From hospital bed, kidnapping victim describes ‘scary’ ordeal following high-speed chase, crash
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — From her WakeMed hospital bed, Heather Oliver reflected on one of the most terrifying moments of her life.
“It’s still scary,” she said.
“The worst thing for me is, I could have left my kids an orphan,” she continued.
The mom of two said she had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend[1], Joshua Stokes, from a shopping plaza in Chesapeake, Virginia, and taken miles away in her own car, a purple Dodge Challenger,
“He just kept driving, he wouldn’t tell me where he was going. And when he was driving around, he was driving really fast. He was driving 150 mph,” Oliver recalled.
During the panic and chaos, Oliver did something that possibly saved her life.
“I put my phone on silent, and then I called 911 and put my phone in the door, facing the door, so that he couldn’t see that the phone was on,” she said.
She had been on the phone with dispatch the entire time when an officer intervened
” I got a call from a police officer in North Carolina, and he was just asking me questions.
He said, We know you’re on dispatch, he said are you kidnapped, and I said yes.”
The officer asked more questions to locate her. “And he said, Can you tell me where you’re at? At that point, he obviously knew I was talking to the police.”
She said that only got Stokes more upset and the erratic driving continued until state troopers came in trying to stop him and the car.
“I know the police tried to do like a pit maneuver and he got out of it,” she said.
Oliver said the last thing she remembered was being hit by two cars.
“A silver Charger hit us from the front. And then another car hit us from the back.
And from that point, I woke up in the hospital,” she said.
Stokes was arrested and appeared before a Wake County judge this week.
Joshua Taylor Stokes
He is facing a long list of charges including first-degree kidnapping, eluding police, and driving while impaired.
Oliver said he also violated the protective order she had against him.
Oliver is still in the hospital nearly a week after she was kidnapped. She has a broken rib, contusions on her lungs, and numerous bumps and bruises on her body.
Despite her ordeal, Oliver said she still has a lot to be thankful for.
“I’m thankful. Thankful I’m still here.
I’m thankful that, you know, my, my mom was here. She was able to come here. I’m thankful for my, my kids.
I mean, my family really came together,” she said.
Stokes is due back in court next month.
References
- ^ kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend (abc11.com)