 An OPP officer searches for evidence near a car believed to be connected with the abduction of a 19-year-old Kemptville woman Thursday. (Tony Caldwell, QMI Agency)
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OTTAWA - Three men have been charged in the gunpoint abduction of a Kemptville, Ont., woman.
Roger Levesque, 19, of Nepean, Whitley C. Clauzel, 48, of Ottawa and Christopher Page, 24, of Russell are all charged with three counts of kidnapping with a firearm, four counts of forcible confinement and one count of wearing a disguise with intent.
All appeared in court Friday morning and have been remanded to custody until another appearance on Monday.
Police rescued the 18-year-old woman just before 9 a.m. on Thursday. About 90 minutes earlier, three masked men burst into her home in Actons Corners, south of Ottawa, held her family at gunpoint, bound and gagged her and stuffed her into the trunk of a car, police said.
The woman was tracked using a GPS device in her cellphone, leading police 50 km northeast to Russell. She was found bound with wire in the trunk of the car, shaken but physically unharmed. Page was arrested at the scene and a white Grand Marquis was impounded.
Police said the two other suspects jumped in a second getaway car and were found soon after on a dusty dead-end road north of Russell. They abandoned a blue Pontiac Sunfire and fled on foot through the bush along Hwy. 417, police said. They were arrested in a field moments later as heavily armed cops converged on the area.
Police say the abduction wasn't a random act.
"For something like this to happen in a small community it certainly has shattered us somewhat," said Const. Cathy Lindsey of the Ontario Provincial Police.
"But with some good police work it certainly came to a good resolution."
