Police Arrest Man In Kidnapping and Assault Case

Yakima Police say a mother and daughter are lucky to be alive after an assault and kidnapping in Yakima Thursday night. Capt. Rod Light says a mother, from Benton City called police saying she was getting odd text messages from her daughter and was en route to her daughter's Yakima apartment in the 15 hundred block of Perry Loop. Officers responded and found a 44 year man climbing out of the daughters bedroom window. That man, identified as Rodney Wheeler of Richland was the ex boyfriend of the mother. Light says Wheeler forced his way into the young ladys apartment and assaulted her. She was then bound with duct tape and placed in the trunk of Wheelers vehicle. Police say he then parked his vehicle near the airport and returned to the apartment with the young woman's cell phone. Light says Wheeler then tried to lure the mother to her daughters apartment through text messages but was arrested by officers who later found the 20 year old daughter in the trunk of wheelers vehicle parked in the 22 hundred block of Ahtanum. She'd been bound with ducktape...she was taken to a local hospital where she was treated for minor injuries. The suspect, 44 year old Rodney Wheeler faces charges of burglary and kidnapping. He's being held in the county jail.