By Ileana Morales, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG — Less than 24 hours after a family was held hostage at gunpoint, it happened again, this time with a bizarre twist.
A woman was forced to melt butter and pour it on her chest while two armed suspects bound her son with duct tape and robbed their home late Monday night, police said. The butter had cooled before she poured it on herself, police said.
Earlier Monday in a different neighborhood, three gunmen held a couple and their children hostage for five hours looking for drugs, police said. The suspects used a hot iron to torture information out of the father. He was shot escaping through a glass window of the house, 3998 53rd Ave. S. Police didn't say if the gunmen found drugs or if they took anything.
In Monday night's incident, the two suspects, armed with guns and a knife, forced their way into the woman's home, about 11:30 p.m. as she was arriving from work.
Once inside the home at 2410 Kingston Street S, the two armed suspects bound the woman's 15-year-old son with duct tape before searching the rest of the house for money.
Before they left, the suspects also bound the woman with duct tape. Two hours after their forced entry, they left with an AK-47, a Glock 36 handgun and iPods.
Police do not yet know if the two incidents are related.