MN 18-Year-Old Charged With Kidnapping, Strangling Girlfriend

CLAY COUNTY, MN — An 18-year-old from Hawley, Minnesota, is facing six criminal charges after police say he forced his 17-year-old girlfriend into his SUV, drove her to two locations against her will, and strangled her, according to police.

Preston Thomas Larson is charged with two counts of kidnapping to commit great bodily harm or terrorize, domestic assault by strangulation, interference with a 911 call, and two misdemeanor domestic assault counts, court records show.

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The kidnapping and strangulation charges are felonies.

Larson remains in custody at the Clay County Jail. A judge ordered him detained pending further proceedings, and bail has not yet been set, court records show. The case has been designated a domestic violence court matter.

According to the complaint, Hawley police were dispatched to Hawley High School on the afternoon of Sept. 2 to take a report of an assault and kidnapping that had happened earlier that day.

A 17-year-old girl told police she was walking in Hawley that morning when her boyfriend, identified as Larson, pulled up next to her in a blue Ford SUV and told her to get in.

When she refused, the complaint states, Larson got out of the vehicle, grabbed her and pushed her inside against her will.

The girl told police she kicked Larson in the face trying to get away, but he was able to force her into the SUV.

Larson then drove about ten minutes to Buffalo River State Park, according to the complaint.

When he stopped the vehicle, the girl asked to be taken home. He refused, and she ran from the car, the complaint states.

Larson caught her, dragged her back into the vehicle, and drove to another nearby location, where he removed her pants without her consent, according to court documents.

The complaint states the girl believed Larson took her pants to keep her from trying to leave the vehicle again. While she was hitting and kicking him to get him to stop, the complaint states, Larson applied pressure to her neck with both hands hard enough to impede her ability to breathe normally, leaving red marks.

According to the complaint, Larson also took the girl's phone away when he first forced her into the vehicle so she could not call for help or share her location. The girl eventually stopped resisting, and Larson drove her back to school around 10 a.m., court documents state.

A witness told police she saw the girl inside the blue SUV appearing to plead for help, prompting the witness to call police out of concern for her safety, according to the complaint.

When questioned by officers, Larson admitted to grabbing the girl and forcing her into his vehicle at the park, but denied forcing her into the vehicle initially, the complaint states. He told police the two had been arguing and that she hit him first. He acknowledged putting his hand around her neck but denied removing her pants, according to court documents.