Short Rescue Note Saves Woman From Potential Abduction

A mountainous road in China. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A woman’s rescue note saved her from being potentially abducted by her travel companion. Workers at a rest stop in China’s southern province of Guangzhou got hold of the note and came up with a clever plan to distract the woman’s captor until the police arrived at the scene, according to the Guangzhou Daily.

Authorities said the two were driving together on May 6, but after a disagreement in the car, the man forcefully took the woman’s cellphone and wallet, including her ID card and even money.

The police took both individuals to the local station in Zijin County for further questioning.

The woman and the driver were unidentified in the report.

A Note, a Plea for Help

After questioning the man and woman involved, police found that the two were mutual friends, and had planned a trip to the neighboring eastern province of Fujian.

However, some time during the trip, the two got into an argument. The woman wanted to cancel the trip, but the man’s emotions took over.

In a fit of anger, he stole her personal possessions, and took her captive in his car. He also told her that if she attempted to escape, he wouldn’t let her go, according to the Guangzhou News.

The woman was afraid to shout out for help. Instead, while the two stopped at a restaurant, the woman wrote a S.O.S note, which simply said “call this number, save me” with the phone number written after it. Below, it once more wrote “save me,” with two characters, possibly her name, censored by Chinese media.

However, she held onto the note until they arrived at a rest stop. When they got there, the man only allowed her to use the restroom. This is when she sent out her distress message.

The Workers’ Ploy

A female custodian who happened to be cleaning the woman’s restroom was the recipient of the note. At the time, the woman passed it off without a word and walked back to the car. The custodian, named Xie Guihua, opened it and found the desperate plea at about 9:30 in the morning.

Xie told two of her managers. The traffic coordinator, named Huang Liuzhi, contacted the police. He also contacted the rest stop manager, named Huang Conghui, to verify what car the woman got into.

They then coordinated a plan to keep the driver around as long as possible.

Conghui strolled around the parking lot, and found the woman and the driver still in the car. Then Conghui struck up a conversation with the driver to get his attention, and lied about one of the tires leaking air.

While the two got out and checked the tire, Liuzhi began a conversation with the woman. He slowly began leading her away from the car, while Conghui and the man inspected the tire.

By this time, the man may have caught on, and said that the two had urgent things to attend to. He yelled at the woman to get back into the car.

Conghui quickly came up with another lie and told the driver that there was a car crash on the highway up ahead, according to the Guangzhou News. He said the police had blocked off the roads, and it was futile for the driver to continue the journey.

The police then arrived at the scene after 30 minutes of getting the initial call. They began their interrogation, and took both individuals to the local police station for further questioning.

The woman reportedly thanked the three rest stop employees before she left with the police.

No further reports were given about the incident.