Maryland State Police arrested a man in connection with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of a woman taken from a Washington DC convenience store last Friday, CBS News reported.
According to police, Dennis Bell, 62, was driving a U-Haul truck Friday morning when he encountered a woman at a Washington DC convenience store. The woman later told officers that Bell shoved her into the U-Haul, threatening her life if she did not comply. He then drove around all day with her on the floorboard.
The woman told police that Bell had removed her clothes and stabbed her fingers with a pocket knife. Since she was kept on the floorboard in the front seat, the woman did not know where they were going.
Sometime after 9:30 pm on Friday, multiple calls came into the College Park State Police Barrack from motorists reporting a U-Haul driving erratically, striking multiple park vehicles while traveling in Lanham, Maryland.
State police caught up with the U-Haul on Route 450 in Lanham. But when troopers attempted to stop the vehicle, Bell refused, taking them on a short pursuit until he drove the U-Haul into a ditch and stalled.
Despite multiple requests to exit the vehicle, Bell refused to comply. Troopers then entered the U-Haul through the passenger-side window where they discovered the kidnapped woman, naked on the floorboard bleeding from her fingers. She was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Bell was arrested and taken to the hospital before being transported to the Upper Marlboro Department of Corrections.
Bell faces multiple criminal charges, including kidnapping, false imprisonment, first-degree assault, fourth-degree sexual offense, possession of crack, and driving while impaired. He is also facing 19 traffic-related charges.
The name of the woman has been withheld.
The incident is being investigated by the Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division.
