LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man in a wig pretending to be a rideshare driver kidnapped a woman in Arizona and stayed at Lake Mead on the way to Las Vegas before being captured, law enforcement officials said.
According to a post from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, a law enforcement agency based in Prescott, Arizona, the woman was abducted from a car dealership in the Phoenix, Arizona area. While at a gas station in Seligman, Arizona on Tuesday, the unidentified woman passed a note to another customer that disclosed her name and asked the customer to call 911, saying that she had been kidnapped.
Included in the note was a description of the van she was in, a phone number, and the information that they were headed toward Kingman, Arizona, and Las Vegas.
The customer called law enforcement and relayed the details, along with the direction the van was headed and information on the appearance of the woman who had been abducted, and the man she was with.
The van was found, and the woman was rescued. The suspect, identified as Jacob Wilhoit, 41, was detained without incident.
According to investigators, Wilhoit had abducted the victim on Monday by pretending to be an Uber driver and wearing a wig. He had restrained her on their way to Las Vegas, and they had spent a night at Lake Mead, officials said.
Law enforcement officials said they found multiple firearms in Wilhoit’s vehicle. He was booked on charges of harassment, threatening and intimidating, aggravated assault, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, and other assault charges.
