PORT ANGELES — Police said that a quick-thinking Port Angeles woman kept them informed of her location and situation without her captor’s knowledge as she was driven into Olympic National Park on Saturday.
Port Angeles police said William Reitz, 35, kidnapped a woman, whom he knew, at knife-point and drove her into the park.
He has been taken into custody at the Clallam County jail on investigation of first-degree kidnapping; felony harassment, domestic; second-degree assault and assault in violation of a court order.
The woman used her cell phone to call 9-1-1 at about 1:14 p.m., and left the line open for dispatchers to hear what was happening in the car, interim Chief Brian Smith said.
The dispatcher could hear a woman’s voice repeatedly begging a person to put the knife down and let her out of the vehicle, while a man screamed that she was dead and that he was going to kill her, Smith said.
A woman’s voice could be heard mentioning that they were in a Jeep, he said.
Smith said the dispatcher provided responding law enforcement officers from the Port Angeles Police Department, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and Olympic National Park with location updates from the connection with the cell phone.
When the line suddenly disconnected, officers conducted a search of the area, he said.
He said officers located the Jeep, with Reitz and the woman inside, on Little River Road, about halfway between Lake Dawn and Black Diamond Roads.
Smith said officers recovered a knife, and the woman was taken to the Olympic Memorial Center for evaluation.
