Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Carjack victim escapes Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 15:07:56 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Carjack victim escapes \SH Forces trunk in Pittsburgh \BY Jim Keary \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES A Temple Hills woman who said she was abducted, stuffed in the trunk of her car for 14 hours and driven to Pittsburgh this weekend was at home yesterday, bruised but relatively unharmed, her aunt said. Yvette Patrina Brown, 33, told Pittsburgh police she was waiting at a stoplight on South Dakota Avenue in the District about 8 p.m. Saturday night when a man approached her car, yanked open the door and slugged her in the face. The next thing she knew, she was in the trunk of her car, she said. She told police she groped around in the dark trunk for a tire iron and spent several hours trying to open the trunk from inside. "She worked on it the whole time until it came open," said her aunt, who asked not to be identified. She said that Miss Brown finally got out of the trunk about 10 a.m. Sunday in Pittsburgh and ran to a nearby bus terminal to call her aunt, who told her to call police. "They came and got her, and she was taken to the hospital," the aunt said. "She's fine." A Pittsburgh charity group heard about the case and gave Miss Brown a Greyhound bus ticket back to the District. She was escorted on the bus about 2:30 p.m. Sunday. "She had quite a lot of excitement, but when she got on the bus she seemed OK," said Cindy Kvamme, a customer service supervisor for Greyhound's Pittsburgh office. Miss Brown, who lives with her aunt in Temple Hills, got home Sunday about 10 p.m. "She was bruised in the face and dirty from being in the trunk," said her aunt. "She's feeling a little tired." The aunt said the first things Miss Brown wanted to do when she got home was call her mother and take a bath. "She wanted her mother to hear her voice," said the aunt. "Then she wanted to soak in the tub. She was dirty from riding so long in the trunk." Miss Brown declined to talk to reporters yesterday. Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Edward Patterson said he has contacted the FBI about the case, since Miss Brown was taken across state lines. He said the only description Miss Brown could give of her abductor was a black man in his late 20s with a mustache. Police were still trying to locate her 1978 maroon Chevrolet Monte Carlo yesterday. Both the aunt and Cmdr. Patterson said Miss Brown could not recall which South Dakota Avenue intersection she was sitting at when she was abducted. The aunt said she was not concerned about Miss Brown's whereabouts until she got her call from Pittsburgh Sunday morning. "She's a responsible woman," the aunt said. "She has a lot of friends and her mother lives in Washington, so she could have stayed with them." D.C. robbery detectives, who handle all kidnapping charges, said yesterday they had been notified of the case by Pittsburgh police and were trying to contact Miss Brown yesterday. She has yet to make a report in the District, a robbery official said. Miss Brown's aunt said that despite the ordeal, she did not believe her niece would be afraid to venture out on her own from now on. * Brian Reilly contributed to this report. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM