Three states involved after two day trip goes awry leading one person to be arrested.
In what might be one of the wildest stories of 2020, Florida cops have arrested a Georgia man who cops say is suspected of carjacking a Tennessee Uber driver, which sparked a multi-state search as he eluded authorities last week. Christopher C. Miller was arrested outside Jacksonville, Florida, over the weekend after Cohutta Police in Georgia say he had pulled a weapon on his Uber driver after she questioned the route he proposed.
The victim, Carolina Vargas, agreed to pickup Miller in the middle of last week, according to Cohutta Police, after his semi truck broke down outside Nashville. She took him on a long haul trip to Cleveland, Tennessee, where he lives.
She also agreed to stay in Cleveland, after the first leg of the trip in a hotel and made arrangements to pick him up on Friday in order to take him back to his truck in Nashville.
Cops say he told the female driver to take Georgia State 71, on the way back to Nashville in order to avoid traffic in Chattanooga, causing them to cross state lines into Georgia. During that part of the route, the victim questioned his request and according to cops, he pulled a weapon on her. In order to save her life, she jumped from the moving vehicle with her phone and escaped in Cohutta county.
Cohutta Police Chief Greg Fowler says while there are no eye witnesses to her jumping from the car, the injuries she sustained are consistent with that of someone who had leapt from a moving vehicle. She sustained broken teeth, scrapes and bruises and will require extensive reconstructive surgeries.
Miller then allegedly drove to Florida where he was picked up by authorities in Whitfield County.
Miller was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, hijacking a motor vehicle, aggravated assault and possession of a knife during a crime by Florida authorities. He had multiple firearms in his possession during his arrest, police say, and Vargas' stolen car was located in Cleveland.
The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division is assisting Cohutta police, who say they have not been able to interview the offender.
Miller has not entered a plea and faces extradition to Georgia.
Fowler says “one way or another we will get him back to Georgia.” Fowler says Miller did admit to taking the vehicle and other “parts of the crime.”
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