by the hair. He dragged her about for about 20 feet before she relented and walked with him to the cemetery where deputies found them, the affidavit said.
In an interview with detectives, Perry said he drove four hours from his home in Spartanburg to the victim’s home to speak with her. He told deputies he wanted to talk with the victim and convince her to sell her cellphone so he could get bail money for a separate case involving the two, the affidavit said. He said he walked up to her door where he was met by a man whom he did not know. The man told Perry to leave. Perry then started banging on the front door and side of the house but denied causing damage or striking the home with his car.
Perry also claimed that the victim went with him to the cemetery on her own accord.
Deputies arrested Perry on charges of kidnapping, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and malicious injury to personal property. They took him to the Georgetown Jail, where he’s being held on a $67,100 bond.
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