SEATTLE, Wash. — Seattle police say a cryptic phone call helped them save two teenage girls who’d been kidnapped.
The department says a 14-year-old called 911 around 1:30 Monday morning, pretending to order pizza, and told dispatch she couldn’t speak freely.
Officers say the phone disconnected, but she eventually called back— allowing them to track her to an apartment near the Space Needle.
According to the police report, the girl’s cousin, who is 17, reached out to an acquaintance named ‘Tony’ to get some weed. The report states the girls smoked with him and a friend, but said it made them feel strange and they were worried it contained something else.
While they were driving, the men told the girls to hand over their phones so they could put on music, according to the report. The girls later told police they knew something was wrong because two phones weren’t needed for that to happen.
One of the girls pretended she needed to throw up, hoping the men would stop the car, but the report states that they then showed her their guns and said, “You see this? You want to get popped?”
The girls then used one phone, according to officers, to call 911 and pretend they were ordering food.
When they arrived at their destination, the 14-year-old told police she pretended to take a phone call from her dad and ran away when they weren’t paying attention and dialed 911. On that call, police say she was able to describe the apartment complex, the car, the suspects, and her cousin to help police find them.
When officers arrived at the apartment, security let them in, and they found one of the men with the 17-year-old.
He was arrested with a gun on him.
Officers had the 14-year-old confirm that they had the right man and she said yes, that was the driver.
According to the report, the other man surrendered when police called his phone and instructed him to come out of his apartment.
The pair was booked into the King County Jail.
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