Quick thinking at gas station saves woman kidnapped by fake Uber driver, AZ cops say
A woman’s quick thinking at a gas station in Arizona saved her after she was kidnapped by a fake Uber driver, deputies said.
The woman had been reported missing by her mother Tuesday, Aug. 22, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said in an Aug. 24 Facebook post.
She got into a van at a car dealership Monday, Aug. 21, in Phoenix thinking it was her Uber, deputies said.
Instead, she was kidnapped by a man wearing a wig who deputies said was pretending to an Uber driver, according to the sheriff’s office.
Jacob Wilhoit, 41, is accused of restraining the woman in the van as he drove toward Las Vegas, deputies said.
The two stayed the night at Lake Mead, and at about 5 p.m. Aug. 22, deputies said Wilhoit stopped at a Chevron gas station in Seligman, about 150 miles from Lake Mead.
The woman passed a note to a customer asking them to call 911 because she had been abducted, deputies said.
She also wrote a description of the van, a phone number and where they were headed, deputies said.
The sheriff’s office and the stranger called authorities, leading deputies to arrest Wilhoit.
Wilhoit was arrested on charges of harassment, threatening and intimidating, aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping and several assault charges, deputies said.
“The victim’s extraordinary action in passing the note, the customer’s willingness to assist, and the quick actions of (officials) saved the victim from her kidnapper and allowed her to return home with her family,” deputies said in the post.
Seligman is about 170 miles northwest of Phoenix.
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