Garner woman escapes kidnapping attempt outside home

It happened around 4:45 a.m. at Abberly Place Apartments off Timber Drive East, where a man approached the 22-year-old woman outside her third-floor apartment, held a knife to her throat and forced her back downstairs, Garner Police Lt. Joe Binns said.

"About the time they got to the bottom of the steps, she managed to fight her way from him, and then she ran away and hid somewhere safe until he left the area," Binns said.

The woman had noticed someone in a white four-door truck following her on nearby U.S. Highway 70 and then into the apartment complex. But she convinced herself that it was possibly another resident of the apartments, authorities said.

She told police that she still felt uneasy when no one got out of the vehicle and that, before she got out of her car, she took off her high-heeled shoes – in case she needed to run – and pre-dialed 911 on her cellphone.

She later called 911 from a neighbor's home.

"I got to my apartment – a man, a Hispanic male – he was running up the stairs and he pulled out a knife and he told me that – to shut up – and so I just listened," she said in the recording, released Monday afternoon.

The woman went on to tell the emergency dispatcher that the man said he wasn't going to hurt her but that a friend of his wanted to talk to her.

"I started fighting him, and he covered my mouth and my nose so I would pass out," she continued. "And – but I still kept fighting him, and I just started screaming, and he panicked and he ran, and I ran to the front office and I hid in the bushes."

Investigators are searching for a heavyset man in his early 40s who is approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall.

He was last seen wearing a bright lime green T-shirt under a light-colored hooded sweatshirt and jeans. The white four-door truck had a white camper shell with windows.

Anyone with information about the crime can call the Garner Police Department at 919-772-8810.

Investigators, meanwhile, are urging the community – particularly women – to be on alert, to pay attention to their instincts and call 911 if they feel uncomfortable in similar situations or see anything suspicious.

"If you are uneasy, not sure about what's going on – if the hair stands up on the back of your neck – then pay attention to what's going on and make sure you take steps you need to make sure you're safe," Binn said.