SALEM, Ore. -- The ex-girlfriend of a Salem man was able to talk her way out of a violent kidnapping and safely escape before her tormentor shot himself in the head in front of police Monday, according to Marion County deputies.
Around 10:30 a.m., 22-year-old Brittany Caudle said she went to the home of 50-year-old Mickey Jarrell to get some of her belongings after they had broken off their relationship several days prior. Jarrell had told Caudle over the phone he would not be at home when she got there.
Caudle told deputies when she showed up, Jarrell came out of hiding in the garage, attacked her and bound her with duct tape until she passed out. He then put her into her car and left the home.
At one point, Caudle told deputies she was able to free herself and conceal a screwdriver she had found in the car. Jarrell stopped and bound her with zip ties, before continuing on to a strip mall, where Jarrell padlocked the victim inside his truck, concealing her with blankets and pillows. He also threw her cell phone in some brush, police said.
While bound, Caudle told investigators during the drive from Woodburn to The Dalles on I-84, Jarrell confessed to several robberies at Woodburn Outlet stores and that he had also recently been trying to make bombs.
Deputies said along the way, Caudle talked Jarrell into releasing her and turning back to Salem when she said she would stay with him. During that part of the trip, Jarrell also had Caudle take four rounds out of a revolver in the truck, but to leave one bullet for himself in case of a run-in with police, where he planned to take his life.
"I said 'you don't kill me, you untie me and we'll go back and do whatever you want, we'll be Bonnie and Clyde.'" Caudle told KGW.
Caudle said she then convinced Jarrell to let her get her car where it had been left in the strip mall lot. She was instructed to follow him back home and began to do so, before sharply turning around where she called for help at a fabric store on Center Street.
After her call, police went to Jarrel's house where they stopped his truck backing out of the garage. Deputies said Jarrell came out with the gun to his head, and refused commands to drop it, before fatally shooting himself. No rounds were fired by officers.
Caudle was treated for her injuries at a nearby hospital.
"I cared about him so I didn't want him dead. Even after everything he did, I didn't want him to kill himself," she added.
Police bomb squads later cleared Jarrell's home.
Detectives said they were interested in talking to any witnesses in the parking lot near Target/Cold Stone Creamery at the time.
Anyone who may have seen anything involved in the case was asked to call police at (503) 540-8007.
(KGW Reporter Amanda Burden contributed to this report)
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