(Willoughby) - Willougby Police are working to determine why a Cleveland man would have kidnapped three members of his family and tied them up in a basement. 34-year-old Michael Ribaudo was arrested Saturday.
According to Willoughby Police, Ribaudo had planned to have dinner with his father at the father's home on Green Circle on Friday evening. After arriving at the house, police say Ribaudo lured his father into the basement, assaulted him with chloroform, then bound and gagged him. Ribaudo then went to his mother's house, convinced her to come to the father’s house. That’s where he assaulted her, and handcuffed her and tied her to a pillar in the basement. Finally, Ribaudo went to his aunt’s home in Willowick, convinced her to come to the father’s house, and also handcuffed her to the same pillar.
The aunt escaped and called 911. Ribaudo fled, but was found less than five hours later, sleeping in his car in the parking lot of the Eastlake Walmart store.
Police say Ribaudo had a background in biology.
(Photo courtesy Willoughby Police)
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Tom Moore has been a news anchor and reporter for Newsradio WTAM 1100 since 1995. He has won a number of awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Press Club of Cleveland, and The Associated Press.