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Text message leads to rescue
of kidnapped woman
Published Wednesday, August 12
By Brant Sappington
Staff Writer
A desperate text message led to the rescue of a local woman who was held against her will and sexually assaulted after delivering food to an ex-boyfriend.
Corinth Police Department Detective Josh Fortenberry said the incident began Saturday evening when the woman received a call from her ex boyfriend asking her to bring him some food at a camper trailer he was living in on Whitmore-Levee Road.
When she arrived at the trailer, she and the ex-boyfriend, identified by Fortenberry as 41-year-old Lyndal J. Witt, spoke briefly outside. The detective and Detective Captain Ralph Dance said Witt then allegedly grabbed the woman, forced her inside the trailer and physically and sexually assaulted her.
The victim was able to send a brief text message to her stepfather when Witt stepped outside to use the phone, and the stepfather called 911 which dispatched officers to the scene.
The detectives said when officers arrived they could hear a female crying inside the trailer and when Witt opened the door in answer to their knock, the victim ran out of the trailer.
Witt was arrested and charged with two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping. He was being held without bond Tuesday afternoon. Dance noted investigators had requested no bond be set because he had made several threats toward the victim and her family while in custody.
The victim was transported to Magnolia Regional Health Center where she was treated for her injuries and released.
Officer Derrick Holland made the arrest in the case and Fortenberry is in charge of the investigation.
In a separate, unrelated case, a Corinth woman was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing a man during an altercation.
CPD Detective Heather Glass said Veronica Graham, 42, of 611 Scales Street was arrested Tuesday on the charge following an investigation into the assault which happened around 7 p.m. Sunday at her residence. Glass said it appears a verbal altercation between Harold Roby and Coleman Crump turned physical in the yard of the home and Graham came out of the house and stabbed Crump in the lower back.
Crump was treated at Magnolia Regional Health Center and later released. Graham remained in custody Tuesday afternoon on a $25,000 bond. Officer William Smith served the arrest warrant in the case. Detectives Glass and Fortenberry are in charge of the investigation.
