ROANOKE, Va. – A Lynchburg woman says she escaped a frightening situation when a stranger followed her for more than an hour.
"As a girl, you always think someone could be following you or that you're a target," said Abby, who requested her last name not be used for privacy reasons. "However, you don't feel like that's going to happen in your hometown, and you don't think that's ever going to happen to you."
Abby says she drove from Lynchburg to Roanoke to shop with her college roommate. During the trip, she realized a white pickup truck started driving alongside her on Route 460 near Bedford.
"About 40 minutes later, I'm taking an exit, and there's the white truck again," Abby said.
Abby says the truck shadowed her all the way to the store. When she went to park, she parked in a faraway section of the store's crowded parking lot, but the driver of the truck parked next to her 30 seconds later.
"I don't know if he was just watching me," Abby said. "I didn't know what kind of situation I was in."
Abby never left her car; she decided to leave the store, but she saw something while driving away that made her call 911.
"I make eye contact with him as I pass the truck and I watch him put on his seat belt and start driving right behind me," Abby said. "I said, 'I've got to go, he's 100 percent following me.'"
Abby met police at a nearby restaurant and the other driver lost her trail in the process. After she spoke with police, she wrote about the incident on Facebook, where it has been shared more than 2,000 times.
"I wanted them to know to be aware of their surroundings because anybody can be found in this situation," Abby said. "It doesn't feel real until it's happening to you."
The Roanoke Police Department has suggestions if you ever end up in a situation similar to Abby's. They say to trust your instincts, park in well-lit areas, and report any suspicious people and cars as soon as you can.