VIERA, Fla. — A woman used GPS to track down her roommate, who was kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, Brevard County deputies said.
The victim said she was grabbed Tuesday in Viera on her way to work and tried to escape twice, deputies said.
Hartful Smith grabbed the victim's car keys and forced her into the passenger seat of her car, deputies said.
The woman then tried calling her roommate before Smith grabbed her phone, deputies said.
Smith stopped for gas, and the victim tried to tell the store clerk she needed help, but the clerk did not hear her, investigators said. The victim tried running out of the gas station, but she was dragged back into the vehicle, investigators said.
“We received a call from the friend of the victim, who stated that she received a cellphone call from the victim, and she could hear screaming, and what she heard was struggling and the phone went dead,” Tod Goodyear, with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, said.
The roommate was able to track the victim’s phone to Harful’s home in Palm Bay, and she notified deputies.
Hartful faces charges of kidnapping, carjacking and battery. He is being held without bail in the Brevard County Jail.