Suspects still in jail in case of kidnapping

Two suspects remained in the Donley County Jail Monday following last week’s case of a kidnapping in Amarillo.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said James Michael Brinkley, age 37, of Lelia Lake was arraigned last Wednesday before County Judge Jack Hall on a charge of kidnapping, and bond was set at $100,000.

Thirty-eight-year-old John E. Arbukle of Childress was also being held in connection to the case after he was arrested last Tuesday on parole warrants. He is being held without bond.

A third suspect in the case, 32-year-old Stephanie Boggs of Hereford, was out on $50,000 bond on a charge of possession of methamphetamine. She was also arraigned by Judge Hall last Wednesday.

The investigation in the case is ongoing, and Blackburn says he expects additional charges will be filed soon in Amarillo.

The case started last Monday, July 28, when a 52-year-old McLean man was reportedly kidnapped in Amarillo by two or possibly three subjects. He was bound and put in a white van which was later being driven through Clarendon, followed by the victim’s red Lincoln Navigator, which was driven by one of the suspects.

The vehicles then pulled off at Lowe’s Family Center in Clarendon about noon that day. There the McLean man managed to free himself, injure one suspect, and escape into the supermarket.

The man reported another person, Boggs, being held against her will. She was found later that day and reported being held at a residence near Lelia Lake by Brinkley. She was subsequently arrested on drug charges.

Arbukle, who is also a suspect in the case, was stopped by a Donley County Deputy for a traffic violation last Tuesday and arrested on outstanding warrants.