Two Arkansas men accused of kidnapping two people while they were skinny-dipping were arrested Friday morning, authorities said.
A 43-year-old Trumann man told Craighead County sheriff's office deputies that he and a 38-year-old woman were swimming in a pond behind a home on County Road 792 near Goobertown when two men — later identified as 49-year-old Jeffrey Johnston and 43-year-old Jon Price — pulled up, pointed a gun at them and accused them of stealing.
The captives were taken to a workshop on County Road 960, where the man was beaten, according to a report from the sheriff's office. When he escaped and contacted authorities, deputies observed bruises on his back and a knot on the back of his head where he said he had been hit with a gun.
The man told deputies the female hostage was still at the shop, and when authorities responded, she was eventually found hiding behind a cabinet in the building. The Brookland woman told authorities that Johnston had pointed a gun at her and threatened to make her shoot her father in front of her mother.
Johnston and Price, both Brookland residents, were arrested and booked into the Craighead County jail on charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping/false imprisonment and possession of a firearm by certain persons. Johnston also faces a first-degree criminal charge.
They remained in jail Tuesday evening in lieu of $100,000 bond each, records show.
