Community Stands Behind Abduction Victims Friedman Admits Story Sounds Incredible; Stevens County Authorities Don’t Seem To Harbor Any Doubts

Malcolm Friedman admits the story sounds incredible.

An armed intruder dressed like Rambo in a ski mask breaks into the family home, kidnaps and robs him and his wife, and then drops them off at a north Spokane restaurant. All the while, the gunman says “yes ma’am” and “no sir” and compliments their home, garden and restored 1966 Ford Mustang.

“It really happened,” Friedman, 46, said Thursday at the Excell Foods grocery store he owns.

Stevens County authorities don’t seem to harbor doubts and are investigating at full throttle. The Upper Columbia Human Rights Coalition, fearing the county’s first real hate crime, considers the case chilling and a reminder of why the organization is there.

The gunman said he targeted the Friedmans because of their Jewish last name.

Friedman is one of this timber town’s most reputable business leaders, inheriting his father’s grocery business that started in 1956.

In addition to the Excell store his father opened on the south side, the younger Friedman built a new Super 1 grocery store last month on the north side of town. He also owns Woody’s restaurant.

“He’s a kind-hearted businessman,” said Leslie Waters, who co-chairs the human rights coalition. “He’s philanthropic. His reputation is excellent. It’s a real trauma to the community, frightening to everyone.”

Monday afternoon, a man who said he was 44 and from the Midwest broke into the Friedman home and stuck a rifle between Jillian Thorson-Friedman’s eyes. The intruder waited for Friedman to come home a little while later and kept them at gunpoint in the living room.

The gunman then ordered ThorsonFriedman to drive into town and return with cash. If she called police, the man said he would kill her husband.

Thorson-Friedman complied, giving the man a “substantial” but undisclosed amount of money.

The intruder then ordered the couple to drive him to Spokane in their green 1994 Toyota 4Runner. He dropped them off at Country Cousin Barbecue on North Division and left with their car. It was found abandoned a short distance away.

The intruder claimed to be part of a Jewish extremist group that sent four or five members to Colville to wreak terror on several Jewish families.

The plan was to trash their homes - shoot them up and paint swastikas all over the walls - and make it look like the work of the militia.

“He was throwing out all the militia gibberish,” Friedman said.

While spouting rhetoric against the New World Order and United Nations troops taking over America, the gunman spoke calmly and politely.

He took off his gloves only three times - once to shake Thorson-Friedman’s hand and seal a promise not to harm her husband if she returned with the money. On two occasions, the gunman rolled Bulger tobacco into cigarettes.

He wore full camouflage fatigues with a U.S. Army patch over the shirt pocket, but Friedman said it was the kind of uniform anyone can buy at a surplus store.

The intruder is about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds. After he removed his mask on the way to Spokane, Friedman noticed a Marine-type flattop hair cut and mustache.

“He said he was desperate and had killed before,” Friedman said.

The businessman said he believes at least some of the gunman’s story is a “crock,” and that the whole affair could boil down to a simple robbery.

“We just don’t know,” he said.

The community has been supportive - cards in the mail, hugs on the street.

The only people to question the Friedmans’ story is the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department, which cited inconsistencies in the couple’s stories.

Friedman said the discrepancies are minor, particularly considering the stress they were under.

Terry Sparrow, president of the Excell chain in Spokane, said he and his wife have spent years getting to know the Friedmans.

“In my mind, there’s never been any doubt that what they say is the truth,” Sparrow said. “Malcolm has as good a reputation as you could have.”

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = J. Todd Foster Staff writer Staff writer Grayden Jones contributed to this report.