US Marshals capture city man wanted in kidnapping case

Published 4:06 pm Thursday, April 13, 2017

U.S. Marshals captured an Elizabethton man wanted on a kidnapping charge Thursday afternoon in Virginia.

“On Thursday afternoon at approximately 2:00 pm Coby Wilson was located in Wytheville, Virginia by the United States Marshal Service,” Elizabethton Police Department Capt. Joy Shoun said in a released statement. “He was taken into custody and will be held in the New River Valley Regional Jail pending an extradition hearing.”

Shoun said there are no other details available at this time regarding the arrest of Wilson.

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On Tuesday, the Elizabethton Police Department issued a statement requesting the public’s help in locating Wilson, who is wanted on several outstanding charges including kidnapping and theft of a motor vehicle over $10,000.

The kidnapping and theft of a motor vehicle charges stem from an incident that happened on April 7 when Wilson allegedly stole a vehicle with a small child inside from a city home.

Around 10:45 p.m. on Friday, officers of the Elizabethton Police Department responded to a home on West G Street after a woman called 911 and reported someone had just stolen her SUV with her small child inside it.

When officers arrived, the woman said she had parked her black 2007 Hummer at the residence and briefly went inside, leaving her 2-year-old daughter in the vehicle because the child was asleep. The woman said when she came back outside both the SUV and her child were gone.

While officers were searching the area for the SUV, Shoun said officers were notified that deputies with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office had found the SUV abandoned near the Dollar General store located at 233 Highway 19E in Bluff City. The child was still inside the vehicle and was determined to be unharmed.

According to court documents, video footage from surveillance cameras at an area convenience store showed the Hummer pull in near the gas pumps and the driver, who was identified as Wilson, got out of the SUV and went into the store and purchased a drink.

Wilson is also wanted on outstanding warrants from unrelated cases charging him with two counts of vehicle burglary, three counts of identity theft, and five counts of fraudulent use of a credit card. Wilson also has two outstanding warrants in Carter County charging him with failure to appear in court.