CPD arrests three men for kidnapping at local Walmart
The Columbia Police Department arrested three men for kidnapping two women in a Walmart parking lot on Conley Road, CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said.
The suspects were holding the women captive Monday in the parking lot, demanding their money back for a drug deal gone wrong.
The men drove to Columbia from Jefferson City to buy marijuana from the two women, Haden said. They forced the women to go to the parking lot with them after they realized the marijuana was fake.
"Basically, they were telling the women, and specifically the 21-year-old who had arranged the drug deal, 'You'd better call you family, your friends, or whoever and get our money back or we're not going to let you leave,'" Haden said.
Jamaal C. Bates, 24, Santana J. Green, 30, and Kristopher E. Bell, 26, are all being held in the Boone County Jail on charges of kidnapping, according to the Boone County Sheriff's Department's 7:00 report.
One of the people the women called alerted police, who found the three men and two women in a car in the parking lot. There was an implication there was a gun involved, but, in fact, no one had a gun, Haden said.
"The three men, however, were holding the girls there and not allowing them to leave, demanding that they get their money back," Haden said. "We arrested the three for the most serious offense we could, which was kidnapping."
CPD Detective Maurice Trapp was called in at about 2 a.m. and interviewed the two victims and three suspects, Haden said. The men are each being charged with two counts of kidnapping. Haden said kidnapping is very rare in Columbia, though it does occur, usually in situations of domestic violence or spousal abuse.
"That's unfortunate, but it's not all that uncommon," she said. "Something like this is much less common."
Kidnapping is a case where someone forces another person to go somewhere against their will, Haden said. Felonious restraint is where someone physically restrains someone else from leaving. Both are felonies in Missouri.
"Even though its name sounds like (kidnapping) implies that it has to be a child involved, that's just not true at all," Haden said.
Another more common situation is parental kidnapping, where a parent intentionally does not return a child on time, or picks up a child from daycare when they are not supposed to.
"We get those every once in a while too, but this type of situation is certainly much more unusual," Haden said.