A WOMAN WHO WAS KIDNAPPED WAS ABLE TO SAVE HERSELF BY PASSING A NOTE TO A CUSTOMER AT A GAS STATION.

ON TUESDAY EVENING, A WOMAN AT A CHEVRON STATION IN SELIGMAN GOT THE ATTENTION OF ANOTHER CUSTOMER AND THEN PASSED A NOTE GIVING HER NAME, SAYING SHE HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED AND TO CALL 911. THE NOTE INCLUDED A DESCRIPTION OF THE VAN THE WOMAN WAS IN, A PHONE NUMBER, AND THEIR DESTINATION WHICH WAS TO KINGMAN AND LAS VEGAS. 

THE CUSTOMER CALLED 911 AND YAVAPAI COUNTY SHERIFF DEPUTIES RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY. THE CUSTOMER STATED THE VAN HAD JUST LEFT, GOING WESTBOUND ON I-40, AND PROVIDED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CLOTHING FOR BOTH THE WOMAN AND THE MAN IN THE VAN. YCSO ALERTED THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO ASSIST IN LOCATING THE VAN, WHICH THEY DID AT MILEPOST 116 ON I-40.  THE ADULT FEMALE VICTIM AND THE MALE, 41-YEAR-OLD JACOB WILHOIT, WERE DETAINED WITHOUT INCIDENT.

DURING THE SEARCH FOR THE VAN, YCSO 911 DISPATCHERS DETERMINED THAT THE VICTIM HAD BEEN REPORTED MISSING BY HER MOTHER AND ENTERED AS MISSING OR ENDANGERED EARLIER THAT AFTERNOON. JACOB WILHOIT WAS MENTIONED BY NAME AS A PERSON OF INTEREST.

DETECTIVES LEARNED THAT WILHOIT HAD ABDUCTED THE WOMAN FROM A CAR DEALERSHIP IN THE PHOENIX AREA ON MONDAY MORNING AT APPROXIMATELY 7 A.M. HE WAS WEARING A WIG, ATTEMPTING TO IMPERSONATE 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. HE 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.