Women Guilty Of Kidnap Pair Convicted In Kidnap-Torture Of Friend Thought To Be Informant
Moments after being convicted of a torturous kidnapping, Paula Lloyd locked eyes with the victim, seated in the front row of the courtroom.
“I’ll be back,” Lloyd whispered, as sheriff’s deputies slapped on handcuffs.
Taunya Gardella shivered.
How long will her life be in turmoil because she was mistaken for a drug informant?
A Spokane County jury Thursday found Lloyd and another woman guilty of first-degree kidnapping following a weeklong trial. Both face at least four years in prison.
“Thank you,” a tearful Gardella mouthed silently to the jury.
The case offered a glimpse into Spokane’s growing methamphetamine-abusing underworld, where violence and distrust are rampant.
Indeed, defense attorneys blamed drug-induced paranoia for what happened on May 17.
The 22-year-old Gardella was wrongly accused of informing on one of her drugged-out friends.
They blindfolded her, forced her into a van, stole her jewelry and chopped off her treasured waist-length hair.
Then they drove to a remote area near Newman Lake and marched her into the woods, muttering death threats.
“They were singing songs of her death,” said Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Ed Hay.
Lloyd, 23, and Rhondi Zyph, 18, cut off the victim’s clothes and beat her with their fists, feet and sticks.
The attack was so frenzied, authorities said, one of the men watching on the sidelines had to yell for the two women to stop.
Afterward, Gardella stumbled naked through the forest until she heard the sounds of chain saws. Men from a logging company drove her to a gas station and called for help.
Following Thursday’s verdicts, Gardella was hugged by friends and family members.
“I’ve been through hell,” she said.
Fifteen days before her abduction, Zyph’s boyfriend was arrested on drug charges.
Convinced an informant was involved, virtually everyone in the circle of friends fell under suspicion.
Gardella was branded the snitch after a search of her wallet yielded the business card of a Spokane police detective.
The card was there because Gardella was helping police solve a burglary in which a friend was victimized.
But Zyph, Lloyd and others wouldn’t listen to reason.
“They had a kangaroo trial and found her guilty,” Hay said.
The prosecutor said the victim fears reprisals from the trial and “showed a lot of guts in going through with her testimony.”
Lloyd, who also was convicted of second-degree robbery, faces 5-1/2 to 7-1/2 years in prison for the crimes. Zyph is looking at four to 5-1/2 years behind bars.
No sentencing date has been scheduled.
, DataTimes