A woman who was held against her will for a year freed herself from her alleged kidnapper in New Jersey earlier this month.
The woman, who has not been identified, fled to a gas station in desperation and begged for help, leading to the arrest of her suspected kidnapper, who was being held on multiple charges, police said.
James W. Parrillo, 57, allegedly held the woman captive in Burlington County, New Jersey, and choked her several times and threatened to murder her family if she left him.
Parrillo may have committed similarly heinous “predatory behavior”; in other states and is known to go by multiple aliases, according to the attorney general’s office.
The suspect is currently in prison on pending charges.
James W. Parrillo, 57, who went by various aliases including “Brett Parker,” was arrested on multiple charges including kidnapping. He avoided his own arrest by refusing to give police his real name or a DNA sample, but eventually admitted to smothering the woman in early February
Attorney General Matt Platkin said, “We are reaching out to law enforcement in all jurisdictions to identify others who may have additional information about the defendant.”
“Our investigation is ongoing and we are committed to doing everything in our power to ensure we get justice for this survivor,” he added.
The woman was befriended by Parrillo – who introduced himself to the woman as “Brett Parker” – at a gas station in New Mexico.
According to authorities, he asked her for a ride to Arizona.
The couple enjoyed a month-long amicable relationship that ended in California about a month later. But Parrillo choked the woman, making her feel “like she couldn’t leave the relationship.”
The 57-year-old took the woman’s phone, spent money on her debit cards and didn’t allow her to contact members of her family during their time together.
In late 2022, the couple surfaced in Burlington County, New Jersey, where Parrillo — continuing to use his alias — was renting a room on the second floor of a home in the Bass River community.
On February 7, the woman fled the rented home after Parrillo choked her during an argument.
In a probable cause affidavit filed by police in support of the kidnapping allegations against Parrillo, an officer wrote that the woman “ran away when given the opportunity.”
When she got to the gas station, she told two attendants that “Parker” had held her against her will for about a year. Her claims of suffocation matched the markings visible on her neck.
Gas station manager Jaitin “Bobby” Madaan told a local New Jersey outlet that the woman was “terrified” when she reached the store.
“She was shaking, she could barely get her words together, but she kept saying, ‘He held me against my will for over a year. He kidnapped me,” he said.
‘Parker’ arrived at the gas station shortly after the woman and attempted to enter the office but was denied.
Surveillance video shows the man attempting to bypass the door that the woman had locked.
“You don’t want this,” he told her, according to Madaan.
When authorities arrived, Parrillo refused to give them his real name, which led to his arrest for obstructing his own arrest.
The man later gave law enforcement his real name and admitted to choking the woman on February 7.
The Conoco gas station, where the culmination of the great escape took place, is pictured here at the intersection of Route 9 and County Road 542 in New Jersey
Jersey Police charged Parrillo with first-degree kidnapping and claimed he held the woman for around a year to terrorize her and “cause bodily harm”.
He is accused of threatening the woman, saying he would kill her and her family if she left.
In addition to kidnapping and delaying his own charges, the defendant faced two counts of aggravated assault, criminal restraint and obstruction, according to court documents.
He also refused to give authorities a DNA sample, for which he was charged.
Pearl Minato, director of the Department of Criminal Justice, said: “The allegations, if proven, demonstrate a level of predatory behavior that poses an extreme danger to anyone who crosses this accused’s path.”