A 39-year-old man allegedly abducted his former girlfriend from her Vernon Hills home Thursday morning but was foiled because he forgot to fill his car with gasoline, authorities said.
Darryl Brown’s car ran out of gas about 10 miles from the woman’s home, police said. When he went to get gas, the woman got away and called police.
Brown was arrested a short while later and charged with kidnapping and home invasion, police said.
Authorities said Brown, a former member of the defunct El Rukn street gang on Chicago’s South Side, was driving northwest on Illinois Highway 60 when he ran out of gas. Police don’t know where he was headed.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re glad she escaped, because we weren’t sure what his intentions were,” said Vernon Hills Police Sgt. Bill Wagner.
Brown, who told police he was homeless, was being held overnight in the Vernon Hills lockup and was scheduled to appear in bond court Friday morning. The investigation into the incident was continuing, and Brown may face more charges, Wagner said.
Vernon Hills Police Chief Gary Kupsak said Brown arrived at the home of Brown’s ex-girlfriend in the 200 block of Annapolis Drive about 11 a.m. Thursday.
Brown previously lived there with the 41-year-old woman, and the couple have an infant child, Kupsak said.
There have been several violent incidents at the home, Kupsak said, and this time the woman refused to let Brown in the front door.
“Mr. Brown then proceeded to the back of the house and threw a lawn chair through a plate-glass window,” Kupsak said.
Brown entered the house and grabbed the woman, forced her into his car and drove off, police said. He ran out of gas near the intersection of Illinois Highways 60 and 120 in Volo, Kupsak said.
“He told (the woman) to stay in the car while he went to get gas” and threatened to kill her if she left, Kupsak said. “Guess what? She didn’t listen to him.”
The woman escaped and called police. Before they could arrive, Brown allegedly returned to his Dodge Diplomat, put gas in the car and left the scene.
He may have been working his way back toward the woman’s house when he was stopped at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Marriott Drive by Lincolnshire police, Kupsak said. He was arrested without incident and police found no weapons in the car.
Three of the woman’s children were in school at the time of the abduction and the one she shared with Brown was with a baby-sitter, Kupsak said. All were put in protective custody following the abduction.
The woman was treated by paramedics for a broken nose and bruises to her legs, allegedly inflicted by Brown during the abduction.
“At the house he choked her, threatened her and ripped her shirt,” Lake County Assistant State’s Atty. Steve Scheller said. “(And) as he’s driving he’s hitting her. He hit her about 10 or 12 times.”
Brown has two previous larceny convictions and was on parole after serving time in prison on a drug conviction, Scheller said. If convicted, he could face between 6 and 30 years in prison on the home invasion charge and 3 to 7 years for kidnapping.
