Kidnapping suspect kills himself in car, police say

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

An ex-con obsessed with a former girlfriend kidnapped her over the weekend and drove around with her for two days before shooting himself to death Monday when officers approached his car, Cleveland’s police chief said.

The woman was found in the car with an injured arm but otherwise was in good condition, said Chief Michael McGrath.

The pair had a long history. Derrick Hudson, 35, was released from prison recently after serving 10 years for manslaughter in the killing of the woman’s boyfriend at the time, police said.

“He was obsessed with her, couldn’t leave her alone,” McGrath said.

Cleveland police had been searching for Hudson since Saturday morning. That’s when, they said, he kidnapped his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint after shooting and wounding his aunt and uncle, who live in the same building.

Hudson drove away with the woman, Kenya Pierce, in her car, police said. She managed to escape briefly when the car struck a tree, but Hudson dragged her back inside, McGrath said.

Authorities tracked the car to Detroit on Sunday morning, but they said it was back in the Cleveland area later that evening.

Pierce told officers after she was rescued that they had spent two days driving without stopping.

Officers got a tip from someone going to work that the car was parked on a residential street on Cleveland’s west side Monday morning, McGrath said.

Officers approaching the car said they heard a single gunshot and found Hudson dead in the passenger seat, the chief said. Pierce was in the driver’s seat.

Hudson’s aunt, Ethel Munds, said she was shot in the thigh when she and her husband tried to intervene in an argument between Hudson and Pierce on Saturday morning. Munds’ husband was shot in the chest and was hospitalized in fair condition.