Gresham police investigate brief kidnapping
Mother pulled off street away from children, but returns safely

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Oct 24, 2008

A Gresham mother walking home from the grocery store with her two children was kidnapped at gunpoint, assaulted and released five minutes later.

The 29-year-old victim was walking near the 17600 block of Southeast Stark Street on the south side of the street just before 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, when a car pulled up next to her and her sons, ages 11 and 6, said Capt. Tim Gerkman, a Gresham police spokesman.

The driver and passenger ordered the woman to drop her groceries and get in the car. Then, the passenger forced her into the vehicle, which sped off southbound on Southeast 176th Avenue.

Both boys ran home to their apartment two blocks away and told their father what happened. The oldest son then called 9-1-1 at 7:29 p.m. to report the kidnapping.

Police responded to the distraught family and five minutes later, at 7:34 p.m., the victim called her husband.

She reported to police that the suspects, both of which were armed with black handguns, hit her in the face and pulled her hair while driving around the neighborhood. They kicked her out of the vehicle at Southeast 175th Avenue and Yamhill Street, where she flagged down a citizen and borrowed a phone to call her husband.

Police found the woman being helped by a citizen in a front yard. She had no visible injuries and refused medical attention.

Detectives are investigating the case. No clear motive has been established, Gerkman said.

“It doesn’t appear she knew the suspects,â€