Woman kidnapped from Gwinnett home rescued in Alabama; man arrested

Christopher Gray

Christopher Gray

A woman kidnapped from her Gwinnett County home was rescued Tuesday by police in central Alabama after someone reported a suspicious vehicle at a car wash.

The man charged in the crime, 33-year-old Christopher Gray, allegedly took off running when he saw the officers arrive, according to AL.com. Police in Bessemer, Ala., told the news site they chased Gray and found him hiding in a shed about three miles away.

He was arrested on charges out of Alabama, and authorities in Georgia are also pursuing charges.

“We have charged him with kidnapping,” Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. Wilbert Rundles told AJC.com. “The investigation is still active and more charges are possible.”

The victim’s son called police Monday to report her missing. He said his mother and Gray, her boyfriend, left her Snellville area home earlier that morning and never returned.

The son told police Gray allegedly had a history of abusing his mother, but she was reluctant to report the incidents to authorities.

While a Gwinnett officer was speaking with her son, the 50-year-old woman called into the home’s security system, according to a police report obtained by AJC.com. The officer “heard another voice speak to her as if she was being told what to say.”

The officer called her back on the phone and asked if she was being held against her will. After a long pause, the line disconnected.

Once she was found, the woman was treated at a hospital in Alabama for sexual assault-related injuries and released, AL.com reported.

Gray is facing charges of first-degree sodomy and third-degree theft in Alabama. A Mississippi native, Gray also has pending charges in that state and was out on bond at the time of his arrest, AL.com reported.

Read more about his Alabama arrest here.

— Please return to AJC.com for updates.

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