By David W. Macdougall, The Post and Courier
Ravenel, S.C. — At first, the woman’s voice is barely intelligible as she shrieks hysterically, “He’s got me in the trunk. He’s got me in the trunk.”

A Charleston County 9-1-1 operator quickly moves to calm the caller down.

“Ma’am. Tell me exactly what happened,” the operator says, slowly.

“He’s got me in the trunk and we’re driving down 17,” the woman says.

After about 2 1/2 minutes into the 9-1-1 call, you can hear what sounds like the trunk being opened.

“What are you doing?, ” the man says. He pulls the victim out of the trunk and an argument ensues between the two.

The victim, Brandy Leigh Scott of Ravenel, gives the 9-1-1 operator enough details to enable the operator to guide Charleston County sheriff’s deputies right to the kidnap vehicle, bringing an end to a ride of terror.

The big hero of the incident, Charleston County sheriff’s Maj. John Clark said, was the victim.

“If you listen to the tape, you can hear the fear in her voice,” Clark said. “But she had the presence of mind to give us a description of the car. And she said it felt like he made a left turn out of the trailer park. If she had not said that, we could have been looking all over the place for her car.”

Clark, the sheriff’s public information officer, also praised the 9-1-1 operator for being able to calm Scott down and elicit valuable information.

Allyson Burrell, deputy director of Charleston County’s Consolidated 9-1-1 Center, identified the 9-1-1 operator as Susan Zepka.

Zepka has been with the 9-1-1 center only since June. She completed a four-month training course last month.

“She put all of her training tools to use and remained extremely calm

during this terrifying incident,” Burrell said. “She was able to obtain vital location, vehicle and suspect information for the responding deputies. She is a true asset to Charleston County.”

Deputies located Scott’s car traveling north on Savannah Highway. The car was stopped in the parking lot of Smokers Express at 4315 Savannah Highway. Scott was no longer in the trunk, Clark said.

Scott and the suspect were once boyfriend and girlfriend and they have a child in common, Clark said.

She had a cut inside her mouth, he said. She was examined on the scene by Charleston County EMS.

Jeremiah Christopher Brown, 23, of Ravenel, is charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and kidnapping, Clark said. Brown, who also has an address on Stall Road in North Charleston, is being held in the Charleston County Detention Center.

At a bond hearing Tuesday night, Brown and Scott told Charleston County Magistrate Alvin Bligen they had been arguing over money. Brown told the judge Scott was in the trunk because he had put some money there. Scott said she was standing by the open trunk, trying to get the money, when Brown backed up, which forced her to fall into the trunk. She said he then ran around and slammed the trunk closed on her.

Bligen set bail amounts totalling $200,000 on the two charges.

After the hearing, Scott said she gave Brown a ride after he freed her from the trunk. “He said he would slash my tires if I didn’t give him a ride,” she said. When deputies stopped the car on Savannah Highway, Scott was driving.

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