Man charged with trying to kidnap witness

Columbus police SWAT officers have arrested a man and charged him with kidnapping a witness in the possible slaying of one of three people who died in the same Hilltop house.

Antwan Hutchinson, 25, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a house on North Hague Avenue, north of West Broad Street. There was a short standoff before Hutchinson was peacefully taken into custody.

“We’re glad he’s off the street,” Sgt. Stan Latta, second-shift homicide squad supervisor said Wednesday night. He wouldn’t comment further on the case.

Hutchinson is charged with kidnapping in connection with a Feb. 23 incident in which police say he was in a white SUV and pulled a gun on a man who was walking behind a house on Whitethorne Avenue. Hutchinson is accused of ordering the man to get into the SUV, but the man took off running.

The man that Hutchinson is accused of trying to kidnap had been a witness in the death of Cody Campbell at the house.

Campbell, 29, died on Feb. 13 and his death has been ruled suspicious. Homicide detectives have been investigating.

Three hours after the attempted kidnapping, Columbus police and fire were called to the same house on Whitethorne Avenue on a report of a shooting.

Two women, Sidney J. Campbell, 56, and Marie E. Stamp, 31, were found dead inside. Detectives are calling that case a double homicide.

Police had questioned Sidney Campbell about the death of Cody Campbell. She said she had been in the front room of the small residence and didn’t see anything. Police have not said what the relationships were between the three people but all lived at the house.

Sgt. David Sicilian, the first-shift homicide squad supervisor, previously said that they are looking at whether all the events — the death of the man, the two women and the kidnapping — are related. He said there was an indication that what happened was drug-related.