BELTON, Mo. — A 29-year-old Belton woman and a 19-year-old Lee’s Summit man have been charged with kidnapping after police say they and two others kept two people against their will because they thought one of the victims had stolen money.
According to the probable cause statement from Cass County prosecutors, police found one of the alleged victims outside of a home near 158th and Richmond in Belton when they responded to a call about suspicious activity.
When officers arrived and found the first victim at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday, she told them that the accused, Jessica Nicole Cayton, 29, and Joseph Ford-Gray, 19, as well as two other people, who have not yet been charged, accused her of stealing $900. They claimed she had taken the money from a homeowner of a residence where she and a man went to retrieve some of her belongings.
The alleged victim said she denied stealing the money, but was ordered inside, forced to take off her clothes and was tied up with zip-ties. The victim says Cayton went to get a pair of hair-cutting shears so another suspect could shave her head.
The woman says he sheared a strip of her hair on the left side, but then stopped. They then allowed her to put her clothes back on, she says.
The man with whom she rode to the house was also ordered inside the house and forced to strip down to his boxers. He was then forced to lay face down in the kitchen and was also bound with black zip-ties, according to the probable cause report.
When two of the suspects left to go search for the money someplace else, the woman says she was able to escape, while her friend still remained tied up on the kitchen floor. Ford-Gray reportedly chased after her but was unable to catch her.
Once free from the home, the victim knocked on the door of another home in the neighborhood, which prompted the people inside to call police. When police arrived they found the victim at the back of the residence shivering.
She was taken to a police station where she informed police of what had happened and said that the man she rode with was still at the home when she had escaped.
Police went to that home and were not able to make contact with the suspects in the residence during their initial attempt. Police then pinged the remaining victim’s cell phone and found that it was still in the residence. Due to emergency circumstances, police forced entry into the home. They found the victim who was still being held captive and suspects Cayton and Ford-Gray.
Police recovered evidence from the home that included multiple bags of zip-ties, the shears that had been used to cut the hair of one of the victims as well as human hair in a trash can, clothing for both victims and belongings that were the property of both victims that had been removed from the truck they arrived in.
Both Cayton and Ford-Gray have been charged with two counts of kidnapping and are being held on $100,000 cash-only bonds. Both refused an interview with police and requested attorneys. The other two suspects did not return to the residence while police investigated the crime scene and are still being sought by police.
