The man accused of kidnapping a college student from a Kroger parking lot, forcing her to drive to an abandoned church where he raped her and then making her drive to Atlanta was sentenced to life.
Timothy Wilson plead guilty and on Monday, was sentenced to life for kidnapping, aggravated assault and hijacking a motor vehicle.
Wilson received the maximum sentence for kidnapping with bodily injury and is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison, according to Coweta County District Attorney.
11Alive first reported the story on Sept. 5, 2017, after police located and saved the University of West Georgia student at a Midtown Kroger off Monroe Drive. Police said she was kidnapped at knifepoint just before 3 a.m. at a Kroger in Carrolton before being forced into her own car.
Surveillance video showed the moments leading up to the attack and photos showed 28-year-old Wilson walking around the store in a bucket hat before the attack.
The victim told told 11Alive Wilson forced her into her own car and then asked her how to get to Atlanta.
The attacker took her up a hill to a church and backed into a parking space in a back corner. Then, he told her to take off her clothes and assaulted her. The student who had just moments early been at a local grocery store now thought she was going to die.
"He told me it would really just be easier to get rid of my body because he was already doing so much wrong," she said.
He then made a comment that she said hit her hard saying that there was "no purpose in crying".
"Because crying wasn't going to help anything. It wasn't going to get me out of the situation I was in. It wasn't beneficial, so I had to keep my head on straight, think logically."
Then she bravely took an action that may have ultimately saved her life - while also possibly risking it.
After the assault, Wilson asked for directions. The victim asked for her phone so she could look them up.
"She used her cell phone to alert her family. Her family was able to get in contact with our 911 center and let our officers know where she was," Schiffbauer said.
The victim told BuzzFeed News she turned the brightness on her phone down and contacted texted her boyfriend who alerted police.
She was able to drop a location pin and told him to look out for her car. Because of her quick thinking, police tracked her location to the Kroger in Midtown, which is over a 50-mile drive.
An officer canvassing the area spotted the victim’s stolen car and when Wilson saw police, he reportedly took off in the vehicle and crashed into multiple cars in the parking lot.
After 10 hours, Wilson was caught by police. He had additional charges in an Atlanta for rape, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment and aggravated assault against a police officer.
