Two adults from Alabama were recently arrested in connection with the weekend abduction of a girl who was brought across state lines into Florida, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office told Law&Crime.
Coby Jerome Jordan, 22, and Molly Michele Jarrett, 19, were taken into custody late last week after a teenage girl in a severe state of distress made contact with law enforcement in the Sunshine State.
In a press release, the JCSO said deputies responded to a call early morning on Nov. 5, 2022 about a possible kidnapping or abduction. The girl was allegedly found “with her hands bound behind her back.”
The victim recounted a horrifying series of events.
She allegedly told law enforcement that she was abducted around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday and then taken to an abandoned building in Florida. There, Jordan allegedly beat the girl and bound her hands and feet. After that, the girl allegedly told investigators, she was “dropped off and left alone under a tree, where she eventually escaped.”
Investigators believe the girl initially met with Jordan sometime last Friday evening and that she and her alleged abductor were later joined by “two other females,” including Jarrett. The identity of the second woman has yet to be released and it is presently unclear if she is wanted or believed to have taken part in the alleged crimes.
According to Fox News, the girl was bound with duct tape and law enforcement have declined to release her age or other identifying information – except to say that she is under the age of 18. It is not known, at this time, if the victim and the suspects knew one another before the alleged kidnapping and attack or what the circumstances were that led her to allegedly meet with Jordan in the first place.
While both suspects hail from Houston County, Alabama, the minor was allegedly abducted somewhere outside of that county.
A spokesperson for the JCSO told Law&Crime that the minor girl helped authorities identify the two suspects before they were later arrested in Alabama with assistance from deputies with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office. The two were initially booked into the Houston County Jail before being transported back to Florida, the spokesperson said. Both Jordan and Jarrett will make their first court appearance in Jackson County sometime this week.
Jordan is currently facing charges of robbery, false imprisonment, tampering with a victim, and battery. Jarrett is charged with one count each of principal in the first degree to robbery, principal in the first degree to false imprisonment, principal in the first degree to tampering with a victim, and principal in the first degree to battery – essentially accomplice liability for each alleged crime.
In unofficial photographs of the two defendants shared by the JCSO, Jarrett appeared in so-called “cosplay” dress, outfitted with a black bathing suit, purple wig and cape, and cowboy boots – an apparent effort to mimic the costume of the D.C. Comics character Raven, who is a member of the Teen Titans, a group of teenage superheroes.
Law enforcement has not floated a possible motive for the incident.
[Images via Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Houston County Sheriff’s Office]