By ,
Published January 13, 2015
A female lawyer allegedly abducted at gunpoint Wednesday has been found alive at a motel and a male suspect has been taken into custody, according to local police.
After a large-scale search, Sandra Eubank Gregory, 34, was discovered at a Comfort Inn in Homewood, Ala., and was being treated by paramedics. At least one weapon and money were also found.
Lt. Henry Irby told reporters Wednesday evening that Gregory appeared to be "all right." He declined to comment further on her condition.
The family law attorney was allegedly kidnapped from a parking lot near her downtown office at 8:32 a.m. EDT Wednesday and forced into her four-door Lexus RX 300. The motel where she turned up was only a few miles away.
The apparent abduction was captured on a security video camera.
Police swarmed the Comfort Inn around 5:20 p.m. and arrested a man who fit the suspect's description, holding him down on a walkway outside the second-floor motel room before putting him in the back of a police car.
The lawyer was led out of the room moments later with a covering over her head. She appeared to walk out under her own power.
Irby said the suspect is a black male but he couldn't disclose anything else about him and he wouldn't be releasing the man's name or photo until he is formally charged. The case is currently under investigation, he said.
A Comfort Inn employee told FOX News that the suspect checked into the motel about 1:50 p.m. local time under the name "Germaine Bailey," but the worker said she didn't see Gregory.
The employee said the suspect seemed a little bit "fidgety," but she didn't notice anything suspicious other than that. When police arrived at the Comfort Inn hours later, they already knew he was in Room 266, she told FOX.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Birmingham police surrounded a greenish-gray Lexus in the Cooper Green public housing community in West Birmingham, which they scoured in search of Gregory, who was believed to have withdrawn money under the threat of force from several ATM machines, The Birmingham News reported.
The U.S. Marshals Service also joined in the search along with the Jefferson County Sheriff Department Violent Crimes Task Force.
"We're not sure at this point if this suspect is a client, a former client, a disgruntled client or if this is just a random act," said Ronda Robinson, a reporter at WBRC-TV in Birmingham, earlier in the day.
Gregory's ATM card was used at three AmSouth banks, according to The Birmingham News. Detectives said over the police scanner that her boyfriend was able to briefly speak to Gregory around 11 a.m. on her mobile phone, according to the paper.
The missing Lexus belongs to Gregory's boyfriend, the paper said, and her ex-husband was sent to pick up his and Gregory's daughter at day care.
Witnesses told police a gunman approached Gregory in the parking lot, near both her office and her apartment complex, and forced her into the vehicle. Irby said a child safety seat was in the back seat, but no children were believed to be in the vehicle.
A graduate of Samford University's law school, Gregory was admitted to practice law in 1998, according to state bar records. She specializes in family law.
Jefferson County domestic relations Judge Gary Pate said everyone holds Gregory in high regard.
"She is a real bright spot," Pate told the Birmingham News. "She not only is a good person, but a good lawyer."
FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel, Catherine Donaldson-Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/abducted-alabama-attorney-found-alive-suspect-in-custody