Dedrick Griham

Dedrick Griham (born 1971), is a convicted felon charged with the kidnap and rape of Birmingham lawyer Sandra Gregory which triggered a sensational chase on May 31, 2006.

Griham was paroled from a 20-year sentence for a Mobile robbery in August 2005. After his parole, he was living in various halfway houses. He had been evicted from one such home in May, 2006.

On the morning of May 31, Griham forced Gregory into her boyfriend's Lexus RX300 in the parking lot of her Watts Tower apartment. A construction worker at a nearby building witnessed the abduction and notified police, who recovered video tape from the building's security camera for release to the media.

After stops at three AmSouth Bank branches (Fairfield, Five Points West and Forestdale) to withdraw cash from her account, the vehicle was abandoned in the 1500 block of Arthur Shores Drive in the mostly-empty Cooper Green Housing Community around 9:45. Jermain Bailey, a college student, then gave the two a ride to the Comfort Inn on West Oxmoor Road in Homewood and rented them a room in exchange for $40. He said he saw nothing amiss. Gregory spoke to her boyfriend briefly by telephone at 11:00 AM, but was unable to give any information to him.

Between 4:45 and 5:30 in the afternoon Birmingham Police surrounded Gregory and her abductor, who were located in room 226. She had been bound and raped, but was not gravely injured. Her abductor was taken into custody. On Friday, June 2, Griham was charged with first degree kidnapping, robbery, rape and sodomy and held without bond. He was later charged by Federal prosecutors with carjacking and gun possession by a felon during a violent crime. He escaped from the Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County on September 7.