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Kidnapping Victim Dies of Injuries From Crash

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TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Chris Rawlings, a former Crespi High School football star and well-to-do businessman who was dragged from his Woodland Hills home by two masked gunmen, died Wednesday night, apparently of injuries received when his Bentley crashed and burst into flames as his assailants tried to escape from pursuing police with him in the trunk.

Rawlings, 30, died at Northridge Hospital Medical Center at 6:01 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

The exact cause of death will be determined by an autopsy, the coroner’s office said. But Rawlings suffered major head injuries in the car crash and had been unconscious since, family friends said earlier.

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He left a wife and two children.

The kidnapping occurred Monday night when Rawlings drove to a nearby grocery store for diapers and other supplies, according to police. About half an hour later, his wife, Barbie, heard her husband’s Bentley drive into the garage. After waiting a few minutes, she said she entered the garage to find two men beating her husband. She locked the door from the garage to the house, gathered the couple’s two children, ran upstairs and called police.

Meanwhile, the men forced Rawlings into the Bentley’s trunk, then drove the vehicle away just as police arrived. Police chased the Bentley until it struck a power pole, ejecting Rawlings from the trunk. The kidnappers escaped and are still at large, police said.

Earlier Wednesday, family and friends gathered at the hospital as it became evident that Rawlings’ injuries might be fatal, said Father John Knoernschild, a family friend and president of Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, which Rawlings attended.

Knoernschild led them in prayer and administered the Catholic last rites.

“They’re managing well under the circumstances,” said Knoernschild, who has known the family since the 1980s and was Crespi’s principal for a year when Rawlings was a student there. He remembered Rawlings as an athlete who competed in several sports, including football, track and wrestling, and graduated in 1987.

A spokesman for the family said Wednesday that the Rawlingses were “a tight family, a close family,” too distraught to talk to reporters. He also said that contrary to reports, Rawlings celebrated his birthday on Sunday, not on the night he was kidnapped.

His wife is distraught and shocked, Knoernschild said. “She is finding it difficult to understand why something like this had to happen,” he said. “She’s been supportive of her husband. Only a few times did she venture out to the waiting area.”

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The man who has been providing the family with spiritual support since the night of the kidnapping spoke Wednesday about Rawlings as a family man who was determined to succeed at anything he did.

“I always found Chris to be an extremely competitive young man here in the high school,” said Knoernschild, who recalled often cheering him on at wrestling matches and track meets. “I don’t remember him being anything but a model student.”

He said he last saw Rawlings on Jan. 27, when the two had lunch. Rawlings spoke mostly about his children and little about his work, Knoernschild said. Friends have called Rawlings a successful businessman who co-owned a clothing store on Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

“He did a lot with his children, whether it was walking them or pushing their stroller,” Knoernschild said. “I’m honored that I was able to spend time with him.”

Meanwhile, Det. Rick Swanston of the LAPD’s West Valley Division said police were confident that the motive for the attack was robbery and were pursuing several leads.

Swanston said at least one person may be able to identify one of the assailants--the woman who was carjacked from her Mazda RX7 following the fiery crash of the Bentley.

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He said detectives were also calling on any motorists who were approached by a black male between 9:30 and 11 p.m. Monday on or near Wilbur Avenue in Tarzana.

Anyone with information is asked to call Swanston at (818) 756-8546.

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Staff writer Scott Glover contributed to this story.

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