Man charged with kidnapping after stealing car with girl inside, Raleigh police say

Raleigh police have charged a man with kidnapping after they say he stole an SUV with a child in it Sunday night.

Officers responded around 11:30 p.m. to a reported kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl in the 3700 block of Tryon Road after a man entered and stole a vehicle from a convenience store.

The girl was able to get out in a nearby neighborhood and make it home safely, according to a news release. Police did not say whether the driver released her or she got out on her own.

Soon after that an officer spotted and tried to stop the stolen car, which WRAL described as a white SUV, but the driver refused to comply.

A chase followed into Durham and then Cary before it ended around 3:15 a.m. at Kildaire Farm Road and Loch Highlands Drive off U.S. 1 in Cary, where officers used a police dog to catch the man, the news station reported.

There were no injuries, police said.

Morteza Zakeri, 20, of Raleigh, was charged with first-degree kidnapping, felony flee/elude arrest with motor vehicle and larceny of a motor vehicle in connection with the incident, according to the release.

He is being held in jail on $200,000 bail, CBS17 reported.

This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 10:35 AM.