Police released mug shots this week in connection with a bizarre kidnapping case that originated in Edgefield County, South Carolina on Sunday morning.
As we reported yesterday, two arrests have been made in connection with this case – which involved the abduction of a pregnant woman from a residence in North Augusta, S.C. The abducted woman – 18-year-old Kerrie Edgerly – was discovered unharmed the following day in Lexington County, S.C. near the Lake Murray Dam.
Agents of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) have arrested a 21-year-old woman named Jennifer Pruitt of Easley, S.C. in connection with this kidnapping, charging her with accessory after the fact.
Here is Pruitt’s mug shot …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
Meanwhile, Edgefield deputies have arrested 25-year-old Edward Gary Akridge of Six Mile, S.C. in connection with this incident.
Akridge has a criminal past. Two-and-a-half years ago, he was arrested by Pickens County sheriff’s deputies after allegedly robbing a Dacusville, S.C. automotive shop. A month later – after he escaped on foot from a traffic stop in Pickens County – Akridge was arrested and charged with “second-degree burglary, grand larceny, unlawful possession of a pistol, possession of a stolen pistol, failure to stop for a blue light, unlawfully removing or affixing a license plate, violation of probation and four bench warrants” in connection with the auto shop heist, according to reporter Ron Barnett of The Greenville News.
Barnett’s story also noted that Akridge was charged with first-degree assault and battery in connection to an unrelated February 7, 2016 incident in which he allegedly pulled a man from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and beat him about the head with a cement block.
According to the S.C. thirteenth judicial circuit, all of the charges against Akridge stemming from these 2016 incidents are listed as “pending.”
What was he doing out of jail? Good question …
Here is his latest mug shot …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
As we noted yesterday, an arrest warrant obtained exclusively by this news site alleged that Pruitt transported Edgerly in her vehicle – a 2008 Chrysler 300 – while Akridge “spoke to the victim’s mother by phone, to arrange to meet with victim’s mother in Lexington to make an exchange for the victim.”
“SLED agents eventually located and detained Pruitt and Akridge on the Lake Murray dam, at which time the victim was located in the back seat of the vehicle,” the probable cause affidavit on the warrant continued. “Pruitt had knowledge and admitted to knowing Edgerly was the victim of a kidnapping.”
At this point there is no known motive for the kidnapping – nor have our law enforcement sources revealed any connection between the alleged perpetrators and their victim.
Local media originally reported that Edgerly was abducted at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday by “two white males” and later found with “two men.” We cannot speak as to the first claim, but the latter part of that narrative is incorrect. Edgerly was found with Pruitt and Akridge, who at this point remain the only two individuals charged in connection with this case.
Clearly, though, the story is “developing …”
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