Young Woman Kidnapped at ATM, Forced Into Trunk of Car
Oct. 23, 2006 — -- It's been more than a week since Tabitha Champ, a 19-year-old from Statesville, N.C., was kidnapped and robbed at gunpoint by three teenagers.
Police now have three suspects in custody.
They are being charged with kidnapping and robbery, and police are also investigating whether the trio is connected to a recent cluster of crimes in the Statesville area.
Tabitha Champ's horrifying ordeal began around 11 p.m., when she and a friend were talking in her car.
They were approached by three armed suspects.
The three young men allegedly forced Tabitha Champ into the back seat and told her friend to take the wheel. The suspects ordered the friend to drive to an ATM, and withdraw money, emptying their accounts.
"The guy took a gun and clubbed my daughter in the head," said Mark Champ, Tabitha's father.
The suspects then told the friend to drive to Tabitha's house where her parents and 5-year-old brother awoke to a nightmare.
"I woke up, and there's two guys standing on top of me with guns," Mark said. "They made us lay down on the floor downstairs, and they held guns on us down there."
The suspects terrorized the family, firing shots at the floor before ransacking the house. They took jewelry and money.
Afterward, they again forced Tabitha into a car -- this time the trunk of her father's Mercedes-Benz -- with plans to get money from Mark's ATM account.
As soon as the three suspects took off with his daughter, Mark alerted police.
After a high-speed chase -- sometimes going in excess of 90 mph -- the police eventually intercepted the vehicle and freed Tabitha.
Mark said he was proud of his daughter's courage but furious that she suffered through such an ordeal.
"This should never happen at a public place where you're getting mugged out here in the parking lot," he said.
Related Stories
ABC News Live