AHOSKIE, NC -- Late Friday, 13News received confirmation that Smithwick’s ex-wife, Janet, has been arrested and charged in connection with the ongoing investigation into his abduction. She is charged with accessory after the fact, and is being held on a $3 million bond.

A Kitty Hawk policeman charged in the kidnapping of an Ahoskie man told 13News exclusively Friday that police have the wrong man.

Investigators say 38-year-old Officer Raymond Jedele is the boyfriend of Donald Bradley "Brad" Smithwick's ex-wife, Janet. Smithwick remains missing.

Police believe a taser was used to subdue Smithwick as he left his home on Colony Avenue around 6:00 a.m. Thursday.

They said Smithwick's wife, Sindi, told investigators a man dressed in black attacked her husband and tied his hands behind his back. She told 13News that she recognized Jedele.

"I've never met him before, but I recognize him from seeing him in the driveway," she said. "So, I recognized him immediately, that that was him. That was the man I saw in the driveway with Brad."

Thursday night, when police arrested Jedele on the first-degree kidnapping charge, he was wearing all black clothing and police also said there was blood in the trunk of his car.

In court for Friday's arraignment, Jedele said he wasn't involved.

Brad Smithwick is missing from his Ahoskie, NC home.

"It's a shame if something happened, but it wasn't me. They have the wrong person. I would never do that," he said.

Bond was set at $10 million. Jedele told the judge he would hire his own attorney.

Prosecutors said other charges are pending against the officer.

Earl Copeland, who has lived in the area his entire life, says Smithwick's ex-wife, Janet, and Jedele have known each other for years. He says they grew up around Edenton.

Neighbors reported seeing them together after Smithwick went missing.

"I am surprised that he would be involved in something like this,” said Copeland.

For part of Thursday and again on Friday, police searched a small section of the Chowan River where police say Jedele was in a car crash, Thursday. Divers were in the water and boats with sonar searched its depths. K-9s were on land, searching the water's edge and nearby wooded areas.

Raleigh Ashley runs an auto repair business and had no idea the car he was called to tow Thursday morning after the accident on the Eden House Bridge had, according to police, been involved in a violent crime.

"He was just wearing black and he wanted to ride back to the shop with me and I told him ‘Sure,’ so he rode back with me,” said Ashley of Ashley’s Auto Repair.

At the accident scene, 13News has learned Jedele was very anxious. He even sat on the trunk, trying to keep anyone from getting close.

Sources tell us the state trooper suspected drugs, but couldn't prove it, so Jedele was allowed to leave.

Ashley said, on the ride back to his shop, Jedele had calmed down and was even friendly.

"He wanted to borrow my cell phone to call his girlfriend to come pick his stuff up out of the vehicle and I told him, ‘Sure,’” recalled Ashley.

Ashley says Smithwick’s ex-wife, Janet, showed up at his shop that morning and immediately started loading everything from the trunk of the wrecked car into her vehicle.

Ashley says he didn't see what it was they were unloading, but when they were done, Jedele demanded that the car immediately be moved here to Janet's Edenton home.

"When I carried the car down to the girl's house and went to put the spare tire back that they had left on the bed, when I went to throw the spare tire in there wasn't nothing in it, nothing but the jack,” said Ashley. “No floor mat or nothing."

After a long and bitter custody battle with his first wife, Smithwick and his new wife were recently awarded custody of his two children.

Investigators believe that fight played a role in the abduction, but they still have many unanswered questions.

Peggy Lowe lives about three blocks away. She noticed the pickup abandoned on her street just minutes after the abduction when she went to get the newspaper.

"I just saw that truck and it is not there normally there,” said Lowe. “I didn't know who's truck it was, so I just went back in the house and read my paper thinking nothing."

It wasn't until a few hours later that she noticed police cars surrounding the vehicle.

Police reportedly discovered blood in the bed of the truck, but there was no sign of the victim.

Andrew Tawes, 13News

This was the scene Thursday afternoon outside Smithwick's home.

In Edenton, police searched Smithwick's ex-wife's home. Police seized a car after they say they found blood inside.

Investigators believe the car may have been used in the abduction.

"He's the love of my life," said Smithwick's wife, Sindi. "Brad didn't deserve this, and those kids don't deserve to be robbed of their father."

Smithwick's children know only that their dad is missing.

Police tell 13News they are following several leads, but ask anyone with information to come forward.

"Time is of the essence and we want to find everything that we can do to solve this case," said Fitzhugh.

In court, it was revealed that Jedele once worked for Blackwater USA, the Moyock, NC private security firm.

He is on leave without pay from the Kitty Hawk Police Department while the investigation continues