BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal court magistrate said Tuesday the man charged with kidnapping a woman and her 5-year-old son last month outside the Mall of New Hampshire and later sexually assaulting the woman in Vermont must remain in custody.
Court documents show federal Judge John Conroy agreed with prosecutors who argued there was no way to protect the public and guarantee Everett Simpson, 41, would show up for future court appearances.
Simpson has been charged with kidnapping and raping a 25-year-old New Hampshire woman in a hotel in White River Junction, Vt., in front of her 5-year-old son, according to federal complaints.
The mother and child had been abducted at random on Jan. 5 at about 1 p.m. from the parking lot at the Mall of New Hampshire, where they had been shopping.
More than 24 hours later, Simpson was apprehended 350 miles away by police in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.
Simpson was arrested after two brief car chases. He was arraigned at his hospital bed, then taken to the George Hill Correction Facility and held on $2 million cash bail.
Citing affidavits, officials said Simpson believed his wife had been cheating on him and he wanted to kill her. Enraged, Simpson absconded from a court-ordered drug treatment facility in Bradford, Vt. on Jan. 2 and stole a car.
Hunting for his wife, the affidavit states, Simpson forced the woman abducted in Manchester to drive to Fairlee and Bradford, Vt. Simpson used the woman’s cellphone to text his wife.
Twice, he had the abductee knock on a door while her son remained in his mother’s car, a 2014 Kia sedan. At another point, the affidavit says Simpson tried to rape the woman in the car while it was parked on a roadside in Thetford, Vt. He stopped the attack when his victim screamed and drew the attention of joggers.
She convinced him to go to a hotel.
“(The woman told police) that she kept asking him to bring her to a hotel because she was afraid that if he raped her beside the road he would kill both her and her son and leave them and because at least most motels had cameras,” a police affidavit reads.
The hotel was the Comfort Inn in White River Junction.
Simpson was apprehended about 24 hours later in Pennsylvania following two brief high-speed chases on crowded roads, police said.
Simpson — who stands 6 foot, 3 inches and weighs 255 pounds — started fighting with police and had to be stunned with a Taser.
If convicted, Simpson could be sentenced to life in prison. He is due to make his next court appearance Feb. 22.
Paul Feely is the City Hall reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at pfeely@unionleader.com
