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Background: The Performance Luxury Sport car dealership in Marysville, Ohio (Google Maps). Inset: Todd Marrs (Tri-County Regional Jail).
In central Ohio, a bizarre incident unfolded when a man requested a test drive of a Jeep Wrangler only to reportedly kidnap the saleswoman and instruct her to wait as he ran personal errands, according to officials.
Todd Marrs, aged 51, faces charges of abduction and disrupting public services, as revealed by court documents accessed by Law&Crime. He was taken into custody at the Tri-County Regional Jail on the morning of January 4.
The events took place on December 19 at Performance Luxury Sport, a car dealership located in Marysville, approximately 35 miles from Columbus. Marrs expressed interest in test-driving a Jeep Wrangler, as stated by authorities.
The car saleswoman accompanied Marrs on the test drive, but the situation took a strange turn when Marrs deviated from the standard route, according to reports by the Columbus-based CBS affiliate WBNS, which referenced court documents.
Marrs is accused of stopping the vehicle near a warehouse adjacent to railroad tracks and remaining there for several minutes. When the employee suggested returning to the dealership, Marrs allegedly responded unsettlingly, instructing her, “No, now you’ll sit there and wait like a good girl.”
The saleswoman is said to have sought out help. She texted her co-workers and shared her location with them. She also tried to call them, the court records stated, but at this point, Marrs allegedly took her phone and threw it on the floor of the vehicle.
And Marrs apparently wasn’t done. Law enforcement said he drove to a hospital in Marysville to pick up a friend and refused to drop the associate back off at her job until his errands were completed. When Marrs finally did, he did so with his friend in tow.
Marrs was arrested on Jan. 4 and given a $250,000 bond after appearing in court. He is scheduled to appear before a judge again on Jan. 29.
Court records show that he has a criminal history, having been charged with assault — though he was later convicted of attempting to commit a crime — in 2023.