A teenage girl became the victim of a violent kidnapping incident when she was taken from Alabama across state lines into Florida, where her kidnappers beat her, bound her to a tree, and then abandoned her there.
The teenager met one of her kidnappers, Cody Jerome Jordan, 22, on Friday evening in Alabama’s Houston County. Jerome “picked her up” before meeting with two other women who later joined them in the car.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the victim’s age, only saying she was a teenager under 18. They also refused to speak on the circumstances of the teenager’s meeting with Jordan, so it is still unclear whether the victim knew her assailants before Friday.
According to the police, Jordan and the two other females took the teenager to an abandoned building at around 1 am on Saturday, and that is where Jordan beat her up and used duct tape to tie her hands and feet so she couldn’t move.
The trio then carried her to the car, took her to an unspecified location, and left her under a tree.
The police got a 911 call about the girl early Saturday morning, November 5, from a nearby resident who spotted the girl tied up. Deputies quickly responded to the scene and arrived around 6:15 am, where they found the girl, whose hands had been tied behind her back, still bound.
The police rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for her wounds.
Police arrested Jordan and charged him with several crimes, including battery, false imprisonment, robbery, and tampering with a victim.
One of the women accompanying Jordan and the victim, identified by the police as Molly Michele Jarrett, 19, was also arrested in connection with the case. Like her fellow assailant Jordan, the police charged Jarrett with several crimes.
According to court records, both Jordan and Jarrett are residents of Alabama.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office posted several pictures on Facebook which showed the two alleged kidnappers at the time of their arrest. Jarrett was wearing what looked to be a costume of a DC Comics superhero called Raven, with a purple wig and a purple cape.
It appeared that the two assailants would remain in the Houston County jail as fugitives as of Monday afternoon.
Sheriff Edenfield of Jackson County thanked the Houston County Sheriff’s Office and its sheriff for their help on the case. He also congratulated his deputies for all their work in catching the two suspects and bringing them to face the law.
Police will transport them to Jackson County, where they will make their first court appearance this week. Authorities did not make it clear whether any of the charges were federal.
