--- title: Car Salesman Kidnapped During Test Drive in Houston description: He escaped through the trunk canonical: https://time.com/4168217/car-salesman-kidnapped/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-05T21:05:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:48:04.845Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Car Salesman Attacked and Kidnapped During Test Drive og:description: He escaped through the trunk og:url: https://time.com/4168217/car-salesman-kidnapped/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Car Salesman Attacked and Kidnapped During Test Drive twitter:description: He escaped through the trunk twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Car Salesman Attacked and Kidnapped During Test Drive  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jan 5, 2016 9:05 PM CUT  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jan 5, 2016 9:05 PM CUT A car salesman was beaten, kidnapped and held in the trunk of a vehicle during [a test drive that took a wrong turn](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/05/car-salesman-kidnapped-test-drive/78293836/ "undefined") in Houston. According to police, the salesman was thrown in the trunk following the test drive when he and the suspect got into a fight, KHOU-TV reports. The salesman eventually escaped the trunk while the car was moving by hitting the emergency trigger, but authorities say the attacker got out of the car and drew a gun. The salesman knocked the weapon out of the suspect’s hand, according to police. Authorities were initially alerted to the vehicle by a friend of the salesman, who tracked the victim’s whereabouts on his phone, but officers are still on the lookout for a suspect who posed as an interested buyer at the Gillman Dodge dealership. \[[_USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/05/car-salesman-kidnapped-test-drive/78293836/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4168217/car-salesman-kidnapped/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4168217/car-salesman-kidnapped/"},"headline":"Car Salesman Attacked and Kidnapped During Test Drive","datePublished":"2016-01-05T21:05:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:48:04.845Z","description":"He escaped through the trunk","url":"https://time.com/4168217/car-salesman-kidnapped/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4168217/car-salesman-kidnapped/","name":"Car Salesman Attacked and Kidnapped During Test Drive"}}]}] ```