Illinois man pleads guilty to kidnapping woman from local park

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A Chicago-area man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to kidnapping a woman earlier this year at Cape County Park South.

As part of a plea agreement, Jeffery Lazier, 43, pleaded guilty to one felony count of kidnapping before U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., court records show. Details of the plea agreement were not available.

Lazier admitted he abducted a 22-year-old Southeast Missouri State University student at knifepoint as she sat in her vehicle, according to a release from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Lazier held the woman for more than six hours, driving through Missouri and Illinois, repeatedly assaulted her and forced her to try to get money from banks.

The woman opened the passenger door and jumped out near an off-ramp on Interstate 57 near Effingham, Illinois, and ran toward nearby motorists for help, the release stated.

The FBI arrested Lazier on May 15 in Yorkville, Illinois, after Cape Girardeau police lifted a fingerprint from the outside of the victim's vehicle, the release stated.

Online court records show Lazier also faces charges of kidnapping, first-degree robbery, armed criminal action, first-degree sodomy or attempted sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse in Missouri. Assistant federal prosecutor Larry Ferrell said those charges were unaffected by Lazier's federal plea deal. No court date is scheduled on the state charges.

Lazier faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine on the federal kidnapping charge. He will be sentenced Dec. 21.