Jacob Wilhoit, seen in a mugshot photo inset and standing by a minivan, is accused of abducting a woman rescued after passing a note to a gas station customer in Arizona. (Photos from Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office)
A woman abducted by an armed man wearing a wig and posing as an Uber driver was miraculously rescued when a gas station pit stop in Arizona gave her time to slip a note to a woman telling her to call 911, authorities said.
The case broke on Tuesday at about 5 p.m. at a Chevron in Seligman, in northwestern Arizona.
“Help, [redacted] call 911. Blue Honda van. [redacted] Going to Kingman and Las Vegas,” the victim’s note shared by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office reads.
Deputies responded immediately.
“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 agency said in a news release.
When deputies arrived at the gas station, the good Samaritan said the van had just left, was headed west on Interstate 40, and described the victim’s clothing and the man she was traveling with.
The sheriff’s office alerted the Department of Public Safety, which spotted the van at Mile Post 116 on I-40 near Seligman and made a traffic stop. Jacob Wilhoit, 41, was detained, and the victim was rescued. Authorities found multiple firearms inside in plain view, officials said.
Wilhoit was booked into the Yavapai County Jail for harassment, threatening and intimidating, aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, and other assault charges. It was unclear whether he has an attorney.
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A probable cause statement obtained by Law&Crime lays out the allegations. The victim and suspect knew each other. She told a detective later she had worked for him a few years back, but within the last year, he had been harassing her and coming to her house without her permission. The victim said she had reported the incidents to the Phoenix Police Department, was not in a relationship with him and had gotten a protection order against him.
The abduction happened on Monday at about 7 a.m. when she dropped her car off at a Kia dealership in the Phoenix area. Wilhoit was “was wearing a wig and pretending to be an Uber driver,” the sheriff’s office press release said.
In his wig disguise and gun next to him, the suspect ordered her into a van he allegedly told a detective after his arrest he bought on the marketplace website OfferUp just for the occasion, the probable cause statement said.
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After the victim got into the van, Wilhoit allegedly used duct tape and zip ties to restrain her to a seat inside. They drove from Phoenix to Lake Mead, just south of Las Vegas. Wilhoit removed her restraints when they stopped at a park.
The victim said they stopped at a gas station where she gave a woman a note asking her for help.
After his arrest, Wilhoit allegedly told investigators he was trying to keep the victim from getting harmed by the people she worked for. He said he could not reveal those names, nor the names of the government agencies or agents trying to protect her, the document said.
Wilhoit gave the police a phone number and said the person who answered would know about the victim and why he was protecting her. But when police called the number, the person on the phone said he did not know Wilhoit but had been harassed by him by phone.
Wilhoit also allegedly told a detective they had been in a relationship for the last year. He allegedly said within the previous 30 days, they hadn’t talked or seen each other until he picked her up at the Kia dealership in Mesa.
He allegedly told the investigator he was prohibited from having guns due to other protection orders. He had also been on release for a current case in Maricopa County, the document said he told a detective.
Wilhoit also allegedly said that he had to wear an ankle monitor while he was on release for a case.
When the detective asked where his ankle monitor was, Wilhoit allegedly said it was “cut off by the persons wanting to hurt” the victim, the document said.
When the detective asked who cut off the monitor, “Wilhoit was unable to give me a name of who cut off the monitor or where it was cut off,” the document said.
Wilhoit allegedly said he did not know why he was pulled over because he was driving 5 mph under the speed limit due to not having all the lug nuts on the wheels, the document said.
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kristin Greene praised the quick work of the gas station customer who received the victim’s note.
“It’s really no skin off your back to take the person seriously and make the call to 911,” she told Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO. “If it turns out it’s some kind of hoax, no harm, no foul. But don’t just automatically discount it.”
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