Carlesha Freeland-Gaither had a lucky escape from kidnapper and rapist Delvin Barnes – See No Evil explains how CCTV helped save her life

Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was a 22-year-old nursing assistant working in Philadelphia, when she just disappeared – See No Evil shows how CCTV helped save her life.

When Freeland-Gaither was reported missing on November 2, 2014, police examined CCTV cameras in the area and in a stroke of luck one of the cameras had captured the moment that the young woman was violently kidnapped after stepping off a bus.

Delvin Barnes
Delvin Barnes was caught and given more than 30 years in prison

The attacker could not be identified initially but a wide appeal was put out and less than 72 hours later a tip off from an ATF Office in Richmond, Virginia gave police a possible suspect. The ATF agents had been monitoring 37-year-old Delvin Barnes and recognised him from the news reports showing the CCTV footage.

Moment of abduction on CCTV
Moment of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither’s abduction caught on CCTV

In a second stroke of luck, the car he was using had a GPS fitted by the dealership due to his bad credit, this let police track his Ford Taurus to a mall parking lot in Jessup, Maryland. Officers surprised Barnes, who was in the back seat with Freeland-Gaither. He tried to jump into the front seat and flee but was arrested at the scene.

Freeland-Gaither was taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries, but was otherwise unharmed.

In 2016 Barnes pleaded guilty to abducting Freeland-Gaitherand was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He explained to the court that he’d initially just planned to rob his victim but then things spiralled out of control.

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However, as part of the plea deal he also admitted to raping and attempting to murder a teenager in 2014.

See No Evil – Captured on Camera airs at 8:00 PM on Investigation Discovery. 

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