Trucker charged with kidnapping

Man accused of beating, holding ex-girlfriend for over a year

Shaddix was hospitalized and treated for bruises and cuts before being released Wednesday.

DUBLIN, Georgia (CNN) -- A truck driver accused of beating and forcibly holding his former girlfriend for more than a year was charged with kidnapping Wednesday in a central Georgia court.

The indictment came down hours after a judge set bond at $25,000 for Shannon Jones on a separate aggravated assault charge.

Jones, 26, did not immediately post bond. Officials with the Laurens County Sheriff's Department said the suspect would not likely be released, given the kidnapping charge. A bond hearing on the charge is expected in the coming days.

Asked what he thought of the accusations made by Kittena Shaddix, 25, that he held her against her will, Jones said, "Let her say what she wants."

Police found Shaddix in a truck Saturday along Interstate 16 in Laurens County, Georgia, about 50 miles east of Macon and 135 miles southeast of Atlanta, said Sgt. Gerald Frazier of the county sheriff's department.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Gary Tuchman talks to Kittena Shaddix, who says her ex-boyfriend kidnapped and beat her and held her against her will for the last 16 months (April 24) Play video

Binford Aycock alerted police after discovering Shaddix's plea for help scribbled on a ladies room stall in a restroom he was cleaning along Interstate 75 in McMinn County, Tennessee.

The message said, "Won't let me out. Beating me, this is no joke."

Taking information in her message identifying Jones' truck as "Cannon truck 383" and using a satellite global positioning system, authorities tracked the truck to Laurens County -- about 300 miles from where the message was left.

Shaddix was hospitalized at Fairview Park Hospital here immediately after being rescued and Jones was taken into custody. She was treated for bruises, contusions and lacerations before being released Wednesday morning.

Her eyes still bruised and swollen, Shaddix told CNN she began traveling with Jones in December 2000. Two months later, Shaddix said she asked out of the relationship after Jones became abusive.

"He said, 'I love you. You're staying,'" Shaddix said. "I was his dog. I was supposed to listen."

The abuse intensified, she said, and at one point she had to use fishing line to stitch up a cut around her eye.

The pair would enter rest areas only in the early hours or late at night. The few truck drivers she did come across were unwilling to help, Shaddix said.

"I screamed many times," she said. "They don't care. They didn't do nothing."

Shaddix said she left more than 40 message in restrooms at rest areas nationwide -- the only place she was left alone, Shaddix told police -- making her most recent plea at the southeastern Tennessee stop.

-- CNN Correspondent Gary Tuchman contributed to this report.