Facing Threats of Mutilation, 3 Saved From Kidnap Suspects

Three people were freed after being held for two days by alleged kidnapers who threatened to cut off their ears and fingers unless a $275,000 ransom was paid, the FBI disclosed today.

FBI agents and police stopped a car on a street in St. George, Utah, and freed the three victims Tuesday night after a two-day ordeal that took them across three states. Three suspects in the car were arrested without incident.

The victims, Horst Werner Joetski, 54, Judy Dean Semingson, 32, and Mary Jayne Long, 25, were unharmed. They allegedly had been held since Sunday with their captors threatening to cut off their ears and fingers and send them to family members unless the ransom was paid, the FBI said.

Special Agent Terry Knowles said the abduction occurred at Lake Havasu, Ariz., and the victims had been held at gunpoint in two Nevada motels. A fourth victim, Joetski’s son Eric, 25, escaped Monday night and informed authorities, he said.

The four allegedly were abducted at gunpoint from Joetski’s Lake Havasu metals business, the FBI said, and were taken to a motel in Henderson, Nev., and then driven to another motel in Las Vegas.

The suspects were identified as Roy Eugene Bennett, 46, and Wesley Allen Worcester, 38, both of Boise, Ida., and Lynne Marie Fox, 34, of Lake Havasu. Bennett is a former employee of Joetski.