Kidnapped woman escapes with help from clerk at BP gas station

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Missouri (KTRK) -- A gas station clerk is being hailed a hero after saving a woman from her kidnapper in Missouri.

Russell Deshields is accused of taking the woman's keys, breaking her cell phone and forcing her into a vehicle in Dittmer.

According to investigators, the woman convinced Deshields to stop at a BP gas station.

"He was very close to her. You could not even get a hand between them. I noticed it and watched them through the whole thing," the store clerk told KMOV.

She remembers the woman walking to the counter and asking which cigarettes were on sale.

"I told her and she just kind of mumbled to me and said help me really low. She goes he is trying to kill me," the clerk said. "I did not know what he was going to do, but knew we had to get her to safety."

KMOV reported that Deshield was in the gas station with the woman as she made a plea for help.

"I did not know what he was going to do, but knew we had to get her to safety," the clerk said.

The clerk turned her back to the accused kidnapper and demanded the woman go into the gas station's office.

The clerk followed and says the woman told her that Deshields forced her into a vehicle and promised to drive it off a bridge.