HAYES CENTER, Neb. (AP) - State troopers have arrested a western Nebraska man accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint, then later engaging in an hourslong standoff with police.
Robert Smith, 44, of Hershey, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he was found at a house in Hayes Center in southwestern Nebraska, station KRVN reported. Troopers said they sought a warrant for Smith after a woman called Lincoln County 911 before dawn Wednesday to report Smith had abducted her.
The woman said she had been at a friend’s house a day earlier, and when she got in her car to leave, Smith sat up from where he had been hiding in the back seat, placed a gun to her head and forced her to drive to rural Lincoln County. Investigators say he released her hours later, and she was treated for minor injuries at a North Platte hospital.
Officials said they soon learned Smith was in Hayes Center, and the Nebraska State Patrol negotiated with him for hours before he came out of the house just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. He was arrested without incident.
Smith is being held in the Lincoln County Detention Center, and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said charges against him are pending.
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