A Rhode Island man faces prison for kidnapping an 80-year-old woman after following her home from a Wendy’s because he knew she lived alone and assumed she “would not be missed,” according to prosecutors.
Steven Henning, 54, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for kidnapping and assaulting a woman at her home in Coventry, a suburb of Providence, according to court documents.
In June, he pleaded guilty to several charges, including robbery, breaking and entering a home of a person 60 or older, kidnapping, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Cops said they received a call shortly after 8:15 a.m. on August 18, 2024, from the Smithfield Police Department, which is about 30 miles north of Coventry, about a possible abduction.
When detectives attempted to arrest Henning, he fled on a high-speed chase. They eventually apprehended him and took him into custody.
Prosecutors claim Henning targeted the woman at a local Wendy’s, followed her home, barged into her home, and kidnapped her, according to a courtroom report from WJAR.
He then shoved her into the trunk of his car, drove her to a wooded area in Smithfield, and strangled her with a belt. Henning abandoned her in the woods after she pretended to die. She fled to safety in a nearby house.
The state explained Henning’s motivation at Friday’s sentencing.
“He needed to get to Ohio in a car that would not be reported stolen and the way to do that, in his words, was to kill someone who would not be missed,” the attorney for the prosecution claimed.
According to prosecutors, once in Ohio, he planned to kill his estranged girlfriend. In Rhode Island, Henning has been arrested about two dozen times.
“It’s the Steven Hennings of the world that we warn our children not to talk to strangers,” the prosecutor told WJAR. “And the Steven Hennings of the world are what the elderly think about when they stay at home in solitude instead of venturing out.”
Cops praised the victim for her courage in sending Henning to prison for the rest of his life.
“What she went through is the stuff nightmares are made from,” according to the police. “Yet, she is probably the strongest and bravest person our detectives have ever encountered. May she breathe a little easier knowing that this offender will spend the next 45 years in prison.
