Man suspected in abduction is arrested in N.J.

Nabbed after high-speed car chase The man who allegedly carjacked, robbed, sexually assaulted and shot a 25-year-old College of General Studies student last month was arrested Tuesday by New Jersey State Troopers, according to Philadelphia police. Keith Vivett, 28, of West Philadelphia was arrested after a high-speed car chase on the Atlantic City Expressway which lasted for 75 miles and led troopers through several towns, New Jersey State Sgt. Ron Thomson said yesterday. The chase ended about 2 a.m. in Burlington County when Vivett "rammed into a couple of police cars," Thomson said. The chase, which reached speeds of 80 miles an hour, started when Vivett – who was still driving the woman's 1985 red Honda Accord – drove through a 10-cent toll booth without paying, New Jersey State Sgt. G. Gove said. "It was a stolen plate on the car, and later we found out that the vehicle was involved with [the abduction]," Gove said. Vivett was driving the car with a friend, Antoinette Ford, 37, when the troopers tried to stop him, Gove said. Philadelphia police Capt. Ilene Bonner of the Sex Crimes Unit said Vivett has been charged with robbery, kidnapping, terroristic threats, aggravated assault, car-jacking, and violating the uniform firearms act. Carjacking has been a federal offense for less than two years, Bonner said, because of an increase nationwide in such incidents. Vivett is now the primary suspect in the student's abduction, Bonner said. The student was assaulted October 20 about 9:55 p.m., as she was getting into her car at a parking lot at 34th and Chestnut streets. She was robbed of $7 and driven to an abandoned house near 12th Street and Girard Avenue, where she was sexually assaulted and shot in the face. The bullet only grazed her cheek, however, and she played dead until the assailant left the building. She then went out to the street and had a passerby call the police for help. Vivett is being held in an Atlantic County jail, Thomson said. But Bonner said the man should be extradited to Philadelphia soon. It is still unknown whether Vivett will also be charged in the carjacking and robbery of a 55-year-old former University instructor on Tuesday, October 19. In that case the woman was abducted as she entered her car at 36th and Ludlow streets just before 9 p.m. She was robbed of $50 and forced to drive the man to 12th Street and Girard Avenue, one block from the sexual assault of the student the next night. "There's a lot of similarities at this point," University Police Det. Mike Carroll said Wednesday.