New charges against man who allegedly held woman hostage before her escape in NJ
The woman ran to a gas station, bolted the door and reportedly told the attendant she had been kidnapped for approximately a year.
BASS RIVER TWP., New Jersey (WPVI) -- New charges have been filed against the man accused of holding a woman hostage for nearly a year before she was able to escape in South Jersey.
James Parrillo Jr., 57, was arrested on Feb. 7 in Burlington County, New Jersey after the woman he allegedly kidnapped escaped from the residence they shared, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and New Jersey State Police.
The woman was able to find help at a nearby gas station. Surveillance video shows her running into the business and locking the door from the inside as Parrillo tried to get in.
SEE ALSO: Man charged with kidnapping after allegedly holding woman hostage for nearly a year
The woman reportedly told police she first met Parrillo -- whom she knew by the name Brett Parker -- at a gas station in New Mexico in February 2022 and agreed to give him a ride to Arizona, prosecutors said. She reportedly said she was in a voluntary relationship with the man for about a month when he allegedly physically assaulted her while they were in California, "at which point she felt unable to leave the relationship," the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said in a statement.
Parrillo allegedly took the woman's phone and debit cards and "isolated her from her family," the attorney general's office said.
The two arrived in New Jersey sometime in December and were staying in a rented room in Bass River for about two weeks when she managed to escape following an argument with Parrillo, during which he allegedly beat and choked her.
The gas station attendant called state police, who apprehended Parrillo a short time later as he walked down a nearby road.
At the time, Parrillo was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, hindering apprehension, criminal restraint and other related offenses.
An 11-count indictment handed up by a grand jury on May 3 added six charges against Parrillo: two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault, one count of criminal coercion, and one count of theft by extortion.
Parrillo is currently detained in the Burlington County Jail pending trial.
