Parents charged with bride kidnap of own daughter

A PRE-WEDDING shopping trip in Utah for a 21-year-old bride ended with felony charges against her parents, who she says kidnapped her and drove her 386 kilometres to Colorado, trying to talk her out of the nuptials along the way and holding her until she missed the ceremony.

“I’ve never had a case quite like this,” Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson said after charging Lemuel and Julia Redd with second-degree felony kidnapping.

Mr Bryson said he met with the couple’s daughter, Julianna, and her now-husband, Perry Myers, before charging the parents.

“It is strange that parents would go to that extent to keep an adult daughter from marrying the man she had chosen to marry,” he said.

The Redds told their daughter they were taking her on a shopping trip on August 4 and then drove from Provo to Grand Junction, Colorado, according to Provo Police Captain Rick Healey.

Mr Myers, 23, called police when his bride did not attend a pre-wedding dinner with his parents that night.

The Redds spent the night in Colorado and drove back to Provo, about 64km south of Salt Lake City, the next day, Capt Healey said.

They arrived after the young couple was supposed to have been married in a ceremony that day at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple in Salt Lake City.

“I was totally confused and manipulated,” Julianna Myers said. She said she supports the charges and hopes her parents get help.

Mr Bryson said after reviewing the police investigation it was clear a crime was committed.

The couple were married in the temple on August 8 and are expecting their first child in May.

Lemuel Redd, 59, and Julia Redd, 56, were charged on Friday and are scheduled to make an initial court appearance on October 26 and could face one to 15 years in prison.