Teens Help Save Dallas Woman Kidnapped by Stranger Armed With Gun and Butcher Knife
A Dallas, Texas, woman who was kidnapped in her own car by a stranger armed with a gun and butcher knife is grateful today after two teenagers checking out her attractiveness from a nearby car realized she was being kidnapped and called police who completed the save.
The woman, who was forced into her car by the gunman in downtown Dallas two weeks ago, according to NBC 5 was able to initiate her rescue by mouthing the words "help me" to the admiring teenagers from the back of the car where she was being held captive.
On Wednesday, police released the dramatic 911 call placed by 19-year-old college student Aaron Arias who was traveling with his 17-year-old high school pal, Jamal Harris, when they noticed the woman in distress at in the back seat of a car at a stoplight.
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"Yes, I'm on the highway," Aaron Arias first noted to a Kaufman County Sheriff's Office dispatcher. "I'm witnessing a robbery; not a robbery -- a kidnapping."
"It's me and another guy, so we're checking out the girl in the backseat because, we're like, 'OK, she's kind of attractive,'" said Arias in the recording that was also posted on YouTube. "And then, all of the sudden, you know, the guy is turned back, looking at us."
The 25-year-old woman was kidnapped from an office building on Aug. 22 near Bryan Street, according to the NBC 5 report. She made contact with the teens about an hour later.
Arias told the 911 operator that the woman looked panicked and was "saying, 'help me,' or something, whispering it."
They reportedly tracked the car down U.S. 175 until police caught up with them in Kaufman.
"Oh my God, I'm hoping the car behind me is a police officer," Arias noted at one point in the recording before quickly saying, "Nope, it's not. Oh my God."
A few seconds later, however, the police pulled over the car with the woman and her alleged kidnapper who was later identified as Charles Atkins Lewis Jr. He is currently in jail on $50,000 bond, charged with aggravated kidnapping.
"Thank God. You guys are awesome," Arias said after the police caught up with Lewis. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Get him! Oh my God."
Arias said he met up with the unhurt woman later at the scene and she hugged the teenagers and called them her heroes."She hugs us," recalled Arias. "I would describe it as the best hug I have ever gotten."
"She says we saved her life," he added. "I guess you could say we did. But I don't want to be that person who says they're a hero."
