$47,000 reward offered for return of missing Philadelphia woman
A $47,000 reward has been offered for the safe return of a 22-year-old Philadelphia woman who was kidnapped a couple of days ago.
Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was last seen around 9:40 p.m. Sunday in the 100 block of West Coulter Street. Authorities released a chilling video of her abduction in hopes of generating leads.
As the reward for the arrest and conviction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither’s abductor rose to $47,000 yesterday, police announced that her debit card had been used by an unknown man at a stand-alone bank in Aberdeen, Md., about 6 a.m. Monday, less than nine hours after her abduction from a Germantown street.
Late last night, police released two new videos related to the abduction: The first one more clearly shows the abductor pulling his car onto Coulter Street from Greene, following Carlesha and approaching her near the corner, where he grabbed her.
In the second video, a man authorities are calling a person of interest in the case is seen wearing a black hooded jacket and black pants inside a Shell gas station convenience store in Maryland. Police sources could not confirm whether the man is the same person captured on surveillance video using Carlesha’s debit card at a Maryland ATM.
Carlesha’s family suspects that her abductor may have been a male who was obsessed with her during high school in Maryland. “There were some gray people in her past,” said Carlesha’s grandmother, Ana Mulero. “One in particular.”
Carlesha was returning home from visiting her godson and had gotten off a bus a few blocks away when her abductor snatched her from the street. Surveillance footage captured the struggle and Carlesha’s attempts to escape. Cops found her glasses and cellphone during the fight. She kicked out a window of her captor’s vehicle before he drove off with her in the back seat.
Here’s footage of the man believed to be Carlesha’s kidnapper.
She has not been seen since. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Carlesha or the identity of her captor is asked to call Northwest Detectives at 215-548-4756 or the Police Department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.
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