The man accused of kidnapping a Gastonia family had wanted them to take him to visit his mother in Tennessee, his sister said Wednesday.
Glenda Case Upton, 57, said her brother, Jerry Douglas Case, told her of his plans during a telephone conversation before he was shot by police this month.
Case, paroled in 2007 from a life sentence for murder, is accused of abducting the Gastonia family. Police shot him several times this month as they tried to capture him after the victims escaped.
As Case entered the courtroom Wednesday in a wheelchair, his mother and sister hugged and wept.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen, citing the violence of the crimes and the defendant's violent past, announced in court that the government will seek to have Case jailed without bond pending his trial. The detention hearing is scheduled for Monday.
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