Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was walking home late one night in 2014 when someone attacked her and dragged her into a vehicle. Surveillance footage of her violent abduction spread across the country and showed the 22-year-old nursing assistant fighting for her life. Her friends and family worried they would never see her again.
Thanks to some observant witnesses and savvy detective work, police rescued Freeland-Gaither three days later. She was injured and traumatized, but alive.
They also arrested her attacker, 37-year-old Delvin Barnes, who appeared to have picked Freeland-Gaither at random. He later pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
What Happened to Carlesha Freeland-Gaither?
Shortly before 10 p.m. on November 2, 2014, Freeland-Gaither was returning home after visiting her godson. She had just gotten off a bus in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood and was walking on the sidewalk when a man—later identified as Barnes—grabbed her.
Freeland-Gaither fought back. She dropped her phone and her glasses, thinking that if someone spotted these items, they would realize something bad happened. After a short tussle, Barnes overpowered Freeland-Gaither and forced her into a gray Ford Taurus. According to federal prosecutors, Barnes hit Freeland-Gaither on the head with a hammer and threatened to kill her if she didn’t stop fighting.
A man named Dwayne Fletcher was walking on a nearby street and heard Freeland-Gaither screaming. Fletcher ran to the scene, just in time to see Barnes forcing the woman into the car. Fletcher initially yelled at Barnes and asked him what he was doing, but Fletcher stopped when he realized Barnes had a 12-inch knife. He saw the back window of the vehicle shatter and assumed it had been shot.
Fletcher called 911 right away, and again after Barnes’s vehicle sped off, but the police arrived too late.
‘This Man Is a Hero’
That devastated Fletcher. “I just cried and cried,” he told NBC10 Philadelphia. “I feel as though I didn’t do enough at the time.”
Still, investigators said Fletcher’s quick actions likely saved Freeland-Gaither’s life.
“He witnessed it, he watched, he called the police twice,” James Sloan, the lead investigator on the case for the Philadelphia Police Department, said during a press conference at the time. “If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think we’d have the same outcome. This man is a hero.”
Meanwhile, Barnes sped away and crossed into Maryland. At some point, he bound Freeland-Giather by the wrists and placed her in the vehicle’s trunk.
In Aberdeen, Md., Gaither-Freeland gave Barnes her bank card and her pin, which he used at an ATM. She had hoped the transaction might catch the attention of investigators—and it did. Police released photos of Barnes at the ATM, as well as video of him walking through a nearby gas station convenience store.
As he continued driving south, Barnes periodically tossed garbage from the car, including a bag that contained a receipt from a Philadelphia supermarket, potato chips and broken glass. A woman found the trash in her driveway and realized it might be connected to Gaither-Freeland’s kidnapping, which had been all over the news.
She was right. Using the time and date on the receipt, police found footage of Barnes on the supermarket’s surveillance camera. They additionally began monitoring the vehicle using a GPS tracker that had been installed by the dealership when Barnes purchased the car because he had poor credit.
How Investigators Caught Delvin Barnes
Police also connected Barnes to the abduction and sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl, which had taken place about a month earlier in Charles City County, Va. In 2005, Barnes had been convicted of aggravated assault, criminal trespass, false imprisonment and other charges in a case involving his estranged wife.
“Some men grew up having problems with women, so they take it out on women,” his uncle, Lamar Barnes, told a reporter. “Apparently, he’s one of them.”
As the hours turned into days, Gaither-Freeland tried to protect herself by staying calm, listening and going along with whatever Barnes wanted.
Then, on November 5, 2014, police located the Ford Taurus in a shopping center parking lot. Barnes was in the backseat when they surrounded the vehicle, but he quickly jumped into the driver’s seat to make a getaway. Police used their cars to block him in.
Investigators drove Gaither-Freeland to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for her injuries and then released to her family. They also arrested Barnes.
“He’s a thug and this is what he does apparently,” Charles Ramsey, Philadelphia’s then-police commissioner, said at a press conference. “He’s a vicious predator.”
Where is Delvin Barnes Today?
In September 2015, Barnes pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges. Based on the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to charge Barnes for the case involving the 16-year-old girl in Virginia.
At his arraignment, Barnes told the judge that kidnapping Gaither-Freeland was “an act of desperation” and referred to the crime as a robbery that “turned into other things.” Barnes said he had “grabbed the wrong person” and that he needed money to visit his daughter before he turned himself in for the Virginia sexual assault.
Barnes was sentenced to 35 years in prison and is currently incarcerated at a medium-security facility in Victorville, Calif., with a scheduled release date of June 3, 2044.
In the immediate aftermath of the abduction, Gaither-Freeland took time off from her job at a Philadelphia hospital, but she eventually returned to work, which provided a sense of normalcy and camaraderie as she worked through her trauma. She also received counseling and leaned on her family, friends and coworkers.
Since the kidnapping, Gaither-Freeland welcomed a son, who has become her motivation to stay strong. As part of her healing journey, Gaither-Freeland’s also learned to forgive Barnes.
“I don’t think what he did was right and I do think there’s consequences that should be there for him but I … think everybody has the second chance to become a better person,” she told NBC10 Philadelphia in 2014. “For me to keep on living and moving forward, I had to let part of that go. And part of that is forgiving.”
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