Friday afternoon took a frightening turn outside the Mayflower Market in Northwest Oklahoma City when a 43-year-old woman was abducted in broad daylight.
An emergency alert was broadcasted to many Oklahomans’ phones after Isabel Brown was kidnapped by several men wearing ski masks and allegedly armed with guns.
“One of the customers noticed some commotion outside and asked, ‘What’s going on out there?’ So I got up to look and saw two guys with guns grabbing a woman and pushing her into a car,” said Jessica Mueller, a witness to the kidnapping.
Mayflower Market employees and customers were going about their day until suspicious activity began in the parking lot.
“I heard a scream and saw two guys in a car pull up,” said Raycene Moore, another witness. “One guy got out of the driver’s side, grabbed her, and the other got out of the passenger side, put her in the car, and they had what looked like a gun held to her head.”
Oklahoma City police arrived on the scene shortly after.
“A little before 3:00 this afternoon, we received multiple reports that a woman might have been kidnapped from this Coffee Jerks location behind me, forced into a vehicle by three men wearing ski masks, possibly armed with guns,” said Aaron Brilbeck.
Witnesses said it didn’t initially look like a kidnapping.
“It was kind of surreal,” Mueller said. “I wondered, is this really happening? She did scream, but the way it happened seemed odd. Something about it didn’t seem right. Even the guns looked a little off.”
“Afterwards, they put her in a car and drove off slowly out of the parking lot,” Moore said.
Officers found her within an hour of the kidnapping, safe and unharmed, but they’re unsure how she got away.
“Approximately 40 minutes later, she was found and is in good condition,” Brilbeck said. “We’re still trying to figure out exactly what happened and how she managed to escape from these three men.”
The investigation is still in the early stages, and the suspects have not yet been identified.
Brilbeck says they are hoping witnesses and surveillance video will help the police find the suspects.
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