Abduction Victim Escapes Car Trunk Near Valhalla

By Krista Madsen

Tarrytown police charged a 27-year-old Bronx man with kidnapping and other felony offenses after his prisoner reportedly freed himself from the car trunk where he was being held captive.

The incident began just before 11 a.m. Thursday and ended around 11:22 a.m. when a motorist on Neperan Road near the Tarrytown Lakes called local police. The driver said he had been stopped by a man who said he had been kidnapped and gotten out of his abductor's trunk.


The victim, said Tarrytown Police Lt. William Herguth in a press release, is a livery car driver operating out of the Bronx. He had been assigned to drive someone from the Bronx to Manhattan.

Shortly into the trip, the man's passenger, Robert T. Mizell, allegedly pulled a revolver out and said he was going to rob the driver. Mizell allegedly demanded the man give him his money and cell phone.

He then directed the driver to go north on the Saw Mill River Parkway and exit at exit 23 in Greenburgh.

Here, Mizell allegedly stopped the car and at gunpoint ordered his captive to get into the trunk.

He continued along Neperan Road into Tarrytown where the victim was able to free himself with an emergency release button when the car slowed.

Police said the man sustained minor injuries during his escape. 

The car meanwhile had turned around and started heading east into Valhalla when police were able to stop it.

Mizell, of 609 Beach Ave. in the Bronx, was found with a loaded .38 caliber revolver and the items from the livery car driver.

Tarrytown police charged Mizell with:

• Kidnapping in the second, B-felony
• Criminal use of a firearm in the first, B-felony,
• Possession of a weapon in the second, C-felony.

He is being held pending arraignment.

Note: Arrests do not indicate convictions.

*The introduction to this article previously stated the cab driver was the suspect. It has been corrected.