Man Kidnaped and Locked in Car Trunk for a Day Is Freed

A Los Angeles man spent Friday night and most of Saturday locked in the trunk of a Cadillac after two men kidnaped him at gunpoint outside an auto parts store and treated themselves to a marathon joy ride, authorities said.

Daniel Ames was freed from the white Eldorado at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at a Hawthorne mall parking structure after two boys told security officers they heard pounding from inside the trunk, security personnel said.

“The guy was lying there all cooped up, with bloodshot eyes,” said Graham Taylor-Letch, assistant security director of the Hawthorne Plaza, after helping to free Ames. “We pulled him out and got him some water.

“It’s a good job they didn’t park it in the sun somewhere,” Taylor- Letch said. “He would have cooked.”

Ames told police he was accosted by two men about 4:30 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of a Pep Boys store on Manchester Boulevard near the Harbor Freeway.

No arrests have been made.

Ames said he had made some purchases at the store and was unlocking the car to return home when the pair forced him into the back seat at gunpoint and drove off, later stopping to lock him in the trunk. The abductors then took the Cadillac on a joy ride that continued until early Saturday afternoon, according to Ames’ account to police.

“Apparently, they were driving around, partying and picking up women all night,” said Inglewood Police Sgt. Dan Milchovich, whose department handled the case briefly before turning it over to Los Angeles police.