Utah Locksmith Thwarted Alleged Kidnapping After Seeing Woman Wrote ‘911’ On Her Hand

A locksmith, who unknowingly stumbled upon a woman being held against her will, saw “911” scribbled on her hand and called authorities, leading to her alleged captor’s arrest. 

Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office was tipped off to the alleged kidnapping after a locksmith, who only identified himself as “Greg,” reported the strange scenario after completing a job in Midway, Utah last Friday, CNN reported.  

Greg told authorities he was hired to change the locks on the front door but after he handed the woman her invoice, she motioned to her open palm, where the numbers “911” were jotted. 

"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' written on her hand," he told Salt Lake City television station KSTU. 

The locksmith claimed there was another man present in the home while he attended to her front door. The man, according to an incident report obtained by CNN, "acted suspiciously, staying close to the female and only allowing her to have her phone with his permission." 

"So obviously, that drew some attention from me. But I was wearing a mask, so I couldn't mouth anything to her or anything," Greg explained.

The woman allegedly showed the locksmith her hand twice.

"That kind of was another little red flag," he said. "She's showing me the '911' again, kind of making sure that I saw it. And I made eye contact with her, to basically let her know that yeah, I saw it.”

The man confirmed he didn’t know the two individuals, according to CNN.

When deputies arrived, they arrested Grant Eggertsen, the woman’s suspected captor. He was booked on aggravated kidnapping, criminal trespass, and assault charges. 

"The lady was pretty smart to be able to do what she did," Greg told KSTU. "And so, it's not like I was trying to guess what was really going on. She gave me some great clues that there was an issue there."

Eggertsen, who allegedly entered the woman’s home on Oct. 1 without her permission, used to date the victim, law enforcement said. Once inside, he allegedly confronted her about dating someone else, became upset, took her phone, assaulted her, and later refused to leave.

The woman told law enforcement she had arranged for the locksmith to come to her home before the incident occurred because she had wanted to keep Eggertsen from entering her house, according to the sheriff’s report. 

When reached by phone on Friday, Eggertsen’s attorney, Cliff Venable, declined to speak about the case.

“I don’t have a comment at this time,” he told Oxygen.com.

Eggertsen was released after posting a $5,000 bond, his lawyer confirmed. He’s scheduled in court on Oct. 28.