2 Arrested In Beaver Falls For Taking Woman's Daughter Hostage Over Debt
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Beaver Falls Police say a man and woman held hostage -- and threatened to beat and kill -- a girl whose mother owed them money.
28-year-old Aiesha Jones and 21-year-old Osiah Funkhouser allegedly lured the girl by asking her to babysit.
It's unclear how much money the mother owed Jones and Funkhouser, but police say that prior to taking the girl hostage, the two argued with her mother over the debt. After the three came to some sort of understanding, Jones and Funkhouser asked if the girl could babysit.
When the girl showed up at their home, she had a friend with her. But police say Jones and Funkhouser made the friend leave and that's when they forced the woman's daughter to stay against her will.
"If the girl would have screamed we would have heard something," a neighbor said.
Police say Jones and Funkhouser threatened the girl with a gun and some kind of stun gun, told her she would have to sleep in a closet and eventually told her they planned to beat her and kill her, as well as her mother, if the money wasn't paid back.
The girl's friend told her mother what had happened, who then called police.
Neighbors say the tenants had just moved into the apartment a few weeks ago.
Police found the girl in the apartment and charged Jones and Funkhouser on numerous counts, including kidnapping for ransom, false imprisonment and conspiracy.
They are both in the Beaver County Jail.
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