Officials: Body of abducted Wal-Mart employee found
Police say suspect in custody in Arizona
Friday, January 21, 2005 Posted: 12:21 PM EST (1721 GMT)
Earlier, her suspected abductor, Johnny Williams was arrested at a hospital in Willcox, Arizona, where he was being treated for gunshot wounds, police said.
Holden had been missing since Wednesday night, when a man forced her into her truck as she was leaving work and drove off. The incident was captured on video by the store's surveillance system.
Police in Tyler said an officer in Willcox reported seeing Williams driving the red truck up to the hospital, throwing the keys inside the vehicle and going into the facility.
Hospital CEO Chris Cronberg confirmed that a man who appeared to be suffering form gunshot wounds was receiving treatment and was in the custody of local police.
Police in Tyler said Williams claimed he was shot by a man at a gas station near the hospital
Authorities are examining the truck.
Peter Galbreith, an agent with the FBI's Tyler office, said the violent crimes task force was involved in the investigation. The task force includes police, sheriff's officials, the U.S. Marshals service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Tyler police said that Williams was from the Tyler area, but no further information was immediately available.
The private organization Crimestoppers had offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Megan or her abductor.
Police in Tyler previously described the Wal-Mart kidnapper as a black man in his early 20s, who was about 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds.
The man had walked into the parking lot and spent about two hours loitering there, following some other women before apparently giving up on them, police who saw the surveillance tapes said.
At one point, a private security guard approached the man and spoke to him.
The man also entered the Wal-Mart at one point to use the bathroom, police said.
Various employees saw the man, said Tyler police spokesman Don Martin.
The man was carrying a duffel bag that may have contained a change of clothes, Martin said. At one point on the tape he is seen wearing a red shirt, and later is wearing a black jacket.
"We've got a good clothing description on him. We're gonna try and enhance the facial parts of the videotape," Martin said. A sketch artist was flown in from Houston.
"We're hoping today that through these leads that we might be able to come up with an I.D.," Martin said.
Holden lives with her sister in Chandler, Texas, about 10 miles from the Wal-Mart in Tyler, police said. When she did not arrive home by 3 a.m. Thursday, her sister become worried and called their mother in Henderson, Texas, who called police.
CNN's Ed Lavandera and Mike Brooks contributed to this report.
Why is it reported as "black man kills white girl"? That instantly turns the story into a race issue which frankly ticks me off. I wouldn't doubt for a minute that the reason is the location of the story. How about trying on "Man rapes & kills young girl" for size? EDIT: I see now that you made up the headline yourself, sordidmesh. Real classy of you.
... but why did you choose to report the racial facts? You could have chosen weight: "280lb man abducts & kills 140lb woman". Or how about "Angry man abducts & kills frightened woman" - You could have reported any of hundreds of "facts" about the situation. That you chose race forces it to be a race issue, at least for you.
I suppose I regard racist and sexist antics as being on somewhat different levels: one is hateful, the other is disrespectful. Personally, I view hateful tendencies as being the more dangerous of the two and am motivated to speak out when I see people cross that line. Political correctness is for politicians, but social grace is for everyone.
I will give sordidmesh the benefit of the doubt and say that on this perhaps he falls into that classifcation of those who don't think anything of it. It's seemingly harmless enough, but I think there is subconscious psychology that leads one to focus on racial elements whether or not they are aware of it. That level of psychology is a lesser problem than those who consciously perpetuate racial issues because they truly hold those hateful views.
fuscia said this in post #7 : why not the title "Wal-mart employee abducted from parking lot"? Details could follow after that.
Yes, but as it stands, when I walk through the Walmart parking lot, the image of that surveillance photo will run through my brain....I won't stop shopping there, but it's just the visual image associated with the location.
I can't live in a bubble, but I can sure turn off that damned TV.
What a sad world we live in where senseless crimes like this happen. That poor girl could not even leave work without some sick individual taking her. My prayers are with her family.
There are a lot of companies in the U.S. that have policies requiring female employees to be escorted to their vehicles after work, whether by a man or another female co-worker.
I guess it begs the question, how much risk are you willing to assume in living your life and how much energy are you willing to put into prevention and fear?
No level of utopian pusiut will ever rid us of individuals who are mentally undstable. Unless of course in the future the entire human race is a genetically engineered group of mutants without reproductive capabilities and cybornetic implants that regulate biological functions and thought processes tied into a vast control network that prevents anomalous prohibited behavior in the event of genetic flukes where an individual deviates from the standard genetic programming. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. That's not life, that's machinery.
TYLER, Texas (CNN) -- A Marine on leave awaiting disciplinary action was arrested Friday in connection with the kidnapping and killing of a Wal-Mart cashier snatched from a parking lot in Texas while leaving work.
Police said a man forced 19-year-old Megan Leann Holden into her truck late Wednesday as she was leaving work in Tyler, Texas, and drove off with her.
She was found Friday shot to death in a ditch off of Interstate 20 near Stanton, Texas, about 400 miles west of where she was taken, said Tyler Police Chief Gary Swindle.
The suspected kidnapper, Johnny Williams, was arrested Friday at a hospital in Willcox, Arizona, where he was being treated for gunshot wounds. A hospital official said the wounds were light. Swindle said Williams was taken away after being treated.
Willcox is about 600 miles west of the town where Holden's body was found.
The Pentagon confirmed Williams is a Marine on appellate leave -- meaning he is awaiting disciplinary action for an undisclosed reason. He enlisted in 2001 and has been based at Twentynine Palms near Camp Pendleton in California. His last rank on file is E-1, the lowest enlisted rank.
Swindle said Williams, 24, lives in the Tyler area, in northeast Texas.
Holden's kidnapping close to midnight Wednesday was captured on surveillance video. A black male could be seen loitering in the parking lot for more than two hours, at times following women before backing away, and then grabbing Williams and forcing her into her red truck.
"We believe he was looking for a ride," Swindle told reporters at a news conference.
At one point before the abduction a security guard spoke with the man. He also entered the Wal-Mart, ostensibly to use the bathroom.
When Holden did not get home by 3 a.m. her sister called her mother, who contacted police. Authorities looked at the tapes and spoke with those who had seen the man, and began a ground and aerial search for the vehicle.
A police officer in Willcox saw Williams drive the truck up to Northern Cochise Community Hospital on Friday morning, throw the keys in the truck and enter the hospital.
Authorities later found a handgun in the vehicle, as well as a bag that the man in the surveillance video appeared to be holding.
Swindle said preliminary reports suggested Williams was shot in the shoulder as he tried to rob a mobile home park in Bowie, Arizona.
He said Holden appeared to have been shot in the ditch where she was left.
Police said two oil workers in Stanton discovered the body at 8:43 a.m. and alerted authorities.
There is no reason to believe Holden knew Williams, authorities said.
An FBI source said the FBI in Phoenix, Arizona, is assisting local authorities in the investigation, which includes searching Holden's truck for evidence.
Williams could face charges of murder, kidnapping and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, the FBI source said.
The private organization Crimestoppers had offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Holden or her abductor.
01-21-2005 05:09 PM
touche
