The Windsor County State’s Attorney’s Office has dismissed its case against the seventh person charged in an alleged interstate kidnapping in which police say the suspects tortured a 36-year-old woman and held her for ransom.
Kayla Kosowski, a 39-year-old Bellows Falls, Vermont, woman charged this summer with two felonies related to the crime, told the Valley News in August that she had been coerced by others involved and felt her life was at risk.
The case was dismissed Oct. 24 amid federal charges regarding the same case brought forth by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough confirmed Friday by phone. As a result, they’re resolving all related dockets accordingly, he said.
The state has dismissed its cases against Damarcus Bonner, Tyron Harris, Jessenialyz Jones, Sheldon Stocker and Jesse Emerson, all of whom now face federal charges. Nicole Palardy’s Windsor County case remains open as of Friday afternoon, though she also faces federal charges.
Kosowski has not been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office based on information publicly available in the federal court database for New Hampshire and Vermont as of Friday.
Details of the incident
Late on Jan. 24, police responded to a reported hostage situation and pinged the victim’s phone to 950 Randall Hill Road, a Springfield, Vermont, residence, according to an affidavit filed in Windsor Superior Court.
The woman rescued from the residence told police that she met up with her friend, Palardy, to purchase drugs in Claremont on the evening of Jan. 23, only to be forced into a vehicle by two men whom she referred to as “Preech” and “Gifted,” the affidavit stated.
Police identified “Gifted” as Bonner, of Hartford, Connecticut, and “Preech” as Harris, of Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The group — with Emerson, 46, allegedly driving — traveled to Springfield, where the victim recalled being brought into a basement, according to the affidavit.
Throughout her approximately 24 hours in captivity, the victim said she had been burned by a hot knife, waterboarded with peroxide and struck, she told police in an interview at Springfield Hospital, according to the affidavit. Her captors accused her of stealing drugs from them and demanded money using her phone, she told police.
When police arrived, Stocker and Kosowski answered the door and denied knowing that anyone else was inside the home besides Kosowski’s daughter upstairs. When called down, the daughter told police others were staying there, according to the affidavit.
That night, police arrested five people at the house: Bonner, 31; Harris, 27; Palardy, 36; Stocker, 38; and Jones, 19. Police arrested Emerson about a week later.
Kosowski’s account
In August at her Bellows Falls home, Kosowski told the Valley News she had no idea what was going on until it was too late.
Kosowski said she moved to Springfield from Massachusetts to live with Stocker, whom she met online. Ahead of the alleged kidnapping, Kosowski recalled Stocker telling her that friends would be paying to stay in the basement apartment.
Kosowski said that while Bonner, Harris and Jones were staying at her home, the victim stopped by briefly, then left.
Upon returning from dinner, Kosowski said that Bonner and Harris realized they were missing a package she didn’t know existed, which she later learned was $8,000 worth of drugs they had allegedly stashed outside.
Bonner and Harris believed the victim took the package and asked Kosowski to drive them to get her again, she said. When she declined because she didn’t have a vehicle, they arranged another ride but forced her to text the victim to determine her whereabouts.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Kosowski said of sending the text. “I couldn’t even leave my house.”
While Kosowski claimed she remained upstairs a majority of the night and was not allowed in the basement where the group was allegedly holding the victim, she said that at one point, she too was victimized.
Kosowski claimed that the perpetrators duct-taped her arms, legs, mouth and eyes because they believed she may be responsible for stealing the drugs. She said one of them burned her back with a torch and punched her in the face. They let her return upstairs while the victim remained in the basement, she said.
Springfield Sgt. Philip Perkins wrote in the original affidavit, “[The victim] also informed me that at some point in time, they had duct-taped Kayla and she was held captive and assaulted as well.”
When police arrived, Kosowski said she and Stocker answered the door and denied knowledge of people in the home, which she explained was due to her being unsure if the people holding the victim were listening in.
In court
The original six suspects all faced felony charges in Windsor County for their involvement: nine for Bonner; seven for Harris; six for Jones; and two for Palardy, Emerson and Stocker.
Police initially identified Kosowski as a second victim, and the state charged Bonner, Harris and Jones with additional kidnapping counts naming her. A judge dismissed those counts against Jones in February after finding no probable cause.
The State’s Attorney’s Office decided to charge Kosowski with two felonies in March: aiding in kidnapping and aiding in unlawful restraint of the victim. She pleaded not guilty at a July 20 arraignment.
In the police affidavit for Kosowski’s case, Perkins wrote, “Kayla advised they created a plan including Nicole [Palardy] that would consist of kidnapping [the victim] until they received the narcotics or payment.”
“I believe this information was relevant in the Judge finding probable cause for the charges,” Goodenough said by email in July.
Of the seven people charged by the State’s Attorney’s Office, Kosowski is the only one who has not been charged in federal court. All six others now face federal charges in U.S. District Court in Concord.
In the most recent superseding indictment, the first count — conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute — applied to all six suspects.
The second count charged Harris and Bonner with aiding and abetting kidnapping for abducting the victim and holding her against her will across state lines for ransom, according to the indictment.
The third count charged Harris, Bonner, Jones and Palardy with conspiracy to commit kidnapping for their roles in traveling from Vermont to New Hampshire to seize the victim, for transporting her, injuring her and demanding money from someone on her Facebook.
The fourth and fifth counts charged Harris and Bonner with possessing a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime, the indictment stated. The kidnapping charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Neither Kosowski nor her attorney, James LaMonda, responded by deadline to Friday contact attempts.
