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Couple Allegedly Beaten, Held Hostage After Craigslist Meeting

SCRANTON — A couple using the Craigslist website for prostitution found themselves in a much different situation than they intended Thursday morning in Sc...

SCRANTON -- A couple using the Craigslist website for prostitution found themselves in a much different situation than they intended Thursday morning in Scranton.

Police say the man who responded to their ad held one of them hostage.

Kyle Collins of Scranton was the man who answered that Craigslist ad. He's locked up in the Lackawanna County Prison charged with unlawful restraint, assault, and terroristic threats.

Police say Collins was looking to rob the couple coming to his house for sex.

What happened next no one has been able to explain.

The court papers recount a story from Anthony Estrella and Brittany Williams, a couple Scranton Police say, use Craigslist for prostitution. But that's nowhere near the most shocking part of this story.

Police say a response to an ad led the couple to an apartment at 604 East Market Street in Scranton's Green Ridge section.

When they went to the upstairs apartment police say Kyle Collins was standing there with a gun and told the pair to empty their pockets.  Then, Collins allegedly pistol whipped Estrella and threw him out, threatening to kill Williams if he called police.

Estrella did call police though and officers surrounded the home and called Brittany Williams on her cell phone. Williams later told police that while she was talking to them, Collins held a gun to her head and continually threatened to kill her.

"It's kind of a quiet neighborhood. I know the neighbors back and forth here but I don't really know them," said neighbor Paul Molter.

Neighbors on East Market Street say the whole ordeal must have been quiet. Many of them didn't even know what had gone on.

They say they don't know Kyle Collins, either.

Collins eventually let Brittany Williams go and surrendered to police.

"There have been issues in this neighborhood before, but nothing like that. This is the first time something this serious has happened," said neighbor Paul Dimler. "We were not aware of anything going on. I'm shocked that it happened."

Kyle Collins is locked up at the Lackawanna County Prison.

Police have not said if there are any charges in the works for Anthony Estrella and Brittany Williams.

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