A woman jumped from a moving car to escape a man who allegedly abducted her in Vancouver at knifepoint when she stopped to assist him.
Jeremy Alexksa, 31, was recognised on Tuesday, days after his arrest in the abduction that culminated in a spectacular police pursuit across a portion of Washington state early Saturday morning.
Alexksa is suspected of kidnapping the unidentified lady on Friday evening, after she allegedly provided him with water and a transport to the petrol station.
Several hours later, a household in adjacent Camas, which is in Clark County, reported being awoken by a distressed lady banging on their door and pleading for assistance.
The lady allegedly said, “I thought he was going to kill me.”
Alexksa was apprehended after being discovered in the victim’s car after a short police pursuit that began at the residence. Currently, he is being detained on a $750,000 bail.
Eliza Fletcher, a 34-year-old mother of two, was abducted while running in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday morning. The terrifying event occurred less than 24 hours later. On Monday, her corpse was discovered, and Cleotha Abston was charged with her murder.
Jamie Woods and his wife Caitlin Martin were alarmed when a woman attempted to enter their house via the back door, despite being on the other side of the nation from the abduction in Memphis.
‘She had told me that someone was trying to kill her and took her car so I said OK and I walked off into the street with her to see if I could see anything,’ Jamie Woods said. ‘Right then and there the car that she explained to me had turned the corner.’
At around 4:30 a.m., Woods contacted 911 and Clark County officers arrived on the scene. The suspect was located in her vehicle, and a 10-minute automobile pursuit occurred, according to a news release. The man was apprehended by Vancouver police at NE 2nd and 115th streets.
The woman informed authorities that the experience started at around 7:00 p.m. Friday when she was checking her mail in her Vancouver community of Harney Heights.
She claimed that when the man approached her and requested water and a trip to a petrol station, she obliged and drove him to a neighbouring Arco station, 2829 E. The Columbian got a probable cause document about Mill Plain Blvd.
When they got at the petrol station, Alexksa took out a 3-inch knife, put it to her leg, and demanded her to shift to the passenger seat, according to the complaint. The suspect reportedly climbed into the driver’s seat and continued to drive throughout the county.
According to the complaint, the woman informed officers that she leapt from the SUV three times in an effort to escape, but returned to the car out of concern for her pocketbook and mobile phone. The things were subsequently discovered in her car, according to police.
The woman was finally able to escape in the area of Northeast 28th Street and 223rd Avenue where she jumped out of the SUV and was found knocking on doors and screaming for help.
She woke up homeowner Jamie Woods and his wife Caitlin Martin who told KOIN they initially thought the woman was intoxicated when they were startled by the woman trying to enter the back door of their house.
‘She had told me that someone was trying to kill her and took her car,’ Woods told KOIN 6 News.
‘So I said okay and I walked off into the street with her to see if I could see anything.’
At that moment, Woods said, ‘the car that she explained to me had turned the corner.’
Woods called 911, and deputies came and immediately found the vehicle after launching a search for it.
Clark County deputies, with the assistance of Vancouver police, apprehended the suspect after a 10-minute automobile pursuit during which they saw him in the suspect’s vehicle and pursued it for 10 minutes. He was apprehended around NE 2nd and 115th.
Alexksa refused to divulge his identify to the police, but on Tuesday he was identified.
The Vancouver Police Department has recently charged him with first-degree abduction and first-degree robbery, after the Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s original accusations of kidnapping, robbery, reckless driving, and flight.
Alexksa was in Clark County Superior Court on Tuesday on accusation of abduction in the first degree, robbery in the first degree, trying to evade and reckless driving.
The bond was imposed by Judge Robert Lewis at $750,000, and his arraignment is slated for September 16.