Re: 76 yr old Woman Testifies about Abduction

On Dec 10, 3:42 am, Pneuma <frank.sp...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Natalie Herbst-Vinge, 76, of La Mesa, describes how her face and head were
wrapped with duct tape during her abduction on Dec. 8, 2008. Jeffrey
Edward Nelson is on trial for Herbst-Vinge's attempted murder and torture..
(Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune)

EL CAJON — A Mount Helix woman who was kidnapped, beaten and kept tied up
in the trunk of her car for two days last December was sure she was going
to die.

“I didn’t think I’d ever be rescued,” Natalie “Sandy” Herbst-Vinge, 76,
testified in Superior Court on Wednesday. “They were so mean to me I
thought they’d never let me be rescued.”

Herbst-Vinge described her ordeal during the second day of the trial of
one of her alleged attackers, Jeffrey Nelson, 20. He has been charged with
attempted murder, torture and other felony charges.

Herbst-Vinge said she first met Nelson when he came to her Resmar Place
home on Oct. 23 to sell her a Kirby vacuum cleaner. She had answered a
flier for a free fruit basket if she allowed the salesmen to demonstrate
the $2,300 vacuum, which she later bought.

“He did a very nice job. He seemed like a nice young man,” she testified.

Nelson’s supervisor, Cyrus Smith, who was present for part of the sale,
testified that at one point Herbst-Vinge showed both men her silver Dodge
Magnum parked in the garage. She was especially proud of the fancy rims
her son had just bought her.

She said on the morning of Dec. 8, Nelson made an unexpected visit to her
home, thanking her for helping him to win a trip to Hawaii as part of a
sales contest.

Moments later, one of her friends came over for coffee, and Nelson left,
she said.

She was watching the final episode of “Boston Legal” in a sweatsuit about
10 p.m. that night when her doorbell rang again.

Nelson told her that he had just broken up with his girlfriend and asked
to use her phone to call his mother.

“I pointed to the phone and turned around and that’s when he grabbed me
from behind. He choked me and I couldn’t get away,” she testified.

Nelson faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

A co-defendant in the case, Luis Osborne, is scheduled to stand trial next
year. Prosecutors have said that Nelson picked up Osborne, 19, and
Antoinette Baker at Osborne’s El Cajon home, and the three drove to the
Ocean Beach Pier in Herbst-Vinge’s car.

A sheriff’s deputy pulled the trio over for speeding and found
Herbst-Vinge in the trunk. A shovel was also in the car. Osborne is
charged with robbery, false imprisonment and torture and faces a maximum
sentence of life in prison if convicted,

Baker was initially charged in connection with the abduction, but all
charges against her were dismissed and prosecutors haven’t refiled them..

Find this article at:http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/09/76-year-old-woman-test...



How odd. I would think in general a 76 year-old woman needn't worry
about someone wshe knows (even slightly). Shows you never can tell.

Mick
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