Woman abducted in Germantown in violent struggle caught on tape

Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was almost home.

The 22-year-old from Germantown had spent Sunday night at her godson's birthday party and going home around 9:40 p.m. on the 100 block of West Coulter Street, her family said.

She had moved to the neighborhood with her boyfriend just two months before. And she was a five-minute walk from her home when, police say, someone stalked her, grabbed her, and dragged her, screaming, into a waiting car.

In her struggle to break free, police said, she kicked out two windows in her assailant's car before it sped off.

On Monday morning, crime-scene investigators swept auto glass from the tree-lined street where Freeland-Gaither was abducted, while her stunned family handed out fliers on the sidewalk. Police released chilling security footage of the abduction and asked for the public's help in identifying and locating the suspected kidnapper.

The city is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. The Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 5, is offering an additional $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

"I just want her back," said Freeland-Gaither's father, Carl Freeland. "They can hold me for ransom. Just let my daughter go."

In the footage released Monday - gathered from an office building on a corner on Coulter - a man exits from what appears to be a dark gray four-door Ford Taurus, stalks Freeland-Gaither, then drags her, struggling, toward the car.

Witnesses told police they heard Freeland-Gaither, who lives about three blocks away on West Hansberry Street, yelling for help - and police say her glasses and cellphone dropped in the street as the man wrestled her into the car.

In the video, the car can be seen shaking as Freeland-Gaither struggles in the backseat - and another car stops in the street, but reverses down the block, away from the crime.

Just before the Ford pulled away, witnesses said, Freeland-Gaither kicked out the side rear windows of the car.

Lt. John Stanford, a department spokesman, said investigators believe the man had been watching Freeland-Gaither.

The man parked the car far down the block from where Freeland-Gaither was walking, then waited, the video shows.

"He waits her out," Stanford said. "It clearly looks like he was watching her before approaching her. How far back he was watching her, we don't know."

He asked people with any information about the abduction to call police. "If anyone may have seen anything - regardless of how minute they think it is - we still want to hear about it," he said.

Stanford said detectives were working alongside investigators from the Pennsylvania State Police and FBI, and were chasing down tips that have come in since the video was released.

"Right now, it looks like a random incident," he said. "Just the fight that she puts up - the simple fact that she kicks out the back windows - this tells this is not somebody she knew. It tells us this young lady was fighting for life, and that's how we are treating it."

Freeland-Gaither's family described her as bubbly and hardworking, the oldest of nine siblings. A certified nursing assistant at Presbyterian Hospital, she had been planning to enroll in additional nursing courses, her grandfather said. In the photo posted on dozens of fliers her family hung around the neighborhood, she is seen grinning and cuddling a puppy.

"She's always happy, always smiling," her stepmother, Jamila Freeland, said.

Her family said they learned of her abduction after her boyfriend, worried when he did not hear from her Sunday night, called her cellphone and a detective picked up.

"I'm lost for words. Just lost - empty," Carl Freeland said. "I don't know where to go, which way to turn."

Family members said they were trying to remain calm as they waited for news from detectives. Carl Freeland's voice wavered only when he spoke about watching the surveillance footage of his daughter's abduction.

"Heartbreaking," he said. "I never expected my daughter to ever go through that."

Police described the suspect as about 25 to 30 years old, about 5-foot-10, with a medium-to-heavy build. He was wearing a dark-colored jacket with a dark-colored hood.

The Taurus is believed to a 2000 to 2002 model with a rear spoiler, and a Pennsylvania license plate and an unknown plate on the front bumper. The vehicle was missing inspection stickers and had an unknown item in the center bottom of the front windshield.

Police ask anyone with information on the crime to contact Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353.

215-854-2961 @aubreyjwhelan