DELAND, Fla.,None — A woman was kidnapped in DeLand and tortured in the back of a van. She only managed to escape by spraying her attacker in the face with bug spray.
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Police said they've arrested the man who kidnapped her. The woman escaped Thursday morning from the van that was parked on Boston Avenue in DeLand.
WFTV found out the man was living in the van off someone else's charity. The owners of the van let him stay there because he was homeless.
Instead of using it as a home, he's accused of using it as a place to attack a woman for hours, until she found a can of his bug spray and fought back.
Suspect Melton Hudson 051410 Melton Hudson Melton Hudson faced a judge Friday, accused of pulling a woman into a van, beating her, raping her and holding her prisoner for an entire night.
"He grabbed me by my neck, and by my hair, and he threw me in the van. And when he threw me in the van, I tried my best to kick at him, and swing at him," the woman told WFTV (watch full interview).
The 32-year-old victim told WFTV she was out looking for her dog, when Hudson offered to help but attacked her instead. The assault went on for six hours.
It wasn't until daylight came, that she saw something she could use.
"I noticed the can of "Off" bug spray laying there and I picked it up and I popped the lid off and that's when I sprayed him in his face," she explained.
It gave her an opportunity to run, right as Scott Gattie was driving by.
"She was freaking, she was freaking. She was crying, frantically, yes," Gattie said.
Gattie let the woman, bloodied and beaten, climb into his truck, and called police while keeping one eye on the van.
"I looked back and he did step out of the van, and he saw me with her, and he kinda backed off," he said.
Hudson told police the woman just stopped by to talk, minutes before police did, but that he only knew her from seeing her at the gas station.
"He's not a registered sex offender or anything along those lines and as far as I know, we've never had any dealings with him on this type of a crime," an officer said.
Police said the victim had injuries that are consistent with sexual attacks. They kept some of her clothes for DNA evidence.
Hudson is being held in jail, with no bond.