NEW RUSSIA TWP. — A 43-year-old Carlisle Township woman with a gunshot wound clung to the inside of an open car trunk Tuesday as her abductor barreled down a country road at speeds estimated at 100 mph.

The woman, whose name has not yet been released, continued to fight for her life after she was dumped and left for dead behind a closed business on Oberlin-Elyria Road.

“I just heard, ‘Help, help,’ ” said 51-year-old Mike Edwards, who lives next door to the business and had just taken a break from waxing his truck.

“When I found her, she was naked from the waist down. She said she had been shot and raped.”

Being found by Edwards marked the end of a harrowing ordeal for the woman that began hours earlier when she was abducted from the Equestrian Center of the Lorain County Metro Parks’ Carlisle Reservation.

That’s where, sheriff’s deputies say, Matthew Plas, a 25-year-old homeless man, formerly of Wellington and living out of his car, kidnapped her.

But it wasn’t until witnesses later saw the woman sticking out of the trunk of her own car that the chase began.

Lane Crittenden of Elyria said he pulled his car to the side of the road at the corner of West and Kipton-Nickle Plate roads when he saw a car backed up to the edge of an embankment over the river.

His moment of curiosity may have saved the woman’s life.

“I pulled up and there was a lady in the trunk of this car and a guy up next to her. I said, ‘Do you need some help?’ and the guy said, ‘We just stopped here to make love.’ ”

That’s when the woman in the trunk said, “No, that’s not the truth. I’ve been shot. I need help. Come here.”

Crittenden, who uses a portable oxygen tank, flagged down a passing car that was driven by Glenn Rising of Oberlin.

“I was taking my wife to rehab,” Rising said, “and just happened to be turning down here on West Road when this gentleman asked if I could help with this young lady in the trunk of a car, and she was yelling for help.”

That’s when the two of them watched as the man jumped into the driver’s seat of his car.

“He gave a peace sign and took off like a banshee,” Rising said. “The trunk was open when he ran off. The young lady was in the back of the trunk waving her arms and he was going God only knows how fast. We followed them as best we could.”

Both men gave chase as the car sped off but they couldn’t keep up with it.

Rising called 911 on his cell phone to alert police to the situation.

The speeding car whipped past a group of county roadside workers who said they had to look twice to make sure they were seeing what they thought they were.

“I heard a car coming up really fast and it drove past me at like 100 mph,” said Jake Podrosky of Amherst.

“It scared the crap out of me. When I looked, I saw a woman dangling out of the trunk of the car. I was shocked.”

Deputies were notified of the situation at 1:09 p.m. —  around the same time an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper saw the vehicle pull onto Oberlin-Elyria Road.

They followed the car, which belonged to the woman who was in the trunk, but the driver abandoned it and ran through a dense Metro Parks forest toward the  Equestrian Center where he had left his own car.

A Highway Patrol plane was called in to assist, and units from the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and Elyria and Oberlin police also assisted.

The suspect was caught 35 minutes later by two Metro Park officers.

It was almost 2 p.m. when Edwards found the woman and called 911.

She had been shot once in the middle of her upper back and had difficulty moving her legs, Edwards said. She was taken to Allen Community Hospital in Oberlin and was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

Police said that while the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening, the bullet did hit very close to her spine.

Plas was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping and is expected to be arraigned in Oberlin Municipal Court.

“We could only assume what eventual outcome would’ve come if the witnesses wouldn’t have stepped in when they did,” sheriff’s Capt. Richard Resendez said. “It didn’t look good.”

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

Contact Bruce Bishop at 329-7247 or bbishop@chroniclet.com.

 

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---