Woman receives word whereas utilizing fuel station restroom… and helps save ‘kidnap sufferer’
A suspected kidnapper has been arrested after a heroic bystander contacted police after the alleged victim bravely slipped her a note in a gas station restroom.
The witness, whose identity has been withheld, made a quick stop at the Cedar Band Travel Plaza near Cedar City, Utah on March 8 when the alleged victim approached her in the facilities.
The woman handed her a scrap of paper that had a handwritten note asking for ‘help’ and contained details about her identity and the suspect’s vehicle.
‘The lady just kind of flung the door open, she handed me the paper and said “please give this to police”,’ the bystander told KSL-TV.
She asked the woman ‘are you in trouble?’, to which the alleged victim replied ‘yes’.
The bystander agreed to help her and then the alleged victim, whom the woman described as ‘shaking’, said: ‘Give this to police I have to go, he’s waiting right outside, he’s right there.’
The woman, pretending to be on her phone, recorded video as the other woman and her alleged kidnapper got into a Chevrolet Equinox. She then followed the car so she could get the license plate number and called 911 to alert police of the situation.
Epigmenio Bustillos Marquez, 53, was arrested during a coordinated traffic stop about 8 miles south of the gas station. He faces multiple charges, including aggravated kidnapping, assault, providing false personal information to a peace officer, and damage or interruption of a communication device.
Epigmenio Bustillos Marquez, 53, was arrested on March 8 during a coordinated traffic stop about 8 miles south of the Cedar Band Travel Plaza near Cedar City, Utah. He is pictured at the gas station in footage captured by a bystander who helped save his alleged kidnapping victim
The alleged victim approached in the gas station restroom and handed her a scrap of paper (pictured) that had a handwritten note asking for ‘help’ and contained details about her identity and the suspect’s vehicle
The bystander agreed to help the woman and spent several minutes watching Marquez and the alleged victim inside the gas station. She says got a hot dog and drink, (pictured) before getting into a white Chevrolet Equinox with the alleged victim
The bystander was travelling home from a softball tournament when she stopped at the gas station in Cedar City, roughly 170 miles north of Las Vegas, on March 8.
She said she knew the alleged victim was in ‘trouble’ from the ‘second that she handed me the paper that said, “Help me, call police”,’ while the pair were in the bathroom.
‘I think she was really terrified that he was going to peek in and he would have seen us,’ she recalled in an interview with Fox 13 Now.
The witness rushed to help the woman, spending about five minutes watching the woman and Marquez inside the gas station.
Marquez, who got a hot dog and drink, then got into a white Chevrolet Equinox with the alleged victim.
The bystander, who had secretly recorded the interaction of her cell phone, then got into her car and followed the pair as they drove along northbound on Interstate 15.
She called 911 as soon as she managed to get the plat number of the SUV, which was registered in Nevada. She remained on the phone with police as she continued her pursuit.
‘I wasn’t panicked or anything. I was just like, “I’m not gonna let this lady not be helped”,’ she said.
The woman, pretending to be on her phone, recorded video as the other woman and her alleged kidnapper got into a Chevrolet Equinox. She then followed the car so she could get the license plate number and called 911 to alert police of the situation
Pictured is the back of the woman’s note, which stated that Marquez was taking her to Salt Lake City, Utah, located roughly 250 miles north of the gas station in Cedar City
A deputy with the Iron County Sheriff’s Office located Marquez’s vehicle just before 1.30pm and orchestrated a traffic stop to pull him over, approaching the SUV from the passenger’s side.
Marquez provided the officer with a fake ID, claiming to be a man from Durango, Mexico, according to court documents obtained by Fox 13. Investigators later found a second Mexican ID which revealed his true identity.
The officer reported that the alleged victim was ‘not behaving normally’ as they spoke and asked her to exit the vehicle.
She later told police that she and Marquez had been in a relationship for 25 years, but his behavior had recently become erratic.
The alleged victim claimed that Marquez was supposed to be driving her to a hotel in Las Vegas where she worked, but when he picked her up he accused her of cheating on him.
She alleges that he then threatened to take her to Salt Lake City or Denver and refused to let her out of the vehicle. She further claimed that Marquez hit her in the face and stole her phone so she couldn’t contact anyone for help.
Marquez is being held without bail in the Iron County Jail.
