Denise Huskins, who was reported kidnapped two days ago in Vallejo, California, has been found safe more than 400 miles away, authorities and her father said Wednesday.
Huskins’ boyfriend Monday afternoon called police and said she had been abducted that morning from his home in the Bay Area. About 48 hours later, she was located an hour south of Los Angeles.
Officers from the Huntington Beach Police Department found Huskins at her father’s apartment complex, department spokeswoman Jennifer Marlatt told reporters.
Huskins, 29, is in good condition and had no apparent injuries, Marlatt said. Huskins left with police to meet several family members.
Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park said that the case was being treated as a kidnap for ransom and investigators hoped to get a clearer picture of what happened by talking to Huskins later that night.
It was unclear whether that would happen in Vallejo or whether detectives would have to travel to Huntington Beach, some 420 miles away.
Call to her father
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that her father, Michael Huskins, said in a telephone interview that he received a voice mail from his daughter Wednesday morning saying she had been dropped off at his apartment.
He called police to ask that the authorities pick her up and make sure she was safe, he told the newspaper.
“I almost had a heart attack,” he said, according to the Chronicle. “I tried to get authorities to pick her up, but they kept asking me a bunch of questions. I said, ‘Send a squad car.’ I was hyperventilating.”
Earlier, Michael Huskins had made an emotional appeal through CNN affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco directed at the kidnappers: Don’t hurt her, please don’t hurt her.”
“The biggest fear is the horror she might be going through … that’s my biggest fear. The horror, she doesn’t deserve that, not from anybody.”
“It’s like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from,” her father told the affiliate. “This is not supposed to happen.”
All possible angles
Police have not ruled anyone out as a potential suspect, Park told reporters. He declined to give much information about the case, including whether a ransom had been paid. He said he was unaware of any relationship between the man and woman. Park did say the man is both a witness and a “potential victim.”
Michael Huskins has said the couple had been dating for seven months.
When asked whether police have considered that this might not be a kidnapping, Park said: “We’re looking at all possible angles.”
The FBI is involved, he said.
Audio recording
The Chronicle posted an audio clip on which Denise Huskins says she has been abducted. Her father confirmed the voice on the recording is hers.
In it, she says: “My name is Denise Huskins. I am kidnapped, otherwise I’m fine. Earlier today there was a plane crash in Alps and 158 people died. And one thing that people know about me is that I went to my first concert, me and my mom, to Blink 182 (last word is inaudible):
The editor in chief of the Chronicle, Audrey Cooper, said in a written statement that the newspaper received a link to the audio file in an email.
The Chronicle reported the anonymous email said Huskins would be “returned safely (Wednesday). We will send a link to her location after she has been dropped off. She will be in good health and safe while she waits. Any advance on us or our associates will create a dangerous situation for Denise. Wait until she is recovered and then proceed how you will. We will be ready.”
