Man charged with kidnapping Lansing woman

A man has been charged in the kidnapping of a 53-year-old woman from her home in south suburban Lansing early Friday.

Carleous Clay, 33, of Lansing, was arrested Sunday night and charged Monday with one felony count of kidnapping, according to the FBI. Clay was being held in Michigan. Court proceedings have not yet been scheduled.

According to the 7-page federal criminal complaint, the woman — identified as “Victim A” — came home Friday night and “walked into a burglary in progress.” Clay came at the woman with a hammer and then forced her into the trunk of her car.

Clay then drove her car across state lines into Indiana to the First Merchants Bank, 707 Ridge Road in Munster, according to the complaint. At 11:47 p.m., he used the woman’s credit card to withdraw $140 from the ATM.

Ten minutes later, external ATM surveillance video from BMO Harris Bank at 915 Ridge Road in Munster showed Clay’s left arm extended through the open driver’s window. He appeared to be using the ATM. This footage also depicted Clay wearing a white T-Shirt, semi-transparent nylon face covering, a black watch and gloves, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that after Clay left the ATM, he sexually assaulted the woman in her vehicle.

At 2 a.m. Sept. 18, surveillance video from Burns Harbor Trucking Companies, 277 Melton Road in Burns Harbor, Indiana, show the woman’s car backing into an abandoned business at 280 Melton Road.

The woman told officials that Clay sexually assaulted her again when the car stopped. Clay then strangled her until she passed out, and when the woman regained consciousness she said she “recalled being on fire and walking from the scene,” according to the complaint.

At 2:49 a.m., surveillance video from the truck company show the woman with her legs on fire walking towards Melton Road and then walking east in the direction of Pilot Service Station, 243 Melton Road, the complaint stated.

The Pilot Service Station surveillance video show the woman walking into a McDonald’s restaurant within the Pilot Service Station at 3:05 a.m., according to the complaint. Employees then called 911.

Later in the morning of Sept. 18, officers found the woman’s car in the parking lot of a large apartment complex at 791 E. 16th St., Holland, Michigan, the complaint stated.

After officials released the images from the BMO Harris Bank surveillance footage, two anonymous tips were received that the person in the images appeared to be Clay, according to the complaint.

On Sept. 19, three people who know Clay said that they recognized him as the person in the surveillance photograph.

The complaint states Clay was on parole and lived three block away from the woman. His last parole check was Sept. 12.

On Sept. 20, the FBI searched Clay’s residence and found a white T-shirt with dried blood stains, latex gloves, a woman’s stocking and items that appear to match items missing from the woman’s home, including a Phillips television, a Toshiba laptop and jewelry, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that Clay was arrested on Sept. 20 and admitted to kidnapping the woman from her home, transporting her across state lines, and sexually assaulting her.