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BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle
A man forced an acquaintance into the trunk of a car early Thursday morning, then drove around using the victim's ATM card to withdraw money before releasing him unharmed, police said.
Authorities were alerted by two women who called 911 at about 4:20 a.m.
They reported that they were riding with an acquaintance when they heard pleas for help coming from the trunk of the car, Patrol South Lt. E.J. Bastian said.
When they first heard sounds coming from the trunk, Bastian said, the driver told the women he had put his pit bull in the trunk.
But when they heard the muffled words "Help me" and what sounded like someone hitting or kicking the back seat, the women became frightened and jumped out of the car when the driver stopped at an intersection, Bastian said.
They ran to a nearby house and called 911.
The driver later ran from the sedan on North Spruce, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.
A man walked into the IHOP restaurant at 3505 N. Rock Road at about 7:20 a.m. and said he had been kidnapped, Bastian said. He was taken to City Hall for questioning.
He told police he had been let out of the trunk by the man who put him in there, Lt. James Bohannon said, though police are not sure how long he was in the trunk.
The suspect, 28, was found near 14th and Grove later Thursday morning with the help of a Kansas Highway Patrol K-9 unit. After questioning, he was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of robbery and kidnapping.
The man in the trunk knew the suspect, so police knew the suspect lived in north Wichita.
Police were searching the area when they saw him run between two houses near 14th and Grove.
State Trooper Dale Brooks released Nitro, a Belgian Malinois trained in explosives and patrol work, to search the area.
The dog followed footprints in the grass to an apartment above a garage, where the suspect was hiding, Brooks said.
The suspect surrendered after Nitro took him down, Brooks said.
"He was asking us to take the dog off," Brooks said.
The 28-year-old also was booked in connection with the robbery of the Burger King at 1104 N. Broadway early on the morning of March 27, Bohannon said.
The Burger King robbery in March was unusual, police said, because the clerk told police the robber worked there.
He had just completed a shift, in fact, when he returned to the store with a handgun and demanded money -- still wearing his Burger King hat.
Reach Stan Finger at 316-268-6437 or sfinger@wichitaeagle.com.
