Six Arrested After College Students Kidnapped, Tortured, Beaten

College Students Kidnapped, Tortured, Beaten
Six people were arrested on Dec. 7, 2015 after University of Rochester students Ani Okeke Ewo, left, and Nicolas Kollias, were kidnapped, tortured and rescued by a police SWAT team. Photo from the Rochester, N.Y., police department.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Dec. 8 (UPI) — Six people have been arrested in connection with the weekend kidnapping of two Rochester, N.Y., students.

A SWAT team rescued Ani Okeke Ewo, 21 and Nicholas Kollias, 21, late Sunday from a house near the University of Rochester that is believed to be a drug haven. The suspects beat, tied up and shot Kollias, who was wounded by a .22-caliber rifle shot, the criminal complaint states.

Ewo and Kollias are University of Rochester students, both from Illinois and members of the school football team. They were last seen early Saturday and reported “missing under suspicious circumstances” by police late Sunday.

Police arrested Rochester residents Lydell Strickland, 26; Dennis Perez, 23; Leah Gigliotti, 20; and nearby Pittsford resident Samantha Hughes, 19, on charges of first-degree kidnapping. Inalia Rolldan, 19, and Ruth Lora, 19 each of Rochester, were arrested on second-degree kidnapping charges. The six entered not guilty pleas in court Monday.

The victims were beaten, with fists and clubs, and heard demands for money, credit cards and bank identification numbers, police said.

College president Joel Seligman said in a statement more information on the incident will be forthcoming, but assured “all students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, patients and friends of the University of Rochester that our campuses and housing are safe.”

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