A suspected abductor was arrested after a heroic bystander had contacted the police after the supposed victim had bravely put her a note to a gas station toilet.
The witness, whose identity has been withheld, quickly stopped at the Cedar Band Travel Plaza near Cedar City, Utah on March 8 when the supposed victim approached her in the facilities.
The woman handed her a piece of paper with a handwritten memorandum asking for 'help' and contained details about her identity and the vehicle of the suspect.
“The lady just opened the door, she gave me the newspaper and said,” please give this to the police, “the bystander told KSL TV.
She asked the woman “are you in trouble?”, To which the supposed victim answered “yes”.
The bystander agreed to help her and then the supposed victim, who described the woman as “shaking,” said, “Give this to the police that I should go, he is waiting outside immediately, he is there.”
The woman, who pretended to be on her phone, recorded video as the other woman and her alleged abductor in a Chevrolet Equinox. She then followed the car so that she could get the license plate and called 911 to warn the police about the situation.
Epigmenio Bustillos Marquez, 53, was arrested during a coordinated traffic stop about 8 miles south of the gas station. He is confronted with multiple charges, including worsened kidnapping, abuse, providing false personal information to a peace officer and damage or interruption of a communication device.
Epigmenio Bustillos Marquez, 53, was arrested on 8 March during a coordinated traffic stop about 8 miles south of the Cedar Band Travel Plaza near Cedar City, Utah. He was depicted at the gas station in images taken prisoner by a bystander who helped save his alleged kidnapping victim
The supposed victim approached the toilet station in the toilet and handed her a piece of paper (photo) with a handwritten note to ask 'help' and to contain details about her identity and the suspect's vehicle
The bystander agreed to help the woman and spent a few minutes looking at Marquez and the alleged victim in the gas station. She says I have a hot dog and drink (photo) before you go with the alleged victim in a white Chevrolet Equinox
The bystander traveled home from a softball tournament when she stopped on March 8 at the gas station in Cedar City, about 170 miles north of Las Vegas.
She said she knew that the alleged victim was in 'problems' from the 'second that she gave me the newspaper that said,' Help me, call the police ',' while the couple was in the bathroom.
“I think she was really terrified that he would peek and he would have seen us,” she now remembered an interview with Fox 13.
The witness hurried to help the woman and spent about five minutes watching the woman and Marquez in the gas station.
Marquez, who received a hot dog and drink, then came in a white Chevrolet Equinox with the alleged victim.
The bystander, who had secretly recorded the interaction of her mobile phone, then got into her car and followed the couple as she drove along the interstate 15 along a northerly direction.
She called 911 as soon as she succeeded in getting the flat number of the SUV, which was registered in Nevada. She stayed on the phone with the police while she continued her pursuit.
“I wasn't in panic or anything. I had something like that: “I don't let this lady be helped,” she said.
The woman, who pretended to be on her phone, recorded video as the other woman and her alleged abductor in a Chevrolet Equinox. She then followed the car so that she could get the license plate and called 911 to warn the police about the situation
Depicted is the back of the woman's note, stating that Marquez brought her to Salt Lake City, Utah, about 250 miles north of the gas station in Cedar City
A substitute at the Sheriff's Office of the Iron County was just before 1.30 pm and orchestrated a traffic stop to cross it and approached the SUV of the passenger side.
Marquez offered the officer a fake ID and claimed to be a man from Durango, Mexico, according to judicial documents obtained by Fox 13. Researchers later found a second Mexican ID who revealed his true identity.
The officer reported that the supposed victim 'normally did not behave' while they spoke and asked her to leave the vehicle.
Later she told the police that she and Marquez had had a relationship for 25 years, but his behavior had recently become irregular.
The alleged victim claimed that Marquez had to drive her to a hotel in Las Vegas where she worked, but when he picked her up, he accused her of cheating him.
She claims that he then threatened to take her to Salt Lake City of Denver and refused to leave her out of the vehicle. She further claimed that Marquez hit her in the face and stole her phone so that she could not make contact with someone for help.
Marquez is held in the prison of Iron County without bail.
