$10,000 reward in Center City jewelry store worker kidnapping

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Wednesday, April 8, 2015
VIDEO: Kidnapping reward
Philadelphia police hope a sizeable reward will help them find three men responsible for a violent abduction.

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- A $10,000 reward is now being offered in the kidnapping and beating of a jewelry store worker over the weekend in Center City Philadelphia.

The office of Mayor Michael Nutter said the money is being offered for the arrest and conviction of the suspects responsible.

Police have released multiple images of then van involved in the crime as the search for suspects continues.

The burgundy vehicle has white paint or compound on the side.

Surveillance video released by police earlier this week from a parking garage in the 700 block of Chestnut Street shows the van in the same location where the woman was abducted.

Police say three men jumped out of the van and put a hood over the victim's head.

The woman says they asked for codes to the safe at National Watch and Diamond Company, where she worked - but she didn't have them.

Police say the suspects then drove her around, beat her, choked her and shot her with a Taser more than a half dozen times.

"I can tell you she's been through nothing short of torture," Captain Frank Banford of the Philadelphia Police Department said.

After zip tying her hands and feet, authorities say the men dropped her off at a cemetery in Darby.

However the victim, a longtime employee at National Watch and Diamond, told police the suspects came back and forced her to give up her ATM card and the pin, which she provided.

Finally after putting her back in the van and hitting several ATM machines, police say the men made off with $200.

The woman was then dropped back off at the cemetery, but this time with steel ankle shackles.

The victim was battered and bruised, but finally was able to get her hood off and made it to a nearby road where a passerby was able to help.

She was hospitalized with a concussion, many bruises and cuts, and is deeply traumatized by the crime.

"She's holding up well considering what she's been through. I watched her husband try to touch on her the shoulder and she shrieked in pain," Banford said.

The suspects were described by police as:

Suspect #1: Black male, 20 years-of-age, dark complexion, 6'3", muscular build, wearing black pants, black hooded sweatshirt, ski mask covering his face, sunglasses, and was the driver of the van.

Suspect #2: Black male, dark complexion, 6'0", thin build, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants, ski mask covering his face, and sunglasses.

Suspect #3: Black male, dark complexion, 5'5", heavy build, wearing black pants, dark colored jacket, and a dark colored hooded sweatshirt.

The vehicle is described as a 1997-2002 Ford Econoline Cargo Van, burgundy in color, with tinted windows on the extended portion of the passenger side of the vehicle, and is either smeared with compound or white paint.

Investigators say the van had been spotted in the area of Jewelers Row including inside the garage itself last month.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Philadelphia Police by calling 911.