DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A couple was arrested after they kidnapped a man at gunpoint on Sunday, Daytona Beach police said.
According to the arrest report, officers responded to reports of an armed woman inside a vehicle near the Sunset Inn on 544 S. Ridgewood Ave., around 10:42 a.m., and found Derek Pearson, 38, and Shannon Kay, 42, in a silver Subaru Outback with a toddler and an adult man in the car.
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The man in the car told police the couple had kidnapped him from his recreational vehicle earlier that morning, the affidavit said.
According to the report, the victim told police he met the couple the day before, when he saw Peterson carrying two gallons of fuel along Nova Road, and offered to help his with his car troubles. The two men were able to get the car running and Peterson asked the victim if he would be able to help him find drugs, the report said.
The two spent the night “partying” in the victim’s RV, police said.
The next day, Pearson returned home to discover his daughter’s backpack, which contained $80 and his cell phone, was missing, according to the report.
The two returned to the victim’s RV, entered through a back entrance, and threatened him with what appeared to be a large caliber revolver and a Taser, the affidavit said. The couple asked the victim what he did with the backpack, and he told him another person they were partying with must have took it, and he would help them get it back.
They got the victim in the car, along with their child, and started driving until the vehicle ran out of fuel near the Sunset Inn, according to the report.
According to the affidavit, when officers arrived to the scene, they noticed the toddler was unsecured and was “completely soiled” in urine and feces.
Pearson and Kay told police the situation “looked bad” but that the gun wasn’t real and the victim was a willing participant in the search for the backpack, the report said.
A search of the vehicle confirmed that the gun wasn’t a firearm, but a .177 caliber BB gun, according to the affidavit. The search also confirmed the Subaru didn’t belong to the couple, but belonged to Kay’s parents, who reported the vehicle missing earlier that day.
Pearson and Kay are facing charges of kidnapping, burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated child abuse.
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