A woman was saved from an alleged kidnapper thanks to a quick toilet break at a gas station.
Cops arrested 53-year-old Epigmenio Bustillos Marquez earlier this month, and have since charged him with aggravated kidnapping, providing false personal information to a police officer, assault, as well as the 'damage or interruption of a communication device'.
It was all thanks to the quick-thinking of a bystander who bumped into his alleged distressed victim, who had written and slipped her a terrifying note detailing the ordeal, while at a Cedar City gas station, in Utah.
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The anonymous woman told KSL-TV: "We were just on our way home from St. George and pulled over at that gas station, and I just went in to use the restroom. When I came out, the lady just kind of flung the door open.
"She handed me the paper and said, 'please give this to police.'”
The note read: "Help [alongside the victim's name that has been blacked out to protect her anonymity]. Equinox 2017 white.
"My number [blacked out again]. He have my phone give to police."
The bystander continued: "I said, ‘are you in trouble?’, and she said, ‘yes', and I said, 'ok I’ll help you'.
"Then she said, ‘give this to police I have to go, he’s waiting right outside, he’s right there’ and she was like shaking.”
Instead of rushing off, the alert civilian opted to watch her with her alleged captor for around five minutes inside the gas station, and saw how he bought a hot dog and a drink.
The sharp witness then pretended to be on her phone, while she videoed the alleged kidnapper, before watching the pair get into his white Chevrolet Equinox, 2017 plate.
She then called the cops and reported the incident, following the vehicle where she told them its license plate as well as their direction of travel - northbound on Interstate 15.
Marquez was arrested eight miles down the road from the gas station, in what was a co-ordinated traffic stop - with the bystander traveling ahead to make sure the victim was safe.
They added: "I was just more worried like ‘What if she panics and says ‘I’m fine,’ — I just wanted to make sure the cops like … don’t let her go back with him, no matter what she says,” the bystander said.
According to KSL-TV, a deputy was told by the woman that she had been in a 25-year relationship with her alleged captive, who of late had been acting erratic, and on the morning of that day she was accused of cheating on him.
Topics: Crime, Police, US News, Sex and Relationships
Joe Yates