Kidnapper Who Stuffed Bel Air Woman In Trunk Sentenced

BEL AIR, MD - A man who had an apartment in Abingdon was sentenced to 40 years in jail this week for kidnapping, drugs and weapons charges. He received an additional 24 years for violating probation for another conviction.

Ransom Ingram Jr., 35, stabbed and pistol-whipped a Bel Air woman, then held her for days, according to the state's attorney.

The case came to the attention of authorities after the woman escaped from the trunk of the car he was driving near MD 543 and ran to the nearby Cracker Barrel to ask for help.

“Mr. Ingram tortured me for five days, but that now that he has been convicted he will no longer haunt me," the victim said in Harford County Circuit Court after a jury convicted Ingram following a trial in June

At sentencing on Aug. 3, Judge Paul Ishak ordered Ingram to serve 25 years for kidnapping, five years for first-degree assault, five years for possessing a firearm with a felony conviction and five years for using a firearm to commit a felony.

For two counts of drug possession, he was sentenced to a total of eight years, all of which was suspended, court records show. The drugs found were heroin and cocaine, the state's attorney reported.

He was also ordered to five years of probation upon his release.

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In the kidnapping case, Ingram was driving a Cadillac on the ramp from I-95 to MD 543 when officials said the victim broke out of the vehicle by activating the emergency trunk release lever.

She ran to Cracker Barrel at 1440 Handlir Drive near Bel Air on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, police said.

She had "obvious signs of trauma" and "even some duct tape" on her when she showed up at the restaurant seeking help, police told WBAL, which reported she was held prisoner in her own vehicle, a 2002 Cadillac DeVille, since Monday, Oct. 3, 2016, only allowed out to consume water, Doritos and illegal drugs.

In court, police testified that drugs were found in the closet of Ingram's Abingdon apartment.

Police also recovered the knife that Ingram stabbed the victim with repeatedly and the revolver he used to beat and threaten her, the state's attorney reported.

Ingram had four prior assault convictions, two of which were on police officers, officials said.

In addition to the 40 years in the kidnapping case, Ingram was sentenced to 24 years - the maximum allowed - for violating probation from a previous drug distribution conviction in Harford County.

Photo of Bel Air Circuit Court by Elizabeth Janney.