Denise Huskins, who police said went missing in Vallejo, California, has been found safe, her father, Michael Huskins, said Wednesday.
Vallejo Police Lt. Kenny Park told reporters that Huntington Police relayed to Vallejo Police that she had been found. A press conference is scheduled for 6 p.m. local time.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that Michael Huskins told the newspaper in a telephone interview that he received a voice mail from his daughter Wednesday morning saying she had been dropped off at his home in Huntington Beach.
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.”
Denise Huskins vanished from her boyfriend’s home in the Bay Area on early Monday morning, authorities said, and kidnappers had asked for a ransom.
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.”
The boyfriend was not a suspect in the case, Park said earlier. He declined at that time to comment on the relationship between the two or the amount of ransom demanded.
Michael Huskins said the couple works as physical therapists at a hospital and had been dating for seven months.
Dozens of people searched for Denise Huskins in nearby woods and on Mare Island, which is part of Vallejo.
The San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday afternoon received information from someone claiming to be the kidnapper, said editor-in-chief Audrey Cooper.
“The Chronicle’s No. 1 priority is to get Ms. Huskins back with her family as soon as possible,” Cooper said. “Insofar as it helps ensure Ms. Huskins’ safety, we wish to keep that line of communication open, which is why, at this time, we will not release any additional information about the nature of the communication.”
