Michigan State Police Foil Bizarre Craigslist Date’s Kidnapping Plans [Video]
Michigan State Police took a 41-year-old Chesaning man into custody after a Craigslist date turned bizarre and potentially lethal, police say. According to Lt. David Kaiser, Michigan State troopers were patrolling in Shiawassee County and pulled the man over on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. When the Michigan troopers approached the vehicle, they allegedly heard a woman’s muffled calls for help.
Troopers found a 22-year-old Okemos woman in the vehicle’s passenger seat, according to some media reports. WMMT claims the woman was discovered in the back seat of the vehicle. She had a bag over her head. Her mouth had been taped shut. Her hands were bound behind her back with zip-ties. Police said that after further investigation, they learned that the Okemos woman met the Chesaning man near his home after the two met through Craigslist. The man advertised that he was in search of a submissive-type woman. As it turned out, the man had used a fake name, fake photos, and a fake email address.
“The young lady answered the ad on Craigslist. She chatted with the person online and agreed to meet him,” Michigan State Police’s Lt. David Kaiser told WWJ’s Beth Fisher in an interview. “However, the mistake she made was she met him in a remote, secluded area near his home. She got into his vehicle and once they were moving, she realized this guy looked nothing like the picture that he had sent her. Also, the conversation wasn’t anything like it was online.”
The woman claims that after getting into the vehicle driven by the man whom she met through Craigslist, she realized he was not anything like what she expected and changed her mind about the date. At that point, according to MLIVE, she attempted to end the pair’s Craigslist-inspired date. She claimed that his demeanor changed, and he choked her and tied her up. She says that she was held against her will. She says that while he was driving and she was bound and gagged with a bag over her head, she repeatedly kicked the man’s seat, which caused him to drive erratically. This erratic driving ultimately caused the Michigan troopers to suspect that he was drunk driving, according to CBS Local.
The Okemos woman was not seriously injured during what is being considered a potential kidnapping situation. The suspect was arrested and contained at the Shiawassee County Jail for suspicion of kidnapping and suspicion of strangulation. Michigan State Police have not yet released the name of the suspect in the bizarre Craigslist incident, but the Inquisitr will provide an update if the information is released to the public.
[Photo adapted from MSP Facebook training exercise image]
