DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A woman who rescued a mother seen kidnapped in surveillance video told Channel 2 Action News that she immediately knew something was wrong.
Investigators told Channel 2’s Liz Artz that Derwin Johnson, 23, took the mother against her will.
They say it was not a random incident and that the two know each other.
Carla Harris, who rescued the mother some 30 miles from where she was abducted, told Artz that she thought about the woman all night and wanted to know how she is doing.
"She did not know where she was at. She had no clue of where she was at. She came out of woods, like I said, with no clothes on," Harris told Artz over the phone Thursday.
Harris said she was taking the back way home Wednesday night, down Jack Neely Road, when a woman -- stabbed, beaten and nude -- ran from the tree line.
"I was thinking, ‘This can't be real,’ but then I had my window down and she was, like, ‘Someone please help me,’” Harris said.
TRENDING STORIES:
- 17-month-old boy among 3 killed in shooting outside home
- Tyler Perry buys new van to replace church's stolen van
- Mother, father, son arrested in Forsyth County drug raid
Surveillance video shows the woman being kidnapped from the Budget Inn off Memorial Drive, about an hour before Harris spotted her.
Johnson is the man police believe dragged the mother from her room where she was staying with her 1-year-old daughter.
"She told me her baby was left alone and that her baby was a year old. She said she was concerned about the baby," Harris told Artz.
Dekalb County detectives said the crime is not random because the woman knows Johnson.
Police are actively searching for him and say he'll be charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault once he’s caught.
"She said he knocked her teeth out. He stabbed in her head, and she had stab wounds and bite marks all over her," Harris said.
Another woman, who does not want to be identified, said she saw the baby minutes after police arrived at the motel.
“The baby didn't have any socks on, no nothing," the woman told Artz.
"This person has no regard for the child or the mother," Shiera Campbell, with the DeKalb County Police Department, said. "We really would like to get him in custody and to make sure he’s not able cause harm to anyone else."
Detectives said the woman rescued by Harris was taken to a nearby hospital and is in stable condition.
Harris said she hopes she gets to meet her again one day.
Cox Media Group
