Sheriff: Woman held hostage in home by son, his two friends
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CHESTER COUNTY, Tenn. — Three men are behind bars in Chester County, accused of holding a woman hostage inside her home for hours and threatening to kill her and dispose of her body. Gail Pearson said she was making dinner for her son and his two friends when she says they just snapped. She says they pulled out guns, held her down and told her it was the night she was going to die.
It was a home on Main Street in Enville where deputies say Dustin McCollum, Daryl Gatley and Jamey Crowell held Pearson against her will. “I couldn’t move — I couldn’t go anywhere,” Pearson said. “I couldn’t go to the bathroom, couldn’t do anything, and I just prayed for my life.” Pearson said it was a night that started out like many others. But out of nowhere, her son, Dustin, and his friends began to threaten her. “They said they would cut my head off and cut me apart,” Pearson said. “Then he said he would take me somewhere so no one would ever find me.” Pearson said all three men took turns holding guns against her head. “He said you are going to die tonight, and I asked him what have I done,” Pearson said. “Then he said it’s just something that I have to do.” Pearson said that while she was being held against her will she got her hands on a cell phone. But when she tried to get in touch with law enforcement and family members, the calls just wouldn’t go through. “I tried my sister. I tried once, twice and then was able to leave a voicemail,” Pearson said. “Then I tried again and I got to talk to her.” And it was Pearson’s sister that she says finally got in touch with deputies, who surrounded the home within minutes. “I am so happy that they got here on time, and I can’t thank them enough,” Pearson said. Pearson said her son has a history of mental illness and drug abuse but that she never expected anything like this from him or his friends. “They would be some good kids, good men, if they would just stay away from people that they don’t need to be around,” Pearson said. McCollum, Gatley and Crowell all are currently being held at the Chester County Jail charged with aggravated kidnapping.
