Masked kidnappers broke into a New Jersey home Wednesday night, snatching a jewelry store owner and leaving his wife tied up, police say.
The couple had just returned to their Lyndhurst home from their jewelry store on Bergenline in Union City when the kidnappers accosted them. Two of them took the husband into a car; police presume they were waiting for the couple's son to get home so the suspects could take the victims to their jewelry store to loot it.
"They pretty much knew the family's movements, what goes on on a daily basis," said Lyndhurst Police Chief James O'Connor.
Police got a call about the home invasion around 9 p.m. after a relative called the house, and the woman, who was able to work her way free, got to the phone and said to dial 911.
When officers got to the home at Lake and Delafield avenues, the suspect guarding the wife ran out of the back of the house, Lyndhurst Police Chief James O’Connor said. Police chased after him, but he got away.
Police believe the suspect who ran off called the others who had taken the husband and warned them authorities were involved, at which point they dropped the man off in Clifton, abandoned his car and fled on foot.
O’Connor said officers found the kidnapping victim along the border of Garfield and Clifton a short time later. The man flagged down a police officer and was taken to the hospital with cuts on his head and face. He was treated and released.
Police believe he had been beaten up in the house before he was forced into a car and driven in the direction of his jewelry store in Union City. He was also beaten in the car, they said.
No arrests have been made. Police say the suspects aren't former employees or insiders, but they may have done some business with the jewelry store owners in the past.
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Neighbors were shaken by the violent kidnapping.
"Now I'm going to buy locks," said Steven Bruno. "I'm going to lock the garage, basically everything, just lock it. I've got a gate outside the front door, I'm going to put a lock on that."
