CARPINTERIA : Estranged Husband Held in Kidnaping

A Carpinteria man who followed his estranged wife and children from Ventura to Texas was arrested there on suspicion of shooting his father-in-law and kidnaping his wife from her parents’ house, police said.

James Lewis Musgrove, 35, had been released from the Carpinteria Jail last month after being charged with raping his wife. He was arrested about 1 p.m. Monday in San Angelo, Tex., Bexar County Sheriff’s Capt. Kenneth Bilhartz said Thursday.

The arrest took place about 200 miles northwest of San Antonio, where Musgrove allegedly shot his father-in-law and kidnaped his 33-year-old wife six hours earlier, Bilhartz said.

Musgrove had been arrested Sept. 27 by Ventura police after his wife, a Ventura resident, told police that he had handcuffed her, shocked her several times with a stun gun and raped her, Carpinteria Police Lt. Fred Smith said. He was released on $10,000 bail the same day. Musgrove’s wife left the state several days later to stay with her parents, Kenneth and Norma Vickrey, in Texas, Smith said.

According to Bilhartz, Musgrove followed his wife to Texas. He said that about 6:20 a.m. Monday, Musgrove climbed over the security wall surrounding the exclusive residential area and confronted his father-in-law when Vickrey opened his garage to go on a morning bicycle ride. Musgrove shot him in the neck and chest, Bilhartz said.

On Friday, Vickrey was in good condition at Medical Center Hospital in San Antonio, hospital officials said.

“It must have been a nightmare--everybody was screaming,” Bilhartz said while reading from the police report. “Musgrove went into the house through the garage, handcuffed and gagged Norma Vickrey and proceeded through the house looking for his wife.”

The eldest of Musgrove’s three daughters, ages 9, 5 and 2 1/2, hid the youngest behind the toilet and the other in a closet. The girls were not harmed, Bilhartz said.

While Musgrove was leading his wife down the hall, she grabbed a loaded shotgun that had been hidden there in preparation for Musgrove’s possible arrival, and shot him in the shoulder. The shotgun then jammed, however, and Musgrove pistol-whipped and handcuffed her before forcing her out of the house, Bilhartz said.

After Musgrove was seen driving toward San Angelo, sheriff’s deputies staked out the highway between the two cities, San Angelo Police Sgt. Russell Smith said. The search was aided by Musgrove’s wife, who went into a convenience store along the route to buy Musgrove a beer and passed a message telling the clerks that she was being kidnaped, he said.

Musgrove’s camper was pulled over as it was leaving San Angelo and Musgrove was arrested, Smith said. Police found a semiautomatic rifle under the front seat, a pistol in Musgrove’s pocket and an arsenal of weapons in the trailer, he said.