A 19-year-old woman who thought she was going to a party was instead driven to a rural wooded area and abandoned in minus 13.30°C weather in a long-planned attack by three friends angry with her over an insurance claim, police said on Thursday.
The victim was wearing only a dress and one shoe, having lost the other in a struggle as she was dragged from the car, Lieutenant Frank Cannella of the North Bergen police said. A motorist soon stopped and let the victim use a cell phone but refused to give her a lift.
The victim used the phone to call one of the women who abandoned her, Cannella said. She spent more than an hour in the freezing cold before flagging down another motorist, who took her to a hospital, he said.
The North Bergen woman, whom police did not identify, may need surgery after suffering frostbite to both feet on Jan. 16 in Alpine, a town on the Hudson River about 29km north of New York City, Cannella said.
“These actions were so profound that it leads you to believe there was a tremendous indifference to human life,” Cannella said.
Maria Contreras-Luciano, 22, Amber Crespo, 20, and Dyanne Velasquez, 21, face kidnapping, assault and conspiracy charges. Crespo is also charged with making terroristic threats.
The suspects wanted revenge after the 19-year-old sued Crespo’s auto insurance carrier after a car accident, Cannella said.
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