Police- Kidnapping tale used as excuse to cover drug use

When a man came to the Cape Girardeau police station Monday to report that he had been stabbed, stuffed in a car trunk with a female friend and threatened with death, detectives sprang into action.

Christopher L. Eskew, 18, told officers his abductors took he and the woman to Illinois, where he believed they killed her.

None of it was true, detectives discovered, and now Eskew faces misdemeanor charges for filing a false report. He also faces stealing and forgery charges for allegedly swiping checks from his parents and having a friend cash them.

Eskew, of 713 Oak St., Apt. 5, in Jackson, was arrested and his bond was set at $10,000.

Police located the woman, who told them that Eskew "had been smoking crack cocaine all night and neither of them had been kidnapped or harmed in any way," detective Darren Estes wrote in a sworn statement filed with the charges against Eskew.

Money spent on drugs

Under questioning, Eskew admitted the story was phony, Estes wrote in his statement. He didn't want his parents to know he had spent all the money they had given him on crack, Estes wrote.

"Eskew stated that he felt if he told his parents he had been kidnapped, they would feel sorry for him," Estes wrote.

When he made the initial report, police spokesman Jason Selzer said, Eskew had some cuts on his leg and a bump on the back of his head. That lent some credibility to the story, he said.

Eskew also used the story in attempt to pry more money from his parents, Selzer said. He went to his mother's place of employment with two of his alleged abductors and told her he needed $2,000 to save his life, Selzer said.

Alleged abduction

While Eskew told his mother the story, the two alleged abductors waited in a nearby car, Selzer said.

Eskew's mother refused him money and drove him to the police station.

When officers questioned the woman who was with Eskew while he consumed the crack, she said he had cut himself as part of the story.

Even while they were investigating, police were skeptical, Selzer said. One of the alleged abductors is well-known to police for minor incidents, he said, but is not considered dangerous.

In the stealing and forgery charges, Estes wrote in a sworn statement that Eskew admitted taking two checks from his parents. He signed one, Eskew reported, gave it to a friend and that friend passed it on to be cashed for $200.

For police, the most frustrating part of the episode is that the detectives involved could have been working to solve actual crimes, Selzer said. "We called a couple of detectives out and they spent a lot of time investigating," he said. "It was a big waste of time."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126