Georgia student kidnapped, sexually assaulted and forced to drive to Atlanta

A University of West Georgia student was kidnapped at knife-point, sexually assaulted and then forced by her attacker to drive to an apartment in northeast Atlanta early Tuesday morning.

Authorities are looking for a full-bearded black man, about 200 pounds and 6 feet tall, who wore a bucket hat emblazoned with emojis at the time of the kidnapping in the parking lot of a Kroger store west of Atlanta.

The Carrollton Police Department released a video of the kidnapping on its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon and urged anyone with information about the man’s identity to call crimestoppers.

The man sexually assaulted the woman at an abandoned church off Interstate 20 near Hamilton Holmes Drive then forced her to drive him to some apartments just south of I-85 in Atlanta, according to a report by the Heard Citizen.

“The police were able to find her because she was able to send her family messages via her iPhone and she was able to get that information to our 911 center,” Capt. Brian Schiffbauer told WSB-TV. “The police were able to find them and a chase ensued.”

The woman was rescued about six hours after the kidnapping.

The man, driving the woman’s car, crashed into two other cars at an apartment complex as he was fleeing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The man escaped and the woman is being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Anyone with information about the suspect in this kidnapping case is urged to call Crimestoppers at 770-834-4451 or 404-577-TIPS.

This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 1:22 PM with the headline "Georgia student kidnapped, sexually assaulted and forced to drive to Atlanta."