ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702240063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
A 31-year-old man charged with abducting a woman from a Southwest Roanoke apartment remained at large Friday.
Police have put out a statewide bulletin asking officers to be on the lookout for Robert Wayne Hickson of Montgomery County. Investigators believe he was the man who witnesses say dragged Rebecca Hicks from a friend's apartment Thursday night.
After the incident, a woman who identified herself as Hicks called police and said she was not being held against her will. Officers have been unable to locate Hicks.
About 8:20 p.m. Thursday, police responding to a report of a fight at 716 Fourth Street S.W. found a knife in the hallway and blood on the stairs. Police said several witnesses told them that Hicks had been hiding out from Hickson and that the two had a violent history.
Police said a man looking for Hicks forced his way into the apartment where she was staying, displayed a shotgun, pointed it at a woman, then hit another woman in the face.
Once the man found Hicks, he pulled her by the hair and dragged her out the door, police said. Three men who tried to stop him were unsuccessful. Police said the man forced Hicks into a blue, four-door minivan with tinted windows and fled.
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