The woman who was kidnapped on Sunday off a Philadelphia street -- a crime that was caught on a surveillance video -- has been found alive, police said today.
This comes as Philadelphia police have learned the identity of the person of interest they are seeking in the case, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told ABC News.
Ramsey said the investigators are seeking to question the man who is seen on several videos released by police of a man in dark clothes and a hoodie allegedly using the victim's ATM card and shopping at two stores.
The commissioner said the man in the store videos is believed to be the same person in the surveillance tape seen pulling Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, into a car during her Sunday abduction.
Ramsey did not identify the man and Philadelphia police have not called the man a suspect in the abduction of Freeland-Gaither.
Ramsey spoke after new surveillance video released today revealed the clearest image yet of the person of interest and investigators asked that people pay particular attention to how the person walks.
The FBI released the new video showing a man in a hooded jacket as he shops in a supermarket hours before that Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, was kidnapped on Sunday, according to the video time stamp.
The video shows the man entering and leaving the unidentified store as well as walking through its aisles. He appears to have a slight limp. Investigators also noted that the man in the video had a wallet chain and wore a dark hoodie.
On Tuesday, police surveillance footage that showed a man in a hooded jacket using Freeland-Gaither's ATM card at a bank in Aberdeen, Maryland, the morning after her abduction. Another video from a nearby convenience store appeared to show the same man buying items minutes after the ATM transaction.
Ramsey told ABC News they had no evidence that Freeland-Gaither knew her abductor.
Freeland-Gaither's abduction on an empty Philadelphia street Sunday night was caught on surveillance video and began with a wary handshake, according to additional video released Tuesday night.
Additional surveillance footage taken from a second angle of the kidnapping revealed the first frightening moments between Freeland-Gaither and her assailant.
The video shows Freeland-Gaither walking down the street in Philadelphia on her way home from a visit with her godson at 9:40 p.m.
She first passed the man in a dark hoodie, who turned back and got her attention, so she turned to face him. The unidentified man reached his hand out as if to greet Freeland-Gaither. In grainy surveillance footage she shook the man's hand, but appeared to be wary and back pedaled as she shook his hand.
'She's backing away as she's looking at him,' Captain James Smith of the Philadelphia Police Department told ABC News affiliate WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. 'She knows something's up.'
The man then lunged and grabbed her, rushing her down the street and into his car.
Previously released surveillance footage shows Freeland-Gaither fighting to get away from her attacker. Freeland-Gaither was pulled down the street in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia toward the man's car, which police believe is a 2000-2002 gray Ford Taurus. At one point, she even fell to the ground to try and get away.
'We hear the woman being placed in the car and you can hear her yelling,' Chief Inspector Dennis Wilson told ABC News of the early surveillance footage. Police said she never said the name of her attacker and they do not believe she knew him.
Police said that they believe the Philadelphia nurse's assistant was able to kick out two windows after being put in the car. Her glasses and cellphone were found on the highway.
Entities 0 Name: Philadelphia Count: 8 1 Name: Ramsey Count: 3 2 Name: ABC News Count: 3 3 Name: Carlesha Freeland-Gaither Count: 2 4 Name: Ford Taurus Count: 1 5 Name: Charles Ramsey Count: 1 6 Name: Aberdeen Count: 1 7 Name: Dennis Wilson Count: 1 8 Name: Philadelphia Police Department Count: 1 9 Name: James Smith Count: 1 10 Name: FBI Count: 1 11 Name: Germantown Count: 1 12 Name: Maryland Count: 1 13 Name: WPVI-TV Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1y4hfPN Title: Abduction Probe Releases New Video of 'Person of Interest' Description: New surveillance video reveals the clearest image yet of a person of interest wanted for questioning in the case of a Philadelphia woman whose abduction was recorded by surveillance cameras, and investigators asked that people pay particular attention to how the person walks. The FBI released the...
