Associated Press
South St. Paul, Minn. (AP) -- After her boyfriend of eight years allegedly kidnapped her, a South St. Paul woman used a cell phone to direct her own rescue while trapped in the trunk of his car.
From the trunk, the 32-year-old woman called 911 on Friday and directed police to the St. Paul home of her alleged assailant’s brother, where she was being held captive, police said.
She kept an open line to the dispatcher and could be heard screaming and resisting when the man allegedly attempted to drag her from the trunk to the home, Police Chief Michael Messerich said Monday.
The dispatcher heard a male voice yell followed by screaming, crying and something slamming shut, according to charges filed Monday.
A St. Paul officer arrived as Sheldon R. King, 33, was dragging the 32-year-old woman from the trunk into his brother’s house, according to the criminal complaint.
King was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail after being charged Monday in Dakota County District Court with kidnapping, second-degree domestic assault, terroristic threats and false imprisonment.
Police also had gone to the woman’s home in South St. Paul on June 8 and taken pictures of cuts and bruises on her upper arms that she said King inflicted that day.
She told police that King got angry June 8 because he thought she took $800 from him. She said he assaulted and her for two hours in a basement room, binding her, punching her and slicing her skin with the tip of a hunting arrow.
Three days later, King allegedly returned to her home, asking for money. He drove her to a St. Paul bank, but she refused to withdraw cash. He yelled and put her in the car trunk outside his brother’s house in St. Paul.
That’s when she called police on her cell phone.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said King is on probation for a 1997 drug conviction in Ramsey County.