A woman escaped an alleged kidnapping attempt by discreetly passing a desperate SOS note to a stranger in a gas station restroom.
God works in amazing ways. He puts people in our path right when we need them most. When we face danger, He often sends help through kind strangers who listen to that quiet voice inside telling them to act.
This story shows how one person at a gas station became the answer to another’s desperate prayer.
On Saturday, March 8, a stop at the Cedar Band Travel Plaza near Cedar City, Utah, became the turning point in what could have been a tragic kidnapping.
While her alleged captor waited outside, the woman handed a note to another woman in the restroom that read “Help me, call police,” along with her phone number.
“I could just tell from the second that she handed me the paper that said, ‘Help me, call police,’ I knew that she was in trouble,” the bystander told FOX 13 News. “I think she was really terrified that he was going to peek in and he would have seen us.”
The bystander, who was returning home from a softball tournament with her family, quickly understood the danger. When she asked if the woman needed help, the victim confirmed she was in trouble.
“I said ‘Are you in trouble?’ and she said ‘Yes,’ and I said ‘Ok I’ll help you,'” the bystander said. “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.”
The Good Samaritan spent about five minutes watching the suspect and victim inside the gas station. She pretended to be on her phone while secretly recording Epigmenio Bustillos Marquez, 53, as he bought a hot dog and a drink. When they left in a white Chevrolet Equinox with Nevada plates, she followed them onto Interstate 15.
“I wasn’t panicked or anything. I was just like, ‘I’m not gonna let this lady not be helped,'” she explained. She called 911 after seeing the license plate and stayed on the phone with dispatch while following the vehicle.
Around 1:30 p.m., Iron County Sheriff’s deputies found the SUV near milepost 60 and pulled it over. The deputy noticed the woman was “not behaving normally” and asked her to get out of the vehicle.
The bystander pulled over a quarter mile ahead and waited with her children to make sure the victim wouldn’t be sent back with her captor. “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,” she said.
When questioned, Marquez showed a false ID card from Durango, Mexico. A search of his wallet found his real Mexican ID, though he kept denying his true identity even when shown the evidence.
The victim told officers she had been in a 25-year relationship with Marquez but had noticed recent changes in his behavior. That morning, she had asked him to drive her to work in Las Vegas. Instead, Marquez accused her of cheating and said he was driving to Salt Lake City or Denver.
When she asked to get out of the car, Marquez threatened that she would die if she tried to leave because of their speed. He took her phone so she couldn’t call for help and hit her in the mouth with the back of his hand, “causing lasting pain to her face and jaw,” according to court documents.
The victim also told officers that Marquez was “likely in America illegally and has crossed the border multiple times,” so authorities recommended he be held without bail as a flight risk.
Marquez now faces charges including aggravated kidnapping (a first-degree felony), assault, providing false information to police, damage to a communication device, prohibited use of ID card, and driving without a license.
When we see someone in trouble, may we find the strength to step up rather than look away. It might be our simple response that saves a life.
Let’s pray for victims of domestic violence, asking God for their protection and healing.
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