Police: Man accused of abducting 31-year-old Delaware County woman arrested in North Carolina
CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) – The man accused of abducting a woman from Delaware County is under arrest. The woman was found unharmed in North Carolina. CBS3 was told she has been in contact with her family and they are now trying to figure out how to get her home.
Police say they got a tip that 31-year-old Shameka Thompson and 26-year-old Dehmier Harmon were on their way to North Carolina. They were found Saturday morning in Fayetteville shortly before 2 a.m., which is over 400 miles away from Chester.
"Once we got the description of the tag, we started to get hit confirmation about where the vehicle was going and that's how we put two and two together," Steven Gretsky, the Chester police commissioner, said. "It was joint effort, it was the community and the police department."
Police say Thompson was taken by Harmon from West 21st Street in Chester on Friday afternoon. Police say they're boyfriend and girlfriend, but the concern was that Harmon is the suspect in a murder that happened earlier in the week. It's believed the abduction was linked to that homicide.
The Chester Police Department has an active arrest warrant for Harmon for the murder of Leon Culbreath, which occurred on Aug. 3, 2022 in the area of the 2100 block of Edgmont Avenue.
Investigators say Harmon abducted his girlfriend believing she told police about the murder, although police say she was not the person who alerted authorities.
Harmon will have an extradition hearing on Monday, police say. He was taken into custody without incident.
Thompson's family says they are still processing what happened, grateful their loved one is OK.
"I'm going to just hug my cousin, just hug her," Thompson's cousin said.
"I'm just happy my cousin was found," the cousin added.
Police credit the combination of old-fashioned good detective work along with help from county and state police, the FBI and the public for the quick catch in this case
