In Washington USA, Thomas Martin Pfeiffer, 22, was arrested last week and hit with a slew of charges, chief among them kidnapping.
Police say he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend, with their 22-month-old daughter in tow, set off on a 1,000-mile drive to Las Vegas to get married.
Virginia Valdez, 23, was apparently not eager to be a bride, and told police that when they stopped for gas Friday morning in Baker City, Ore., she felt there were enough people around to stage her own rescue. Valdez lay on the ground near the gas pumps and started screaming; the police were called. Pfeiffer also faces charges of menacing, coercion, fourth-degree assault, harassment, and unlawful use of a weapon, but the kidnapping charge alone carries a sentence of five years and 10 months in US state of Oregon.
