Woman Allegedly Held Baby at Knifepoint
During Two-State Crime Spree
35-year-old Billie Jo Ribble was wanted for breaking into a home in October and stealing $12,000 worth of property, including more than a dozen guns. She was picked up Friday at a Wal-Mart in Mansfield, PA.
While she was awaiting extradition to New York she complained of pain due to her pregnancy, so she was taken to a hospital in Wellsboro, where she allegedly assaulted the corrections officer, jumped from a third-story window, to a second-story rooftop, and then used a catwalk to get to the ground.
Sheriff’s deputies say she then broke into a house near the hospital, and took a 19-year-old woman and her six-month-old baby hostage. She demanded that the woman drive her to New York, and held the baby at knifepoint during the trip. Before getting out of the car, Ribble took the battery from the woman’s cell phone. The woman called police when she got home.
Deputies eventually found Ribble in Corning, where she barricaded herself in an attic and threatened to hurt herself and her unborn baby if police didn’t leave the house. After talking with her for about 45 minutes, police were able to get her to surrender.
She was arraigned Saturday on the original burglary and grand larceny charges. Today, she was arraigned as a fugitive from justice. Charges for the alleged kidnapping have not been filed yet. Ribble is in Steuben County Jail without bail.
Comments