By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 20, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page C05
A 27-year-old man abducted his estranged wife from a Teaneck street, drenched her with gasoline, and threatened to set both of them afire if she did not reconcile with him, police said.
Russell J. Kutcher was arrested in a Ridgefield motel where he had taken her, police said. Kutcher was being held Thursdau on $500,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail. His wife, whom police declined to name, was not injured.
The couple, separated since September, were in the process of getting a divorce. The woman had obtained a temporary restraining order against Kutcher on Dec. 13 because he was bothering her, Teaneck police Detective Leonard Pinto said. They were married in February.
Kutcher, a former Garfield resident who had been living at the motel, abducted the 24-year-old Elmwood Park woman about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday as she was talking with a friend at Bergen Street and Blauvelt Avenue near Ridgefield Park, Pinto said.
He dragged her into his 1978 Ford Thunderbird, then pulled a container from the back seat and poured gasoline over her head, Pinto said.
“He held a lighter to me and threatened to kill us both if I didn’t stop screaming,” the woman later told police.
A few minutes later, the frantic friend hailed Ridgefield Park police Sgt. Timothy LaTour, who had just left his house after a lunch break, and told him what had happened. LaTour broadcast a description of Kutcher’s car, and police from Teaneck and Ridgefield joined Ridgefield Park police in the search.
About 1:30 p.m., LaTour found Kutcher’s car in the parking lot of the Turnpike Motor Hotel on Route 46 west.
LaTour said he waited for backup from Ridgefield Park Capt. William Morton and Officer Philip McEntee, Pinto, and Ridgefield Detective Richard Stoltenborg, Investigator William Candeletti, and Officer William Pych, and that police then kicked in the door of Room 59.
“She was inside the room, sitting on the bed, crying,” LaTour said. “He was just walking around with pants, no shirt on.”
Kutcher gave up without incident, police said. Ambulance personnel found his wife covered with gasoline, Stoltenborg said.
Police said Kutcher, an unemployed chef, was staying in the motor hotel for the past week. His last known address was 271 Lanza Ave., Garfield.
He was charged Thursday in Teaneck Municipal Court with abduction and aggravated assault. Bail was set at $100,000. He was charged in Ridgefield with criminal restraint, unlawful imprisonment, making terroristic threats, and contempt of court for violating the restraining order. Bail there was set at $400,000.
ID: 17364118 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)