SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The Greenfield Police Department assisted Vermont law enforcement with tracking and capturing six suspects accused of kidnapping a 35-year-old Claremont, New Hampshire, woman, who police say was bound, tortured and held for ransom for weeks.

The Springfield Police Department rescued the woman, who had allegedly been burned with a hot knife and waterboarded with hydrogen peroxide, on Jan. 25, after Greenfield Police tracked a phone the alleged captors had used to contact the victim’s ex-boyfriend, a 40-year-old Greenfield resident. They tracked the phone to a house on Randall Hill Road in Springfield, Vermont, according to Greenfield Police Chief Todd Dodge.

“Officer Hunter Zygmont was dispatched to take a phone call from a male party who advised that his ex-girlfriend, mother of his child, had recently been arrested in Greenfield for narcotics. He indicated that he and his ex had not spoken in some time. He then said he received a text message from her saying that she was being held captive by unknown men, and that she owed them money for drugs,” Dodge said. “The text said that she was being held captive at an unknown location. Apparently she had also sent him photos, which showed a burn mark on her body and her feet bound together.”

Damarcus Bonner, 30, of Connecticut, faces eight total felony charges, including four kidnapping charges, two extortion charges, one aggravated assault charge and one heroin trafficking charge. He was also charged with a misdemeanor of possessing a firearm despite being prohibited to do so. Bonner pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Tyron Harris, 26, of Massachusetts, faces seven total felony charges, including four for kidnapping, two for extortion and one for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Jesse Emerson, 46, of Bellows Falls, Vermont, the alleged driver the night of the kidnapping, was arrested Feb. 5 on charges of accessory to kidnapping — bodily injury or fear of bodily injury. Emerson has pleaded not guilty, with bail set at $75,000.

Nicole Palardy, 36, of Claremont, New Hampshire, was arrested on Jan. 25. She pleaded not guilty to two felony kidnapping charges, one for ransom and one for accessory to bodily injury or fear of bodily injury. Her bail is set at $100,000.

Jessenialyz Jones, 18, of Massachusetts, faces six charges, including four kidnapping charges and two aggravated assault charges. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Sheldon Stocker, 37, of Springfield, Vermont, faces two felony kidnapping charges, one for bodily injury and fear, and one for ransom. He pleaded not guilty and is currently held without bail.

Case details

The woman told police she had been accused of stealing $8,000 worth of narcotics from the alleged perpetrators, based on court documents.

The victim reportedly told police the ordeal began when she was at a friend’s house in Claremont on the evening of Jan. 1, according to the police affidavit. The woman made arrangements with Claremont resident Palardy to purchase cocaine, and left on foot to meet with her.

When she approached Palardy, two men — Bonner and Harris — known by the street names “Preech” and “Gifted,” allegedly forced her into a black truck operated by Emerson.

The victim was transported to a Springfield residence at 950 Randall Hill Road, where a female later identified as Jones allegedly bound her feet and hands with duct tape, according to the affidavit. The victim told police that Jones also struck her face and body. 

Dodge said the victim also told police that her captors spoke of “selling her to a pimp in New York” to reclaim their lost funds, and at one point allegedly threatened to find and kill the victim’s son. The woman also told law enforcement that Harris and Bonner took her phone to contact people via Facebook Messenger to demand ransom money. 

“The reporting party (the victim’s ex-boyfriend) called back and advised the police that he had received a video call from the victim’s phone via Facebook Messenger. In the video call, she showed that she had her hands bound behind her back, both of her eyes were red and there were reports of a firearm that was brandished,” Dodge recalled. “At that point, the exact location was still unknown. They then did a ping on that and again, found it to be coming from the phone in Springfield, Vermont.”

During the weeks she was held captive, the victim sustained burns to her abdomen and back from a heated knife, was waterboarded with hydrogen peroxide and had handguns pointed at her numerous times, according to the affidavit. 

The victim said a second woman was restrained and assaulted, too. The perpetrators believed that one of the two had stolen $8,000 worth of narcotics, she told police.

The drug dealers were demanding $4,000 on the victim’s behalf, according to the ex-boyfriend’s account. He was able to identify her based on a birthmark, tattoo and piercing. Pinging the unrecognized phone number that was used to contact the victim’s ex-boyfriend and son brought police to the Randall Hill Road residence, where Stocker and the second victim were listed as tenants.

On Jan 24. — about three weeks after the woman is alleged to have been taken — police converged at the residence and, using a loudspeaker, ordered all occupants out of the residence.

Palardy emerged first, and indicated that more people, including the victim, were inside. Vermont State Police also responded. While police escorted the victim out of the residence, she informed them that she had been kidnapped from Claremont. 

“There were fresh wounds corroborating the alleged assault present on [the victim’s] face, along with ligature marks, duct tape marks on her wrists and ankles,” reads the affidavit signed by Springfield Police Sgt. Philip Perkins. 

In their search of the house, police found duct tape that appeared to have been used to restrain someone, drug paraphernalia, a large knife, a torch, hydrogen peroxide and firearms. Officers also seized 4.11 grams of suspected heroin/fentanyl, 71.2 grams of a purple substance consistent with fentanyl and suspected cocaine scattered.

Claremont Police interviewed the second victim, who was a resident of the home. She told police that the primary victim would frequent her residence, where Bonner and Harris allegedly sold narcotics. At one point, she said, $8,000 worth of those narcotics went missing and the primary victim was suspected. A plan was concocted to kidnap the primary victim until they received the narcotics or payment for them, the second woman told police. At some point during her captivity, the primary victim convinced the alleged perpetrators that this second victim may have taken the drugs, so they restrained her.

However, they ultimately decided the second victim was likely not responsible and let her go, according to the affidavit.

The six are being held in different jails across Vermont, Springfield Police Chief Jeff Burnham said on Monday.

Greenfield Recorder Staff Writer Anthony Cammalleri contributed to this report.