A woman who was abducted, bound, tortured and dumped in a Philly cemetery — twice — was home Monday recovering from the terrifying ordeal, according to her boss.
Detectives retraced her steps using surveillance video that shows the victim moments before she was taken, as well as the van used by her captors.
The video, released by an area store, shows the cargo van pulling into a parking garage at 733 Chestnut Street Saturday afternoon. The video then shows the 53-year-old worker, who had just left her job at National Watch & Diamond on Jewelers' Row, walking to her car at that same parking garage about two and a half hours later, moments before she was abducted by the three men.
The woman told police the men grabbed her, forced her into their van, zip-tied her wrists, shackled her ankles and covered her head with a hood. They wanted keys to the jewelry store and codes to the safe. Unable to provide either, the victim told police she was tortured and shocked with a Taser before the men dumped her — still bound — at Montlawn Cemetery at Hook Road near Lindbergh Boulevard in Delaware County.
Her captors returned a short time later. She told police they forced her back into the burgundy Ford Econoline van with white graffiti on the back and side. The men used the victim's money card to make four withdrawals before dumping her back at the cemetery, where she was able to eventually remove the hood, make her way to Hook Road and flag down a driver who called 911.
She was treated at Penn Presbyterian Hospital for bruises, contusions and a concussion, according to police.
Jewelers told NBC10's Matt DeLucia the woman is a longtime worker at National Watch & Diamond.
"She's the nicest soul I've ever known," said John Farber of Wallingford, Pennsylvania. "She's friendly. She's very knowledgeable about the jewelry and items that I bought and sold."
National Watch & Diamond was closed Monday as detectives walked through the stores and then around the parking garage with the store's owner.
