A woman allegedly abducted by a man posing as an Uber driver is safe — after she gave a stranger a note asking for help as she stopped at a gas station.
The woman, who was not named, was said to have been snatched from a Phoenix car dealership early Monday before being driven more than 150 miles overnight by 41-year-old Jacob Wilhoit.
Wilhoit, who is currently in custody, was already a person of interest in the case and is believed to have a history with the victim. In an apparent attempt to disguise himself, he was wearing a wig when he picked up the victim, police said this week.
However, his alleged plot was foiled around 5 p.m. Tuesday, police said, when the woman bravely passed a fellow customer a post-it note begging for help at a Chevron in Seligman — some 170 miles where she was apprehended.
The subtle cry for help, issued by the Yavapai County Police Department, included a description of the van she was being held in, a phone number and the vehicle’s predicted path. Horrifyingly, a photo of the yellow note showed the words, “Help…Call 911…Blue Honda van.”
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A woman who was allegedly abducted by a man posing as an Uber driver is now safe — after she gave a stranger a note asking for help while stopping at a gas station. The cry for help (seen here) included a description of the van, a phone number, and the vehicle’s predicted path
The unnamed woman was said to have been snatched from a Phoenix car dealership early Monday by 41-year-old Jacob Wilhoit, who police say knew the victim and wore a wig to disguise himself. Now that he was in custody, he was already an interesting person, police said this week
Police said the customer then called the police, leading to Wilhoit’s arrest a few miles away.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office released a statement recounting the rescue, which took place hours after the woman’s family reported her missing.
During that altercation, family members provided police with Wilhoit’s name, as a perceived person of interest. He would have worn a wig before the alleged abduction and kept the woman tied up for much of the journey.
The officers’ update, which aired Wednesday, read as follows: “At 5 p.m. on Aug. 22, a woman at a Chevron in Seligman signaled another customer and passed a note bearing her name asking the customer for calling 911 and saying she had been kidnapped.
“The note had a description of the van the woman was in, a phone number, and said they were going to Kingman and Las Vegas.”
Police officers in the northwestern part of the state went on to reveal how the customer—who was not named—then called police, and that YCSO deputies “responded immediately.”
“The customer reported that the van had just left westbound on I-40, and provided descriptions of the clothing of both the woman and the man she was traveling with,” the department said Wednesday.
YCSO alerted the Department of Public Safety to help locate the van, which they could do at 116 Mile Post on I-40.
“The adult female victim and a 41-year-old man Jacob Wilhoit were detained without incident,” the statement said.
Police said the customer then called the police, leading to Wilhoit’s arrest a few miles away. The suspect is seen here shortly after he was arrested on Tuesday evening, after which the woman was located and arrested
His alleged plot was foiled around 5 p.m. Tuesday, police said, when the woman bravely passed a fellow customer with a post-it note begging for help at a Chevron in Seligman — some 170 miles where she was picked up.
Police further described how sometime during this chain of events, YCSO 911 Dispatchers were able to determine that the victim had been reported missing by her mother earlier that afternoon and had come in as a ‘missing/threatened’ person.
In addition, police said the person named Wilhoit as a person of interest.
Within a day of investigating, detectives said they were able to discover it was a woman kidnapped from “a car dealership in the Phoenix area,” and that Wilhoit was “wearing a wig and posing as an Uber driver.”
Wilhoit, they said, restrained the victim with the intention of driving to Vegas, and spent Monday night somewhere in the Lake Mead park, which has several campgrounds.
In addition, officers said multiple firearms were found in Wilhoit’s Honda before officers even had a chance to search the vehicle as they were clearly visible. The type of firearms recovered on Friday was not specified.
Ultimately, Wilhoit was charged with a range of charges, including harassment, endangerment, aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment and kidnapping.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office released a statement recounting the rescue, which took place hours after the woman’s family reported her missing.
As for the woman, who is now safe, police said her day and a half of captivity is traumatized, but praised her for taking the opportunity to seek help when it presented itself.
“Eventually he took her in his minivan, zip-zipped her and kidnapped her,” YCSO spokesperson Kristin Greene told Fox 10 Phoenix.
“The victim is still shocked, but I think she did a great job.
“(She) ended up doing everything right.”
The department’s statement praised not only the woman, but also the Good Samaritan, whose actions likely led to her being saved.
The office wrote: “The victim’s extraordinary action in passing on the note, the customer’s willingness to help, and the prompt actions of YCSO and DPS rescued the victim from her captor and enabled her to family to return home.’
As of Friday, Wilhoit was being held in Unit 3 of the Yavapai County local lockup. A bail amount was not specified.