An Arizona woman who was allegedly abducted by a man posing as an Uber driver was rescued after she passed a note to a stranger at a gas station pleading for help.
The quick-thinking woman entered a Chevron off Interstate 40 in Seligman, about 170 miles north of Phoenix, at 5 p.m. Tuesday and slipped a yellow piece of paper to the customer, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Help,” she scribbled on the note, adding her name and phone number. “Call 911. Blue Honda van … going towards Kingman Las Vegas.”
The alerted motorist given the note immediately called 911, with deputies racing to the area, the sheriff’s office said.
“The customer relayed that the van had just left westbound on I-40, and provided descriptions of the clothing for both the woman and the man with whom she was traveling,” the sheriff’s office said.
Accused kidnapper Jacob Wilhoit, 41, was busted after a woman he allegedly snatched passed a “Help” note to a stranger in a gas station. YSCOPolice found the vehicle and arrested Jacob Wilhoit, 41, who had already been named a person of interest when the woman was allegedly kidnapped from a car dealership in the Phoenix area the previous morning, the release said.
“He was wearing a wig and pretending to be an Uber driver,” the sheriff’s office said. “Wilhoit restrained her as they drove to Las Vegas and spent the night at a Lake Mead park.”
Several firearms were discovered in plain view in the suspect’s van, according to authorities.
The kidnapped woman handed the stranger this note, the sheriff’s office said. YSCOWilhoit was charged with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, aggravated assault, harassment, threatening and intimidating.
“The victim’s extraordinary action in passing the note, the customer’s willingness to assist, and the quick actions of [law enforcement] saved the victim from her kidnapper and allowed her to return home with her family,” the sheriff’s office said.
The victim was not identified, and it was not immediately clear why she was targeted or how she managed to get into the gas station to pass the note that saved her.
The stranger in the gas station immediately alerted police of the situation. Google MapsShe remains traumatized by the ordeal, sheriff’s spokesperson Kristin Green told Arizona Family.
“We’re confident that she’ll get through it. And obviously she wants to see this man put away. She’s still in a state of shock about all of this,” Green said, according to the outlet.
She praised the customer for jumping in to help.
“It’s really no skin off your back to take the person seriously and make the call to 911. If it turns out it’s some kind of hoax, no harm, no foul. But don’t just automatically discount it,” Green said.
