The Kern County Sheriff's Department is trying to unravel a bizarre carjacking and kidnapping case. A man claims he was kidnapped, blindfolded, tied up and left in a trunk. Neighbors who helped rescue the Bakersfield man two days later spoke to 17 News about the ordeal.
The man says he was left for dead near South High School, but managed to punch his way to freedom before his car ended up at Wayside Park on Ming Avenue. "Two days, unbelievable man. I've always heard of someone getting in the trunk, but never nobody getting out," said John Fowler.
The victim says he was leaving work. As he got into his car, a couple of men approached him. He said the men forced him to go to a home on Balboa Drive in south Bakersfield. It took the man two days to free himself from the trunk and just a few minutes to free his hands that were bound.
"He thought his arm was breaking so he started burning it out. He had a lighter so he burned the lassos off, he pushed the seat back and he got out and came over here," said one neighbor.
"He pushed the trunk up to where he could get out the back seat," continued Fowler, who was mowing his lawn, when the man walked up to him and started speaking Spanish. "I don't have the slightest idea of what he's saying. But, when I come to find out he was in his trunk for two days, said these guys had knocked him upside the head and put him in the trunk of his car," he continued.
Fowler says he went to look for the man's car when he was approached by a man, he believes, may have been involved. "I asked him, is this your car and he said yes this is and I said well there's a guy up here that says he just got out of your car and he's been there for two days. The guy said that is B.S. He jumped into his car and he drove straight on," said Fowler.
Fowler called police and when officers showed up, they interviewed the victim. "He had a couple bruises on his face. On his head, he had two or three lumps on his head. The ropes where he was bound, you could just see rope burns and all that," said one neighbor.
The man's car was later found about two miles away at Wayside Park.
Police say they have turned the case over to the Sheriff's Department. Deputies tell 17 News they are investigating a possible kidnapping, but they wouldn't say anything more about the case.
