Teen Found Safe After Standoff; Ex-boyfriend Charged

Teen Found Safe After Standoff; Ex-boyfriend Charged
Aquil is the niece of wrestler Kurt Angle who won gold at the 1996 Olympics for freestyle wrestling. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images)
The Associated Press
1/18/2019
Updated:
1/18/2019

McKEESPORT, Pa.—A Pittsburgh-area teen has been found safe and her ex-boyfriend has been charged with kidnapping after a two-hour standoff.

State police had issued an amber alert for 16-year-old Marjani Aquil after she hadn’t been seen since 3:15 p.m. Jan. 16 in Penn Hills.

She was found inside a house in McKeesport shortly before midnight with bruises to her face. Nineteen-year-old Jermaine Laquay Rodgers of East Pittsburgh was found hiding in the basement two hours later.

KDKA reporteds that Rodgers uttered a string of obscenities when asked if he had anything to say about the incident, as he was being led out of police headquarters.

Rodgers was being held pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 28.

Last year, Rodgers pleaded guilty to terror threats and simple assault in an incident involving Aquil.