Young woman rescued at truck stop
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
By DAVID FERRARA
Staff Reporter
LOXLEY -- A truck driver, who authorities said kept a woman bound in his tractor-trailer rig for days while he drove across state lines, was charged Tuesday night with kidnapping after he was captured at a truck stop.
Roy Scott Stillwell, 47, of Hartville, Mo., could face additional charges today, since, authorities said, the victim suffered physical and sexual abuse.
The woman, described as being in her 20s, was kidnapped somewhere in Alabama, though Baldwin County Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Anthony Lowery would only say she was not taken from the southern part of the state.
The victim was rescued about 4 p.m. after she had escaped the cab while the truck driver was inside Love's Travel Stop on Alabama 59, just north of Interstate 10.
A female truck driver from Georgia, who declined to give her name but authorities identified as the rescuer, said she heard the truck's horn and the victim crying out for help.
The truck driver called 911 as she hopped out of her own cab and rushed toward the victim, who had yellow nylon rope dangling from her naked and bruised body.
"She looked like she had been smacked around," the trucker said. "She said she had been in the truck for three days, and she had been raped."
Stillwell was arrested inside the truck stop, authorities said.
His blue Smithway Motor Xpress rig with Iowa plates was carrying steel beams. Lowery said authorities took possession of the truck. Federal authorities were also called to investigate the possibility of interstate crimes, Lowery added.
"She's been through a horrible, tragic situation," Lowery said of the victim. "It's likely that she's been in and out of the state several times. We'll have to look hard at the possibility that there are other victims throughout the country."
The victim was taken to South Baldwin Medical Center in Foley, but her condition was not available Tuesday night.
A crowd of truck drivers watched as news crews gathered and investigators secured the area around Stillwell's truck with yellow tape.
One of them, Sandy Turner, of Madison, Fla., said he climbed out of his own truck when a squad car zipped around the back of the lot.
Turner said an officer told him, "If you see a guy with a long ponytail, get him."
A little while later, Turner said, he watched the truck stop manager walk up to investigators and turn over a plastic bag that contained a sandwich, a couple of cold drinks and a box of condoms.
Stillwell was questioned at the sheriff's Robertsdale office Tuesday evening and would be held overnight without bail at the Baldwin County Corrections Center, according to Lowery.
It just HAD to be a trucker that did this...
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Originally Posted by Sizzle
