Deputies from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reported that a woman staged a daring escape from her kidnapper in Northern California last week, potentially saving her own life.
This incident unfolded around 4 a.m. Thursday when the 35-year-old victim managed to call 911 and text emergency services, revealing that she had been kidnapped and was hiding in the bathroom of a gas station in Blue Lake.
The woman, who hasn’t been named, was allegedly abducted by Timothy Richard Long, 46, a man she lived with in McKinleyville. Authorities say he forced her into his vehicle around 3 a.m. before driving toward an unknown destination. He stopped briefly to refuel about 15 minutes from his home.
While Long was filling the tank, the woman took the opportunity to lock herself in the gas station bathroom.
Panic-stricken, she called 911 and sent a series of urgent texts to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Emergency Communications Center, detailing her kidnapping and pleading for help.
Responding deputies arrived at the gas station quickly. They apprehended Long without any trouble outside the station while calling to the woman still concealed in the bathroom.
She was found unharmed when she finally emerged from her hiding place. Authorities have not disclosed the specifics of her relationship with Long.
Long now faces charges of kidnapping and violating both a domestic violence restraining order and probation terms. If found guilty, he could serve up to eight years in prison.
As of Monday, he was being held at the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.
Humboldt County, roughly 300 miles north of San Francisco, is a rural region that has gained notoriety for its connection to drug activity and numerous missing persons cases.
In fact, the Rancho Sequoia area in southern Humboldt is infamously known as “Murder Mountain” due to a history of murders and disappearances linked to the marijuana trade.
