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Louisville mother abducted with children shares harrowing bank robbery survival story
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Louisville woman was abducted from her home near The Oxmoor Center, along with her two children before being forced to withdraw $20,000 from a local bank at knifepoint Friday morning, police said.
The suspect, Armond Langford, 32, was arrested later that day and faces multiple charges including robbery, kidnapping, and assault.
Friday morning, Jennifer Strong was making breakfast for her children when she heard her back door open twice.
A man, later identified as Langford, entered her home armed with a knife.
“He had a knife …. And he started to yell 'how many people are in this house,'" Strong said. "I put my hands up. I told him not to hurt us."
Langford ordered Strong, her 11-year-old son, and her 7-year-old son into a car. Strong sat in the driver’s seat with her older son beside her, and Langford sat in the back with her younger son.
With a knife pressed to Strong’s throat, Langford demanded she drive to the PNC Bank on Shelbyville Road near Oxmoor Center.
“My oldest son he had his arms around my neck, and he was begging the guy in the backseat not to kill me," Strong said. "I asked him if I could reach around and hold my youngest son’s hand, and he said yes."
Langford instructed Strong to drive faster, but she refused, saying there were many police in the neighborhood.
Strong, a true crime enthusiast, said she tried to gain Langford’s trust by sharing personal information.
“I told the guy my oldest son was autistic, to please not hurt us, that my youngest son was very scared,” she said. “If this is gonna happen fighting him isn't the right way to do it – he has a knife, and I have nothing."
At the bank, Strong knocked on the window as Langford threatened the teller.
“I need $20,000, or I will kill her now,” Strong recounted Langford’s threat.
Langford then ordered the children out of the car. Strong feared she might never see them again.
“I yelled out to the car that I loved them, and I said a prayer and I grabbed my hand and I grabbed my chest and I said to myself this is it this is what it feels like to die – I told the bank 'he’s killing me now, he’s stabbing me again' and then they came out,” Strong said.
The bank tellers spread $20,000 on the ground. Langford grabbed the cash and fled.
Strong was taken to the hospital with stab wounds that came within centimeters of her lung. She was released Friday and reunited with her family.
“It was the best moment of life, it will stay the best moment of my life,” she said.
Langford was arrested just after 4:30 p.m. Friday near Best Buy, about a mile from the bank.
Police said Langford broke into Strong’s home, then abducted her and the children before the robbery. The children were not physically harmed but were traumatized by the ordeal.
The family said this never would have happened if Langford had served his full sentence.
In 2024, Langford was sentenced to 14 years in prison for burglary and robbery charges but was released early on shock probation.
“I want to know how they’re sleeping at night right now,” Strong said.
Her husband Brandon Strong agreed, adding, "You caused this."
The physical wounds from the attack will heal faster than the emotional scars.
Another child was in the home at the time, but was asleep upstairs during the attack.
“My little brother has autism and it breaks my heart for him that he’ll never be able to express what he has seen the way we all can, and that’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Strong’s husband, Brandon, was not home during the incident.
“That’s what I’m kinda losing sleep about — me not being here,” Brandon Strong said.
The family has already gotten rid of the car used in the crime because it is too traumatic to be around it.
The day after the attack, Strong’s youngest son turned eight. The family celebrated, grateful everyone was alive to blow out the candles.
“Everyday is a blessing, take nothing for granted,” Strong said.
Langford is being held on a $1 million bond and faces multiple charges, including five counts of robbery, one count of kidnapping an adult, two counts of kidnapping a minor, and one count of assault.
“He deserves the same terror that he inflicted on us,” Strong said.
Langford is scheduled to be back in court on Aug. 19.
https://www.wdrb.com/news/crime-reports/louisville-mother-abducted-with-children-shares-harrowing-bank-robbery-survival-story/article_e4e8d93d-8bfc-40ce-ba2b-61666d1c95a1.html