Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Niece Of Profesional Wrestler Kurt Angle Rescued After Alleged Abduction By Ex-Boyfriend In Pennsylvania
Angle pleaded for help in locating 16-year-old Marjani Aquil before she was located by law enforcement. Jermaine Laquay Rodgers, 19, has been charged with her kidnapping.
The niece of pro-wrestler Kurt Angle was located by police in Pennsylvania after she was allegedly abducted from her home by a former boyfriend.
Marjani Aquil, 16, had been reported missing after being last seen at her home at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. She was located by police with the ex, 19-year-old Jermaine Laquay Rodgers, on Thursday morning.
An Amber Alert had been issued for Aquil on Wednesday evening. Her stepfather told WPXI in Pittsburgh that Rodgers had broken into their home, physically attacked her and then took her. A criminal complaint indicates that Rodgers was armed at the time. Testimony from a witness indicates he may have had an accomplice in his car, a red sedan.
Rodgers had been involved in a similar abduction scenario before: he was arrested in March of 2018 after holding Aquil in a Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania apartment for several days against her will. Rodgers had been on probation for the incident.
Angle, a TV personality and former Olympic athlete, posted about Aquil in the hopes of leading to her discovery.
"Please continue sharing. Thank you all for your support. Uncle Kurt Loves you Mini. Come back home to us safely. Please lets find my niece," Angle wrote in a follow-up post hours later.
After a standoff with police in the early hours of Thursday morning, Aquil was rescued and taken to a hospital where she was treated for minor injuries to her face.
Christopher Kearns of Allegheny County Police described locating Rodgers in a coal cellar.
“Members of the SWAT team had to physically find him in the coal cellar,” Kearns said. “It was under the front porch. They broke the window so they could see into the area and that's where they saw him hiding.”
Police had discovered Rodgers' whereabouts after he had been seen on Facebook Live, Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton said.
Rodgers was taken into custody by a SWAT team and placed in the Allegheny County Jail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 28. The charges filed against him include kidnapping of a minor inflicting bodily injury, terroristic threats, simple assault, burglary, unlawful restraint of a minor, harassment, and criminal mischief, according to CBS Pitssburgh.
Another missing individual, who remains unnamed in reports, was also located by police at the home where Aquil was discovered.
[Photo: Kurt Angle by Michael Buckner/Getty Images]
