Denise Huskins, who police said this week went missing in Vallejo, California, has been found safe, her father, Michael Huskins said Wednesday.
She had vanished from her boyfriend’s home in the Bay Area on early Monday morning, authorities said, and kidnappers had asked for a ransom.
Earlier, the father, 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.” Michael Huskins.
“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 is not a suspect in the case, said Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park, who declined to comment on the relationship between the two or the amount of ransom demanded.
Mike Huskins said the couple work as physical therapists at a hospital and had been dating for seven months.
Dozens of people searched for her in nearby woods and on Mare Island.
On Tuesday, search teams focused on the Mare Island waterfront, where a mass consistent with the size of an adult body might have been submerged, said Capt. James O’Connell in a statement.
Dive teams were deployed, but the underwater search yielded nothing, O’Connell said Wednesday. Mare Island is part of Vallejo.
Tuesday afternoon, the San Francisco Chronicle 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.”