A Florida woman who said she had been held captive for several months was rescued last week after a sandwich shop worker found the crumpled note she left behind begging for help.
Santa Rosa County sheriff’s deputies were called to a Jersey Mike’s Subs in Navarre, about 66 miles west of Panama City Beach, on May 27 after a suspicious note was found in the bathroom.
The note was written by a woman who said she was being held against her will at a nearby home and feared for her life, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Employee Eleanor Coffee told WEAR-TV of Pensacola that she found the note in the store’s bathroom.
“There was this little piece of crumpled-up paper that was shoved next to our toilet paper dispenser,” she said.
Coffee said she opened up the paper and saw the alarming note.
“She was like, please help me, I’m at this address in Navarre, I need you to call the police and do a wellness check,” Coffee told the station.
She told her manager, and they called 911. Coffee could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
The woman left her name and address on the note, the sheriff’s office told WEAR.
Deputies used security video, former case records and witness interviews to identify Jordan Williams as a suspect. The sheriff’s office said in its news release that Williams, 34, and the unidentified victim “have a documented history with our agency of domestic violence incidents.”
A search warrant was executed at Williams’ listed address, where deputies found the victim. The woman told police that she had been abused, assaulted, threatened with a weapon and “held in isolation by Williams for a span of several months,” the news release says.
The woman had visible injuries, authorities said, and she was taken to the hospital for treatment of suspected broken bones and other trauma.
Williams was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, battery and battery by strangulation. He was booked into the county jail. It’s not clear whether he has an attorney.
