PALMER, Mass. (AP) – A missing Connecticut woman was found unharmed in western Massachusetts with her estranged husband, who was arrested on kidnapping and other charges following a police chase and four-hour standoff, Palmer police said Sunday.
Paulette Taylor, 36, was reported missing on Wednesday after she did not show up for work.
Her husband, Robbie “Rashad” Graham, was spotted driving a car in the area of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst on Saturday and a chase ensued in Palmer and nearby Ludlow, said Palmer police Lt. John Janulewicz.
Graham turned down a dead-end street and drove about a quarter-mile into the woods on a cart road before getting stuck, police said.
The car was boxed in by police cruisers, and Graham refused to leave the vehicle, Janulewicz said. He also refused to release Taylor, police said. He emerged after several hours of negotiations with police, state police and the FBI.
Graham, 40, of Hartford, who was armed with a .25-caliber handgun, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping while armed with a firearm, possessing a firearm while committing a felony and possessing a firearm with defaced serial numbers, police said.
He also was charged with several motor vehicle violations related to the chase, police said.
Graham was held on $500,000 cash bail on Sunday and was due to be arraigned in Palmer District Court toay.
Taylor had applied for a restraining order against Graham, saying she feared for her life.
Taylor told court authorities in August that she worried for the safety of her two children. She said Graham, who was due to be released from jail, had been sending her threatening letters.
He was serving time at the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, Conn., though state Department of Correction officials couldn’t say why.
Taylor filed a domestic violence charge against Graham in October.
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