NEW JERSEY – A woman finally found a safe place this month after suffering a series of abuse for nearly a year that ended at a New Jersey gas station thousands of miles away. where she met her alleged abductor, state officials revealed Friday.
New Jersey officials said the woman was abused and isolated by a man she knew as “Brett Parker” in February 2022 in New Mexico, almost on the opposite coast from where she would escape her control a year later.
The man, whose real name is James Parrillo Jr., is accused of kidnapping the woman and holding her hostage as they traveled across the country, according to new details released Friday.
The two reportedly met at a gas station near Interstate 10 in early 2022, when the woman agreed to drive the man to Arizona. Shortly after, authorities said the couple had started a consensual relationship. But that would change in no time.
The couple started a relationship a month before he became violent and assaulted her in California, “at which point she felt unable to leave the relationship”. Parrillo is accused of taking the woman’s phone, her debit cards and alienating her from her family.
In December, authorities said Parillo and the woman arrived in New Jersey, where they eventually rented a room in Bass River Township. The two had been there for two weeks when she managed to escape on February 7 after an argument that ended with him allegedly beating and choking her.
The woman managed to flee the house, wearing only shorts and a shirt in 42 degree weather, arriving at a nearby gas station. Having stopped at the gas station earlier, I knew the front door had a deadbolt. Once inside, authorities said the woman spoke to the attendant and contacted police.
Footage from the gas station apparently showed Parrillo arriving at the station and attempting to enter, but was prevented from doing so by the locked door. Shortly after, he was arrested while walking on County Road 542.
“This is a deeply disturbing case in which the defendant allegedly held a woman against her will for nearly a year as she traveled with her across the country, before ending up here in the New Jersey, where she was able to escape,” he said. Attorney General Matthew Platkin.
Platkin and other officials allege Parrillo has a history of similar predatory behavior in other states. Anyone with information is asked to contact the New Jersey State Police at 855-363-6548.
Parrillo, 57, is being held in Burlington County Jail awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping, strangulation, aggravated assault and criminal restraint. The contact details of his lawyer are not known at this time.