Kidnappers accused of holding billionaire for ransom face charges in Alabama, feds say
A prominent businessman in Alabama was kidnapped from his bed last month and released eight hours later after handing his abductors $250,000, according to court documents and local media reports.
Now two people accused in the plot face federal charges.
Matthew Amos Burke, 34, and Tabatha Nicole Hodges, 32, were indicted Tuesday on charges of kidnapping and conspiring to defraud the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama said in a news release. Media outlets identified the victim as 75-year-old Elton B. Stephens Jr.
Stephens is the son of Elton B. Stephens Sr., who started the conglomerate EBSCO Industries. The family was worth roughly $4 billion in 2014 and previously ranked 66th on Forbes list of America’s richest families.
Burke and Hodges are accused of abducting Stephens from his rental home in Birmingham on Sept. 11, Alabama Live reported.
The pair allegedly roused him from sleep at 7 a.m., according to court filings. But they’d already been in the house for hours taking his sports car for a spin and cooking in his kitchen, Alabama Live reported.
A sleep app on Stephens’ phone recorded the first two hours of his kidnapping, according to the media outlet.
Prosecutors said Burke and Hodges took Stephens from the house at 10:15 a.m. Burke is accused of driving him to another home on Pinedale Drive in Remlap — about 40 minutes northeast of Birmingham — while Hodges followed in a different car.
The pair then demanded Stephens wire them $250,000, court filings state. Prosecutors said the money was transferred at around 3:45 p.m., and Stephens was subsequently driven back to his home.
“Burke told him that his family would be killed if he called the police about the kidnapping or the ransom,” prosecutors said.
Burke and Hodges were arrested on state charges of burglary, kidnapping of an adult for ransom, extortion and theft of property, CBS 42 reported. They’re accused of taking a car, guns and jewelry valued at over $2,500 during the kidnapping, according to the TV station.
Attorney Tommy Spina confirmed Stephens had been kidnapped in a statement provided to ABC 33/40 News and other local media outlets on Sept. 17.
“Elton Stephens Jr. was kidnapped in a home invasion last Friday,” the statement read. “I ask that his privacy be respected by the press and the public to allow him time and space to process and deal with these very traumatizing circumstances.”
Spina also said Stephens did not know Burke or Hodges and was “physically unharmed,” ABC 33/40 News reported.
“He is obviously emotionally traumatized although he’s better each day,” Spina said, according to the TV station.
Burke and Hodges face up to life in prison if convicted on the federal charges. Public records show they were booked into the Jefferson County Jail just before 2 p.m. on Sept. 14. Both are still in custody.
