Victim's Note Left at Utah Gas Station Results in Arrest of Kidnapping Suspect

The victim left a note in a gas station restroom, leading to the arrest of a Michigan man last Thursday in central Utah on suspicion of kidnapping, according to the probable cause statement.

One count of kidnapping, a second-degree felony, and many misdemeanor charges, such as violating a protection order and providing false personal information to a peace officer, are all being pursued against 38-year-old Richard Lyneal Phillips.

A tip regarding a potential kidnapping was sent to Utah Highway Patrol troopers on June 20 by someone who discovered a letter in a petrol station restroom.

Documents show that the note contained the victim’s phone number and a statement stating that she was being detained against her will.

Police found Phillips and the female victim after following a phone to Green River in Emery County. According to the documents, Phillips gave the wrong name and the center console contained a “marijuana cigarette.”

Before the guy was shackled and taken into custody, there was a “brief stand-off” during which a deputy used a taser on him. According to the documents, the victim was “very emotional and scared at this time.”

Phillips and the female victim were interrogated by the State Bureau of Investigation. She claimed to have told them that she had been physically abused multiple times while being detained against her will.

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She had physical markings that supported the allegations of assault, according to the report from the authorities.

The victim and Phillips were the subject of an active protection order, according to investigators. Additionally, they claimed to have discovered multiple Ohio warrants connected to Phillips for assault, strangling, robbery, and narcotics possession. According to the documents, there was also a Michigan warrant for drug possession and strangling.

According to what the woman told authorities, Phillips asked that she drive him to Colorado when he approached her in Michigan.

She claimed that she had to take him to multiple states since she knew he was evading the law and tried to get in touch with the authorities at the motels they stayed at.

The victim stated in the probable cause statement that Phillips would leave the area in the car with all of her possessions and return once the cops had departed.

She made these efforts, and then she left the letter in the restroom, which helped the police locate them.

According to the documents, she informed the investigators that she had called the police thirty-two times since November because Phillips had been coming to her house and abusing her and her kids. She added that just two times could the cops find him.

Phillips was registered at the jail in Emery County.

Reference

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