By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 19, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star 3| NEWS | Page B03
A 37-year-old Ridgefield woman, allegedly kidnapped by her estranged husband and taken to his Middletown, N.Y., home, has returned home unharmed, police said.
City police are seeking to extradite John Louis Ruggiero from New York to face a kidnapping charge, Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley said Wednesday.
Ruggiero, 41, was being held without bail in Orange County Jail on charges of criminal possession of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, two handguns, and fireworks, New York State Police Investigator Thomas Wood said.
Margaret Ruggiero was reported missing by her mother, Dorothy McDermott, about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Workers at the obstetrician’s office where Ruggiero works called McDermott to say they had not seen her daughter all day, although her car was parked outside, said Detective Scott Jenkins, who investigated the case with Detective Sgt. David Bowman.
McDermott called police about 6 p.m., after receiving a call from her daughter, and said that Ruggiero had been kidnapped by her husband that morning and was being held at his home.
Ruggiero later told police that her husband had come up behind her and forced her into his car as she arrived at work in Englewood about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, Jenkins said.
He drove her to Middletown, telling her that he would not harm her and that he just wanted to talk. He allowed her to make the call that led to her return home, she said.
ID: 17364085 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)
Leave a Reply