A woman who was allegedly held against her will for nearly a year is free this morning after escaping from her alleged kidnaper by fleeing to a New Jersey gas station. Here’s her escape. It was caught on camera. You see the woman who’s not been identified, she’s running, she’s barefoot. She’s only in a T-shirt in 42nd degree weather. And you see the man that was closely following her, he tries to get in, but she deadbolts the door when he realizes he can’t get inside. He turns around and leaves. And that’s when the owner steps in helping her get to the back of the gas station where they call police. Now, her alleged abductor is 57 year old James Perillo, and he’s now behind bars on kidnaping and assault charges. Authorities say that he choked her multiple times, that at one point he took away her cell phone and used her credit cards and isolated her from her family. They also say he goes by different names and may have actually done this before in other states. CNN has reached out to an attorney listed for Perillo, but we’ve yet to hear a response. Joining us this morning is one of the heroes of this story. The owner of that gas station, Bobby Madsen, who helped keep the woman safe until police arrived. Bobby, good morning. We’re so grateful that you’re sharing the story with us. Walk us through what that day was like. When did you first see her and realize that something was wrong?
Hi. Good morning. Yeah, it was just a regular day at the gas station. I was in the backroom doing paperwork and my employee was in the front just having a little break. And all of a sudden we hear this screaming and yelling. And I look up on the camera, there’s somebody running on the side of the building. Then there at the front, and I could see the woman and the men right behind her. Excuse me. And so my employee gave me and her come into the store, and they locked the door. By the time I get out to the office, I see the guys trying to open the door. But we kind of look at each other and he is gone and she is frantic. She is shaken. She was really, really scared. You could tell I couldn’t grasp in the first 10 seconds what was going on. I just knew that this woman needed help. My employer knew this woman needed help. Help her. I’ll get her in. And my employee told me that she was screaming on the way here that I’ve been kidnaped. This man has kept me for too long. And that’s exactly what she repeated to me when she got in the office. So we just got her to sit down and give her a safe place and told her we’re calling the police. Do not worry. Nobody’s coming in here.
While Bobby, I’m sure she’s grateful to you and your employee You said you made contact or eye contact with this guy. What did you see on his face? Did did anything stand out to you?
I’m just. You know what? It was almost any moment of. Yes, him being mad. And I guess also realizing, oh, like I’m in trouble.
So when she’s screaming and yelling, what are you trying to say to her? What was the approach like it was just that it was just an normal human approach. Like, you know what? You’re going to be okay. There’s nobody coming in her and nobody coming in the place anymore. You’re in the office. I took her right to the office so she can sit in the office so she can’t see outside, even if he comes back so she doesn’t get any more worried. And she she was desperately in need of help. And, like I said, couldn’t really understand for the first few seconds what was going on. But you could see she had some marks on her neck. So we know she was not in the right place. She needs help. Just get her in the back. And she sat down and we called the police and just just although he is not getting in here because she kept looking around, looking at the walls, like, is he going to break in the walls, get in here. And I constantly kept talking to her, actually gave me my employee got on the phone with the police, and I just kept telling her, like, do not worry, he is not coming in here. Nobody’s coming and half right now. So, yeah, that’s all we could do for her at that moment. Calm her down.
Right. Understandably, somebody in that situation would be scared that way, even paranoid. Have you gotten a chance to talk to her since that encounter?
She did reach out to me, but just through a phone call, and she just wanted to thank and I told her, like, you know, I don’t thank us because we were simply there. I was there to do my paperwork. My employee was there working already. She is the courageous one who actually made the decision to finally run away and get help. So I just told there just I wish her well.
You know, hopefully she can get a lot of help in her life. And that’s about it. Gave her my number. She has no I need time. You need help. Just please call police. Definitely reach out.
That’s incredibly kind of you. And again, I’m sure she appreciates it. Bobby, you’ve run that gas station for a few years, and oftentimes gas stations, for whatever reason, can be magnets for strange things and strange people often times. Is this the weirdest thing or the strangest thing that you’ve ever encountered?
