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Mother pleads for abduction suspect to turn self in

A mother is pleaded for her son to turn himself in after police say he abducted a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint then went on a multi-county crime spree.

Police began searching for Cornelius Ruise after a pizza delivery driver was abducted Saturday.

“Please Neil,” his mother Tenia Ruise said. “Please Neil, turn yourself in. Call me. Please call me. I’ll come and get you.”

Cornelius Ruise allegedly lured the pizza delivery driver to an abandoned home in Jacksonville then forced her into the trunk of her car.

The delivery driver jumped out of the trunk as he drove down I-10 in Macclenny.

Cornelius Ruise then tried to rob a Dollar General in Union County and set fire to the car in Baker County.

Tenia Ruise said she has not seen her son in months and family members have not been able to contact him.

“I don’t want him to get shot or get killed,” she said. “I’d rather see him behind bars.”

She also apologized to the pizza delivery driver her son reportedly abducted.

“My heart goes out to the young lady,” she said. “I’m so sorry. I’m very sorry.”

Action News Jax learned Cornelius Ruise has been arrested for violence against a woman in the past.

He hit and kicked a woman as she held their 1-year-old daughter in 2003, Lake City police said.

Police believed Cornelius Ruise may have been headed to Lake City to try and make contact with that woman.

He turned himself in to the Baker County Sheriff's Office shortly before 10 p.m. on Sunday.

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