Suspect in abduction facing extradition hearing in Cleveland
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An extradition hearing is set for today in Cleveland for a suspect in the abduction and rape of a Fox Chapel woman who told police she was carjacked at knifepoint with her toddler daughter at the Waterworks Mall.
Pittsburgh police have obtained a warrant charging Jimmy Lee Tayse, 30, with two counts each of kidnapping and simple assault and one count of unlawful restraint, robbery, theft and possession of a prohibited offensive weapon, Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant said.
Mr. Tayse, who was arrested Sunday in Cleveland after wrecking the woman's car, will appear today in Cleveland Municipal Court to determine if he will return willingly or fight extradition to Pittsburgh. Cleveland police have charged him with traffic violations but have not filed charges stemming from the abduction incident.
A native of Johnstown, Cambria County, Mr. Tayse also is wanted by authorities there for unrelated incidents. He has been in Cleveland City Jail since his arrest.
Mr. Tayse also is expected to face additional charges stemming from the woman's statement that her attacker raped her in a hotel or motel near Akron, Ohio. Assistant Chief Bryant and Mary Ann Kovach, who heads the criminal felony division in the Summit County, Ohio, prosecuting attorney's office, said that portion of the case is being handled primarily by Pittsburgh detectives.
The Summit County sheriff's department has checked several hotels around Akron but has not determined the location where the woman told police she was attacked, Ms. Kovach said. Pittsburgh investigators are retracing the route described by the woman, so Summit County authorities will wait and assist them if asked, she said.
The woman told police she was accosted by a man Saturday morning after she loaded groceries into her car outside the Giant Eagle store at the mall near Aspinwall. Detectives have checked video from mall surveillance cameras but have not found "anything significant'' and have not been contacted by witnesses, Assistant Chief Bryant said.
"I don't think there was anything [about the encounter] that would have alerted anyone in passing,'' Assistant Chief Bryant said. "She said he gets into the back seat right after she gets into the front seat.''
The woman told police the man had a knife and threatened to harm her daughter, who was in a car seat, if she didn't drive and follow his instructions. The woman said she drove north on Route 28 and stopped in Harmar to withdraw $200 at a drive-through ATM at a First Commonwealth Bank branch, Assistant Chief Bryant said.
From there, the woman told police, she drove onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike and west into Ohio. She didn't remember where they left the highway, but said the hotel where the man assaulted her was near the exit, Assistant Chief Bryant said.
After leaving the hotel, the man forced the woman to withdraw more money from another ATM and to try to obtain $1,500 at a check-cashing business, Assistant Chief Bryant said. The business refused to cash the woman's check, so they went to another Giant Eagle nearby and bought diapers and gift cards, the woman told police.
The man carried the woman's daughter in public and "pretty much always had control of the baby'' until he finally allowed the woman and child to get out of the car on Cleveland's east side, Assistant Chief Bryant said.
"He wouldn't, I'm sure, be brandishing the knife where other people [could] see it,'' she said. "But he's holding her baby and, from the threat of that alone, she knew he could do something to the child.''
Detectives are continuing to seek witnesses, surveillance video at businesses and electronic records that could provide evidence in the case, she said. Police still have not determined why the man targeted the woman or ordered her to go to Ohio, she said.
First Published April 10, 2007 11:17 pm
