Horry County woman charged after kidnapping hoax

A 24-year-old woman who has been charged after she lied about being kidnapping and trapped in the trunk of her vehicle does not have a criminal record, according to a search of the State Law Enforcement Division.

Kimberly Ann Todd, of Loris, has been charged with filing a false police report felony, according to jail officials. Todd remained at J. Reuben Long Detention Center Friday.

Horry County Police who spent about 30 minutes Thursday searching for a woman who said she was kidnapped and trapped in a vehicle trunk, later said the woman filed a false report and arrested her.

In initial reports of the incident, Horry County police said the woman's cooperation with her attacker and the fact that she had a cell phone with her helped officers locate her quickly, Horry County police Sgt. Robert Kegler said.

The woman had contacted police and said she was assaulted and forced into the trunk of her vehicle.

Investigators concluded hours later that claim was not true.

It is not clear why the woman lied to police.

In a police report, officers were notified by dispatchers about 11:45 a.m. Thursday that a woman was on her cell phone can calling from the trunk of her vehicle. The woman had told police that she was assaulted and forced into the trunk of her vehicle by a man when she was stopped at the traffic light at Oak Street and Cultra Road.

The woman said the man walked up to her vehicle and reached in through a partially open window, held a knife to her throat and ordered her out of the vehicle, according to the report. She said the man pulled her from the car, which caused her shirt to be torn, punched her in the head and forced her into the trunk.

The woman also reported the man took her rings before she was thrown into the truck of her 1998 gold Buick Regal, according to the report. Officers noted the woman’s shirt was torn, there was bruising on her left arm and swelling around her left temple.

The woman said the man got into the vehicle and drove away and she called 911 from inside the trunk, according to the report. Officers initially went to Mount Pisgah Cemetery Road based on latitude and longitude coordinates based on the cell phone call.

Officers from Horry County police, Conway police and the Horry County Sheriff’s office searched the area and used air horns and car horns to see if she could hear them, according to the report. The woman reported she could not.

She then told police she pulled the emergency release cord in the trunk and got out and did not see the man, according to the report. The woman walked to the nearest road, which was Hardwick Road, and then officers found her. It was about five miles from where she said the incident occurred.

Officers also began searching for her kidnapper, who the woman gave a vague description, but said he was wearing a green shirt and brown hat, Kegler said.

Detectives and crime scene officers responded to the scene to process the vehicle, according to the report. They saw footprints to and from the vehicle that were the same size and shape and noted the driver’s window was busted.

The woman told police the glass was broken when the man reached into the vehicle, according to the report. The vehicle and trunk had the woman’s purse, an electric guitar and amplifier. An officer also noted in the report he did not see an emergency release pull cord in the trunk.