Police: Philadelphia suspect also seized woman in Virginia

A month before Delvin Barnes grabbed a woman off a street in Philadelphia, he hit a teen with a shovel in Virginia and stuffed her into the trunk of a car, authorities say.

Barnes, 37, was arrested Wednesday after police tracked him down using his car’s GPS device. The arrest followed his alleged kidnapping of a nurse in Philadelphia.

He was detained about 20 miles southwest of Baltimore.

But before he appears in court for the alleged Philadelphia abduction, he made a detour to Virginia to face charges in another alleged kidnapping.

Maryland extradited him to Virginia, where he was booked and processed Thursday night.

A month apart, but similar

Like in Philadelphia, the abduction in Virginia was brazen.

The kidnappings were a month apart and 275 miles away from each other, but they have some similarities.

Both women were younger than the alleged kidnapper: the one in Virginia was 16, and the latest victim, Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, was 22. Police say the teen was sexually abused. CNN does not name victims of sexual abuse.

Though police did not release many details of the Virginia incident, authorities say the victims didn’t know the suspect.

In both cases, their attacker held them for a few days.

Virginia teen held for two days

In Virginia, a family’s nightmare started when the 16-year-old went missing. Relatives called the Charles City County Sheriff’s Office on October 1.

The victim told police she was hit in the head with a shovel and stuffed into the trunk of a car, according to Capt. Jayson Crawley.

She was taken to the home of the suspect’s parents in Charles City County, where she was sexually abused, authorities said.

While there, the suspect showed the teen pictures of other girls he said he had abducted, authorities said.

Two days later, the suspect allegedly brought the then-naked girl into the backyard, poured bleach and gasoline on her, burned her clothes and dug a hole.

When he was briefly distracted, the girl fled into the woods. Two miles away, she stumbled onto a business, and employees brought her inside.

Barnes is charged with abduction, forcible rape and malicious wounding with a chemical, among other charges.

“I just want to kill him – just want to kill him,” the girl’s mother told CNN affiliate WWBT.

The mother says Barnes allegedly told her daughter that he was going to kill her.

After all that her daughter suffered, the mother said, she changed and didn’t look like herself.

“I can forgive him, but could never forget,” the mother told WWBT.

Man allegedly raped, burned girl in Virginia

Philadelphia woman abducted near home

Freeland-Gaither was abducted Sunday night after she got off a bus in Philadelphia’s Germantown-Penn Knox area.

As she walked the few blocks to her home, the suspect’s car passed her and quickly parked. A man then got out and met Freeland-Gaither at an intersection, Philadelphia police Chief Inspector Dennis Wilson said.

Then her abductor pounced.

Surveillance video captured the entire incident. It shows Freeland-Gaither forcibly led away to a car after a brief tussle on the ground.

During the struggle, her glasses and cell phone fell to the road. She kept fighting – even breaking a passenger side window – but the car sped away.

“I’ve been on the job 46 years, (and this is the) first time I’ve ever seen a kidnapping on videotape. (It) really was horrific to watch it unfold,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

Philadelphia police Detective James Sloan called a witness to the abduction, Dwayne Fletcher, “a hero” for alerting police. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think we would have had the same outcome,” Sloan said.

Barnes admitted to the abduction, according to a criminal complaint.

“I’m glad they got him,” his former father-in-law, Anthony Meyers, told CNN affiliate, KTRK. “It’s the kind of person he is. He’s pure evil. Pure evil.”

Suspect left a trail

In Freeland-Gaither’s case, the abductor left behind a string of clues.

A day after the kidnapping, the suspect allegedly used her ATM card at a machine in Aberdeen, Maryland. The same day, he allegedly used her card to make a purchase at a convenience store.

Police released surveillance video of both transactions.

A car dealer identified Barnes from the videos and alerted authorities that he had placed a GPS device in the suspect’s car because of concerns about his bad credit, authorities said.

The GPS device in the suspect’s car is used to alert customers when they’re behind on payments and also allows dealers to track down the vehicle and stop it, said PassTime USA CEO Stan Schwartz, the head of the company that made the unit.

Barnes was told the device was in the car, Schwartz said.

Police found the car in Jessup, Maryland, where they rescued Freeland-Gaither on Wednesday night.

She was briefly hospitalized and released Thursday, and then reunited with her family after a harrowing three days.

“She had injuries, but nothing life-threatening, fortunately,” Ramsey said.

Jail official: Barnes is on suicide watch

As for Barnes, he now sits at the Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George, Virginia, just over the James River from Charles City County.

Medical professionals have assessed Barnes and put him on suicide watch based on his statements, Lt. Laura Gray said.

Members of the public and investigators are not allowed to speak with him while he’s on suicide watch.

CNN’s Mariano Castillo, Jean Casarez and Lawrence Crook III contributed to this report.