The Des Moines Police Department said a brave and quick-thinking great-grandmother helped stop a man who stole a car with herself and her great-grandchild in the backseat.Des Moines police charged 59-year-old Bruce Martin Beehler is with second-degree kidnapping, third-degree kidnapping and theft of a vehicle.According to authorities, Beehler stole the vehicle around 6 a.m. at the QuikTrip on Hickman Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway while the owner, Desirae Dupree, was inside the store.“I went inside to get some donuts and I came out to no car and a phone call from my grandma, screaming, ‘Where are you taking me? Where are you taking me?’” Dupree said.Dupree’s grandmother, Loretta Braddy, and a 2-year-old were in the backseat when the theft occurred.“My heart just stopped,” Dupree said. “I froze. I just started thinking the worst, like, ‘What is he going to do to my grandma and my son?’” “I said, ‘You need to stop the car,’” Braddy said. “He just kept right on an I said, ‘This is for real. This man is kidnapping us.’”Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said Braddy used her cell phone to call Dupree and tell where Beehler was taking the stolen vehicle.“To see her remain that levelheaded where she was able to get on the phone, make that call and keep her bearings about her so that she could get her help … that’s amazing to us,” Parizek said.Dupree then called 911, allowing authorities to stop the car and arrest Beehler a few miles from the convenience store.Beehler is being held in Polk County Jail and could face 50 years to life in prison.
DES MOINES, Iowa —
The Des Moines Police Department said a brave and quick-thinking great-grandmother helped stop a man who stole a car with herself and her great-grandchild in the backseat.
Des Moines police charged 59-year-old Bruce Martin Beehler is with second-degree kidnapping, third-degree kidnapping and theft of a vehicle.
According to authorities, Beehler stole the vehicle around 6 a.m. at the QuikTrip on Hickman Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway while the owner, Desirae Dupree, was inside the store.
“I went inside to get some donuts and I came out to no car and a phone call from my grandma, screaming, ‘Where are you taking me? Where are you taking me?’” Dupree said.
Dupree’s grandmother, Loretta Braddy, and a 2-year-old were in the backseat when the theft occurred.
“My heart just stopped,” Dupree said. “I froze. I just started thinking the worst, like, ‘What is he going to do to my grandma and my son?’”
“I said, ‘You need to stop the car,’” Braddy said. “He just kept right on an I said, ‘This is for real. This man is kidnapping us.’”
Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said Braddy used her cell phone to call Dupree and tell where Beehler was taking the stolen vehicle.
“To see her remain that levelheaded where she was able to get on the phone, make that call and keep her bearings about her so that she could get her help … that’s amazing to us,” Parizek said.
Dupree then called 911, allowing authorities to stop the car and arrest Beehler a few miles from the convenience store.
Beehler is being held in Polk County Jail and could face 50 years to life in prison.
