A Virginia woman faces kidnapping and other charges following a bizarre incident on U.S. 158 in lower Currituck County Sunday afternoon.
Authorities were called to the intersection of Caratoke Highway and Augusta Drive at 12:40 p.m. for a multiple vehicle crash, according to the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office.
A man who saw the crash got out of his sport utility vehicle to check on those involved. While he was away from his vehicle, one of the drivers involved in the crash, Markell Hancox of Chesapeake, jumped into the SUV with five children inside and started driving north.
Hancox pulled into the driveway of the Hop-In convenience store located a few hundred yards north of the scene of the wreck and ran from the stolen vehicle. She was quickly apprehended by the man and Currituck deputies.
The children were extremely shaken but otherwise unhurt, according to the sheriff’s office.
Markell was charged with five counts of second degree kidnapping, leaving the scene of an accident and larceny of a motor vehicle. She was being held in lieu of $210,000 bond at the Currituck County Detention Center.
