Janesville man arrested in Illinois after kidnapping victim escapes motel

May 29—JANESVILLE — A Janesville man was arrested at an Illinois motel on Friday after a person he's believed to have kidnapped escaped from the motel and called police.

Danny S. Parnell, 45, Janesville, is being held in jail in Kankakee County, Illinois, on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping and several other crimes after a person Parnell had tied up at the ankles and held at gunpoint at a Kankakee motel room escaped and called police early Friday morning, the Kankakee County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

The sheriff's office said Parnell was holding the victim in the kidnapping at a motel room at the 2700 block of Highway 52 in Kankakee fled to another motel blocks away and called police early Friday.

The sheriff's office did not provide more details about the kidnapping, other than that Parnell apparently shot a stolen gun during the incident, and police later recovered the gun, according to the release.

Kankakee is about 140 miles south of Janesville.

The Kankakee Sheriff's Office and the Kankakee Police Department later found Parnell "unconscious" at the motel room the victim said they'd escaped from. Police arrested Parnell "quickly and peacefully" and "without incident," the sheriff's office said.

"My heart goes out to the victim in this case, who had a tremendous amount of courage to be able to escape and contact the police," Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said in statement on Friday.

Parnell is expected to be arraigned in court in Illinois on charges of aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated kidnapping with a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful use or discharge of a weapon.

Parnell also is wanted on a warrant by authorities in Wisconsin, according to the release, and the kidnapping remains under investigation.