WASHINGTON -- The wife of a drug industry magnate, abducted and held for a $1 million ransom, told a jury Thursday she was 'very frightened' during the ordeal and realized it was more than just a holdup when her abductors called her by name.
Edith Rosenkranz, 60, relived in federal court the terrifying moments when she was kidnapped at gunpoint July 19 from an international bridge tournament, thrown into a van and held captive for two days before her release.
'I was very frightened,' she testified in a calm, clear voice.
Rosenkranz was the star witness at the trial of Glenn I. Wright, 42, and Dennis Moss, 26, both of Houston, who are accused of the kidnapping.
Rosenkranz was taken from the parking lot of the luxury hotel where she and her husband, George, were playing in the championship bridgetournament.
Rosenkranz's husband, a wealthy Mexico City pharmaceutical magnate, was the founder of Syntex Corp., which led the field in the development of the birth control pill.
Mrs. Rosenkranz was held at a motel in the Norfolk, Va., area for almost 48 hours and then freed near the White House when her husband dropped off the $1 million ransom in nearby Alexandria, Va.
Three suspects were arrested in the minutes following her release and the money was recovered. In addition to Wright and Moss, Orland Tolden, Wright's former homosexual lover, was arrested and has become a government witness.
Rosenkranz identified Moss as the man who held her at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Washington Sheraton Hotel, dragged her from the facility, and forced her into a van.
At first, she said, 'I thought it was a holdup, nothing else occurred to me at the moment.'
But when the man later identified as Moss said, 'Run Mrs. Rosenkranz, run,' Rosenkranz said she became 'terrified he knew my name.'
'Once I knew he knew my name, I knew there was more to it than a holdup,' she said.
Rosenkranz said she did not know if the kidnapping was because of 'terrorists or money or drugs.' She said her abductor told her 'all I want is to have my baby back.'
As she was dragged out of the parking lot, Rosenkranz said the man told her to keep running because 'they are all over the place, they are everywhere watching us.'
Earlier, Tolden testified that he participated in the kidnapping scheme because he was afraid Wright would hurt him. He said he only knew that Wright was planning the abduction of the wife of a wealthy man.
Tolden, who lived with Wright for 2 years, testified that Wright had been very depressed about his real estate business, but told him he might have a plan for solving his financial problems.
