Baller Alert Entertainment & Lifestyle
GPS location saved a University of West Georgia senior’s life after she was kidnapped and raped just 50 miles west of Atlanta.
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On Sept. 4, 2017 around 11:30 p.m., Jalia Gladden was leaving a grocery store when a man pressed a knife against her abdomen, forced her into her car and told her to drive to Atlanta. But before starting the trip, the man pulled over behind an abandoned church, forced Gladden to take her clothes off and raped her.
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When they got back on the road, the man said he needed money and was going to drive to Michigan to rob a gas station; Gladden told him she couldn’t guide him unless she had her phone to Google locations. As soon as she got her phone, she quickly shared her location with her boyfriend, Tamir Bryant.
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The man hadn’t realized she was texting her boyfriend, he took her phone away and put her in the trunk while he tried to rob the gas station. His attempt was unsuccessful. “He then told me he was going to rob a Walmart or a Kroger to get the money,” Gladden said.
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When he gave her the phone she began texting her boyfriend again. Gladden led the man to a Kroger and when they parked he put Gladden back in the trunk. The man quickly returned after he saw there was a security guard in the parking lot, so he instead decided to sleep in the car and wait until morning.
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When Bryant arrived at the police station, he gave police the make and model of Gladden’s car. With Gladden’s screenshot location, officers were able to get real-time updates of her location.
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An Atlanta police officer who was canvassing a parking lot saw a car that matched the description of Gladden’s. When the kidnapper saw the officer, he tried to escape but ran into four cars, and the parked patrol car. The officers ordered him to stop, but the man ignored them and ended up crashing into a fence. Gladden hopped out of the car, ran to police and told them he had jumped over the fence and into a field.
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Ten hours later, authorities arrested and charged Timothy Wilson with kidnapping, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated assault, rape, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment, and aggravated assault against a police officer, according to prison records. He is in jail awaiting trial and his public defender attorney will not answer a request for comment.
