Caught on camera, a woman escapes from the man she says held her prisoner for a year. Police are saying, he may have committed crimes in other states. The surveillance video tells the story of a desperate woman, and a gas station worker who is being hailed a hero. But that’s not all there is to this increasingly complicated story.
New Jersey State Police are now combing over the gas station surveillance video and piecing together a timeline after the unnamed woman escaped and ran to the point gas station in Bass River begging for help. She was allegedly trying to get away from the man with the bald head and blue shirt. He is 57-year-old James Parrillo Jr., whom the victim knew by the alias, Brett Parker.
You can see him follow her and then walk away. The security camera inside the gas station convenience store shows her enter with a worker following closely behind her. The victim locks the door and walks out of view. Then, another gas station worker, Bobby Madaan, rushes to the door, making sure it’s locked before going into a back room where he called 911 as the victim sat in a chair. The suspect is later seen returning to the gas station on a bicycle. He was arrested a short time later.
The cross-country kidnapping that began during a chance encounter last February, none other than a gas station in New Mexico, ended this February 7th at a Conoco gas station on the outskirts of the Pine Barrens.
The woman telling police she met Parrillo, whom she knew by the name Brett Parker. They began a consensual relationship and traveled to California. A month later, she says Parrillo became abusive and refused to let her go. State Attorney General, Matt Platkin said in a statement that this woman may be just the latest in a string of victims… and Parrillo is now being investigated as a potential serial kidnapper who preyed on women backpacking along the west coast.
In the past, Parrillo served time in prison for crimes like holding a yacht full of people hostage. The Attorney General is reaching out to other jurisdictions regarding this case. In the meantime, he is being held at the Burlington County jail while he awaits trial.
