Callum Jones
A woman was saved from an alleged kidnapper posing as an Uber driver after she slipped a note to a stranger at a petrol station.
The woman from Arizona, US, was taken to a Chevron gas station where she frantically passed a small yellow note to a complete stranger on Tuesday (22 August).
On the piece of paper, the woman wrote: 'Help', before including her name and phone number and giving a description of the car and where it was headed.
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It read: “Call 911. Blue Honda van … going towards Kingman Las Vegas."
After being passed the note, the customer called the police who rushed to the area, as per a Facebook post by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
"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 statement read.
Earlier on in the afternoon, the woman's mother had reported Jacob Wilhoit, 41, as a person of interest, as the woman was allegedly kidnapped from a car dealership.
Officers subsequently found the vehicle and arrested Wilhoit.
The statement continued: “YCSO 911 Dispatchers determined that the victim had been reported missing by her mother and entered as missing/endangered earlier that afternoon. The entry mentioned Jacob Wilhoit by name as a person of interest.
"Detectives learned that Wilhoit had abducted her from a car dealership in the Phoenix area on Monday morning at approximately 7 a.m. He was wearing a wig and pretending to be an Uber driver. Wilhoit restrained her as they drove to Las Vegas and spent the night at a Lake Mead park.
“Multiple firearms were found in Wilhoit’s car in plain view. Wilhoit was ultimately booked on charges of harassment, threatening, and intimidating, aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, along with several other assault charges.
“The victim’s extraordinary action in passing the note, the customer’s willingness to assist, and the quick actions of YCSO and DPS saved the victim from her kidnapper and allowed her to return home with her family."
The woman who was allegedly kidnapped has been left 'traumatised', according to YCSO spokesperson Kristin Green.
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.”
The spokesperson went on to say that the quick-thinking customer did the right thing by calling 911 after receiving the note.
“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,” she added.