By Greg Welter
Chico Enterprise-Record
CHICO, Calif. — A woman escaped from two female kidnappers Saturday night by jumping from their vehicle into the back seat of an unmarked Butte County sheriff’s car in west Chico.
Police declined to release the name of the victim, 30, for her safety.
The women and an unknown man came to the victim’s apartment on Warner Street about 6:30 p.m. and accused her of stealing money from one of them, the victim said.
She was attacked by the trio, who allegedly pummeled her with their fists and shocked her with a stun gun, she said. The attack went on for some time. The suspects eventually dragged her from the apartment and placed her in a vehicle described as a black Honda Civic.
Police arrested the two attacking women when the car stopped for a red light at West Sacramento and Nord Avenue and the victim scrambled into the back seat of a vehicle she recognized as an unmarked police car.
The woman was screaming she had been kidnapped and her abductors were in the car directly behind them, police said.
Chico police responded and found deputies out with several people near the Safeway store on West Sacramento.
Those arrested were Julie Ann Gates, 33, of Chico, and Gwen Ellen Elizondo, 49, of Orland. They were booked into the Butte County Jail in Oroville on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment and conspiracy.
Gates was also charged with making criminal threats and being in possession of drug paraphernalia, found in her purse. She is on probation for a drug conviction from last year, according to Butte County Court records.
The abductors were going to take the victim to a relative’s home in Glenn County to get the money, but they drove around for a while before heading for Orland, the victim said.
The arrest of the suspects was made approximately an hour after they barged into the victim’s apartment.
The victim did not require medical treatment.
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