Locksmith rescues woman who scrawled ‘911’ on her hand in silent plea for help
A quick-thinking, observant locksmith went above and beyond his lock-changing duties when he saw that his customer had scrawled “911” on her hand and realized she was asking for help.
A locksmith in Midway, Utah, about 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, said there were other, more subtle signs before that of something amiss when he went to the woman’s home for a routine lock change scheduled days before.
“There was a gentleman that was kind of hovering over her, wouldn’t get really more than a foot away from her,” the locksmith, who for safety reasons would identify himself only as Greg, told KSTU-TV.
The man was shadowing the woman, he said, in a very odd manner. When the locksmith came back inside after making the new keys at his truck, he noticed that when it came time to pay, she had to get the phone from the man to access Venmo – another red flag that something was amiss.
“She’s sitting there talking to me about what types of payment I take and everything, and she’s kind of turning, she’s at a little bit of a different angle and she’s holding up her hand kind of like this with her palm open, and she has ’911 1/4 u2032 written on her hand,” the locksmith told the station.
He couldn’t signal from behind his mask, but he did make eye contact to let her know he’d received her message.
After consulting with a friend at the FBI on a course of action, the locksmith called police, who came and arrested Grant Eggertsen, the woman’s ex.
According to a report cited by CNN, the woman had been changing the lock to keep the guy out. Instead he beat the locksmith to the house, entered without her permission and assaulted her as they argued over the fact that she was dating someone new.
Eggertsen was charged with aggravated kidnapping in the course of committing unlawful detention, criminal trespass and assault, CNN reported. At first held without bail, Eggertsen was later released on $5,000 bond, CNN reported.
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