TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A man is facing multiple charges after police say he kidnapped a woman who agreed to give him a free ride, tried to rape her as he attacked her inside her own vehicle, and then drove off with it.
According to court documents, Tallahassee police responded to an alleged kidnapping and attempted sexual battery on Dewey Street and Virginia Street back in April of 2019.
The victim told officers that she had gave a ride to an unknown man who battered her and attempted to sexually assault her. Police say the suspect also stole her vehicle and tried to kidnap her.
Fortunately, the victim was able to jump out of the moving vehicle as the suspect fled the scene. However, police say the victim had bruises all over her body from trying to escape and two swollen black eyes from being assaulted by the suspect.
The victim stated that the suspect first approached her and asked her for money when she was leaving Poor Paul's Pourhouse on West Tennessee Street. Documents say the suspect approached the victim two more times throughout the night and asked her for money.
The last time he approached the victim, she said he asked for both money and a ride. The victim told him she didn't have any money to give but agreed to give him a ride to a nearby location.
During the ride, the victim told police the suspect kept leading her in a circle. After a while, the victim said she pulled into the parking lot of University Lofts apartments on West Virginia Street and told the suspect to get out of her car.
"When [the suspect] did not immediately get out of the vehicle, [the victim] recalls sensing [the suspect] may attempt to harm her, so she held a knife at her side while ordering him to get out again," probable cause documents read.
Documents say the suspect then grabbed his backpack and began beating the victim in the face. During the assault, the victim said he grabbed her hair while she was screaming and ordered her to get in the back seat or he would "beat her more."
When the victim crawled into the backseat, the suspect ordered the victim to pull down her pants for him. When the victim hesitated, the suspect again assaulted her and told her to "shut up" or it would, "get worse."
Police say nearby witnesses began hearing the victim scream so the suspect got into the driver's seat and drove away from the apartment complex. The victim said the suspect tried to hold on to her sweater in an attempt to keep her from escape, but the victim managed to open the back door and jump out of the moving car.
While officers were on scene, they interviewed three witnesses whose accounts were similar to the victim's story. Investigators also collected DNA swabs from the victim's face and a mouth swab of the victim's mouth to be sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for evidence.
During the investigation, Florida Highway Patrol found the stolen vehicle at the Jefferson County/Madison County line on I-10. Documents say the inside of the car had "extensive amounts of blood" on the seats, the floor and interior parts of the door and dashboard. DNA swabs were also collected from the car and sent to FDLE.
In May 2019, investigators received information from Leon County Sheriff's Office about fraud case suspect who matched the description of the suspect involved in the kidnapping attack a month earlier.
The suspect from the fraud case was identified as 30-year-old Marion Asbell who was already in the Leon County Jail for on fraud charges. Investigators say Asbell matched the description that the kidnapping victim provided and was identified as the suspect in the attack.
Investigators collected a mouth swab from Asbell and sent it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for comparison to the DNA swabs collected from the victim and the victim's car. The results confirmed that Asbell's DNA was found in the swabs provided by the victim.
Based on the evidence, Asbell remains in the Leon County Detention Facility and is now facing additional charges for kidnapping, grand theft, aggravated battery and sexual battery.
He remains in on a $60,000 bond.
