Video shows Jewelers Row suspect talking to victim

About 30 minutes before the abduction of a worker from a store on Jewelers Row, video surveillance shows, one of the alleged perpetrators entered the store and had a conversation with the woman whom authorities said he would later torture.

New details emerged Monday as officials announced that the reward was increased to $20,000 for tips leading to the capture of at least two additional suspects in the April 4 ordeal that left the 53-year-old woman with broken ribs and a concussion.

Khayree Gay, 31, of the 1400 block of Clearview Street in the city's Ogontz section, was arrested Friday in a motel parking lot in South Carolina and charged with attempted robbery.

Gay, who was described as unemployed, was seen in surveillance video driving the burgundy Ford Econoline van that was used to kidnap the woman after she left work at National Watch & Diamond Exchange on South Eighth Street, according to the criminal complaint filed Friday in federal court.

Philadelphia Housing Authority video showed Gay driving the van to his residence at the Suffolk Manor Apartments, according to the complaint.

A day before the kidnapping, surveillance video showed the van leaving the Chestnut Street parking garage where the woman would later be abducted.

The next day, the van returned to the parking garage and Gay was seen entering National Watch and engaging the victim "in a face-to-face conversation, during which he takes a business card from the counter and appears to write on it," according to the complaint.

The woman was kidnapped a half-hour later by three males, authorities said. She later described the driver as wearing a ski mask and sunglasses.

During the abduction, the woman was beaten by all three males, shocked repeatedly by a stun gun, and bound by her arms and legs while the men demanded to know the code to the safe at the jewelry store, according to the complaint. She said she did not know and offered her personal possessions instead.

The males dumped the woman at a Darby Township cemetery, then returned to again demand the code before finally leaving her at the cemetery. She was able to walk to a street and flag down a passing motorist for help.

Anthony Tropea, assistant special agent in charge in Philadelphia for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, called the attack "incredibly vicious."

The bureau offered a $10,000 reward Monday, on top of $10,000 already offered by Mayor Nutter's office.

Tropea said the van had been recovered but would not say where.

A federal magistrate ordered Gay extradited from South Carolina to Philadelphia, and he is expected to return to the city this week, Tropea said.

Investigators did not know the identities of the other two males, he said.

"We're asking for anything at all to help us in this investigation," he said.

Authorities ask that anyone with information call 1-800-ATF-GUNS (1-800-283-4867).

215-854-5983

@RobertMoran215