Two Georgia men face federal carjacking charges in addition to abduction charges

Two Georgia men, accused in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court of abducting and robbing a woman before releasing her unharmed last week, also face federal charges of carjacking.

Federal prosecutors filed charges of motor vehicle theft/carjacking in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau on Friday.

The same day, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh filed felony charges of first-degree kidnapping and robbery and armed criminal action against the men — John Czarnecki, 53, of Atlanta and Christopher Smith, 43, of Cave Spring, Georgia.

The Kansas Highway Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested the two men Friday night in Grinnell, Kansas.

Czarnecki also is charged with murder and armed robbery in Georgia in connection with the death of Abraham Rudolph Jacobs, 56, of Chamblee, Georgia.

The vehicle used in the Cape Girardeau abduction was registered to Jacobs, according to Chamblee police.

Police officers went to Jacobs’ apartment in Chamblee, an Atlanta suburb, in an effort to find Jacobs. They were unsuccessful. But they later checked Czarnecki’s nearby apartment and found Jacobs’ body buried amid debris in the kitchen area, police said.

“I think there was some sort of altercation that escalated, and (Czarnecki) took his car,” Chamblee police Capt. Ernesto Ford told the The Associated Press.

Police do not believe Smith was involved in the killing but was picked up by Czarnecki along the route, The AP reported.

The investigation began Thursday morning after a woman in her 40s returned to her Jeep in the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot in Cape Girardeau.

A man, later identified as Czarnecki, put a knife to her side and forced her into the back seat of the Jeep, police said.

The other man, later identified as Smith, drove the Jeep to a cornfield near Chaffee, Missouri, while Czarnecki followed in Jacobs’ Suzuki SUV, the Cape Girardeau woman later told police.

Police said the woman was robbed of a debit card and diamond ring before the men drove away in the SUV.

The debit card later was used at a Bloomsdale, Missouri, convenience store. Surveillance images showed the SUV’s license plate belonged to Jacobs, according to Cape Girardeau police.

As of Tuesday, no date has been set for Czarnecki and Smith to appear in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court.

As for the federal case, FBI agent Brian Ritter filed a criminal complaint stating the two men “with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm, knowingly and intentionally took a motor vehicle that had been transported, shipped, and received in interstate or foreign commerce, from the person of another, by force, violence and intimidation.”

Ritter wrote “probable cause exists” to support the carjacking charge.

A detention hearing for Czarnecki and Smith is scheduled for at 10:30 a.m. June 27 before U.S. Magistrate Abbie Crites-Leoni in federal court in Cape Girardeau.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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