Quick-Thinking Locksmith Helps Trapped Woman Escape From Violent Kidnapper

A locksmith managed to quickly call the police and save a woman from kidnapping thanks to the woman's quick thinking -- and his equally swift reaction.

S.O.S.

Locksmith Greg, who preferred to keep his last name private, was called to change a front door lock in the town of Midway, 45 miles southeast of Utah, when something strange happened.

As he was doing the work, he noticed a man "shadowing" over the woman who'd called for the appointment.

"There was a gentleman that was kind of hovering over her, wouldn't get really more than a foot away from her," he told Fox 13.

When it came time to pay, the woman seemed to stall and then showed Greg a sign.

"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," Greg recalled.

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

Another strange sign was when Greg noticed how the woman had to ask the man for her phone to pay via Venmo.

"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."

She'd been kidnapped by an ex

So Greg left and called his friend at the FBI to ask what to do before calling the local police department.

"I would have been second-guessing myself if I didn't do anything," said Greg.

The Wasatch County Sheriff's Office arrived and arrested Grant Nielsen Eggertsen who was charged with kidnapping.

Court documents showed that Eggertsen was an ex-partner of the woman and upset when he learned she was dating someone else. Because he had a key to the house, the woman wanted to change the locks, but it was too late.

Once inside, Eggertsen allegedly assaulted her, stole her phone so she couldn't call for help, and even made threats to burn down the house.

"The lady was pretty smart to be able to do what she did," Greg said of the woman's 911 signal.

"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."

Greg added that he's happy how things turned out.

"When found out that he had been arrested, charged and stuff, I was kind of like, 'Okay, good. Good. That's good,'" he said.

"I'm glad that the woman is safe and that nothing bad happened."

Be mindful of when others need help

We never know when someone else needs help, be it from violence, or for mental health struggles. All we can do is be perceptive, like Greg the locksmith, and watch for signs that something might be wrong.

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