Miss. Police: Kidnapped Woman Escaped Captors

June 29, 2013
Officials say the woman escaped and then led Hattiesburg police to at least one of her captors.

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- A Panama City Beach woman escaped and then led police to at least one of her captors Thursday after she was kidnapped and taken to Mississippi.

Flor Esmeralda Turcio-Arias, 34, walked into the Hattiesburg, Miss., Police Department about a block from the home she had escaped, according to a police report. She was upset and told them, through a translator, she had been abducted, and then led them back to the home, where police took a Hispanic man and woman into custody.

Hattiesburg police contacted authorities in rural Jasper County, Miss., about 50 miles north of Hattiesburg, where they found a vehicle matching the description of the car the kidnappers drove and took the occupants into custody.

No one taken into custody has been identified. They were turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, along with information on the case.

Turcio-Arias was taken by two men from outside of her Laguna Beach home just after noon Thursday while she was outside washing her car. Her abductors were believed to be two Hispanic men about 50 and 30 years old. Bay County authorities had reason to believe the men were armed, though they are not certain.

Bay County Sheriff's Office Maj. Tommy Ford said very few details about the kidnapping would be released due to an ongoing FBI investigation. He believed Turcio-Arias did not know her abductors, but he did not believe there was any danger to the community.

"It appears to be an isolated incident," Ford said. "We don't believe it to be random."

Turcio-Arias escaped through a bathroom window of the home, Ford said.

Two unidentified men have been arrested in connection to the abduction, and investigators are interviewing others who might be suspects, according to the BCSO. One of the men arrested was involved in the actual abduction; the other's role is unclear.

One kidnapper had not been arrested and was at large, Ford said. The suspects will be prosecuted in federal court, Ford said.

It was not clear Friday evening with what the suspects have been charged.

Copyright 2013 - The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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