Post-abduction, Jewelers Row vendors react
As cops searched for clues in the kidnapping of a woman who works in the tight-knit section, friends lamented the senselessness of the act.
AN ACT of senseless violence has tarnished Jewelers Row.
Vendors in the tight-knit section of Center City were aghast at the news that one of their own, a 53-year-old employee of the National Watch & Diamond Exchange, was kidnapped and brutalized by three bandits Saturday.
"It's a shock; it's horrible," said Tony Piloyan, owner of 8th Street Gold and Diamond Buyers, a few doors away from where the victim works, on 8th Street near Chestnut.
"She's never without a smile," Piloyan said of the victim, who police said was home last night after being treated at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center for a concussion, eye hematoma and bruises.
Piloyan said the woman had helped him sell jewelry in his shop. "She's just a super-nice person," he said. "Everyone knows her."
None of her friends wanted to disclose her name yesterday - she has been through enough, they said.
That's an understatement.
Police said last night that they were still scouring the city for the three men who abducted her about 4 p.m. Saturday as she walked to her car in a parking garage across the street from her store.
They threw her into a maroon van and, over the next hour, punched her, kicked her and zapped her with a stun gun, all in an attempt to get the keys to her store and the code to its safe.
They eventually dropped her off at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Darby, but then came back for her and abducted her a second time.
They eventually made off with $200 of her money, as well as her purse, cellphone and credit cards.
She was returned to the cemetery, where she was able to flag down a passer-by and get help.
Yesterday, the National Watch & Diamond Exchange was closed.
On the front door, employees had posted a letter thanking friends for their "outpouring of care and concern."
"We are grateful that a member of our family was returned to us and pray for her speedy recovery," the letter states, going on to thank the police for "their hard work."
Down the street, as Piloyan closed up shop, he lamented the dangers of the jewelry business.
He said he initially considered buying a space in the lot where the woman was grabbed, but decided against it.
He now parks at a nearby Philadelphia Parking Authority lot, on 8th Street near Ludlow. He likes that it's open-air and has an attendant 24/7.
But even though he feels safer parking there, he always makes sure to walk to his car with one of his employees.
"These guys don't understand she's just an employee, a saleswoman," he said. "Was $200 really worth a lifetime in jail?"