MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Five people face charges in a kidnapping and stabbing of a 17-year-old girl from Helena-West Helena, Arkansas last week.
The Phillips County Sheriff’s Department said China Kirkland was kidnapped, stabbed, and taken in the trunk of a car to Tunica County, Mississippi, where she was left for dead last Thursday night.
Tevin Randall, 29, is being charged with kidnapping after authorities say his car was used during the incident. He is being held on $100,000 bond.
Another suspect, who is 17, turned himself in, but has been released on bond, the sheriff’s office said.
Four of the suspects, excluding Randall, will also be charged with attempted murder for their roles in the crime in Tunica County, authorities said.
Kirkland said she was bound and gagged, and her abductors stabbed her more than a dozen times before she played dead. She waited for them to leave, then flagged down a passing car, she said.
“I was trying to scream for my life but my mouth was duct taped,” Kirkland said.
Randall is only being charged with kidnapping because he did not cross into Mississippi where the victim was found. He was out on parole when this happened. He has a December 1st court date in Phillips County Circuit Court.
The other four suspects who did enter Mississippi are facing kidnapping charges in Phillips County and attempted murder charges in Tunica County, the Phillips County Sheriff’s Department said.
No one answered the door Wednesday at the mobile home where Kirkland was abducted.
