One of her daughters became concerned that her mother was not reading her lessons or updating her about Wordle, which caused her to call the police.
Police rescue an 80-year-old suburban Chicago woman who was held hostage for nearly 21 hours because she couldn’t text her daily Wordle score during an exam to one of her daughters.
Denise Holt and her eldest daughter, Meredith Holt-Caldwell, told reporters that Holt woke up at their Lincolnwood home at about 1 a.m. on Sunday at the sight of a bloody and naked man armed with scissors.
Ms Holt said the man threatened to kill her. Finally, after grabbing two knives from the kitchen, Ms. Holt said the man took her to a bathroom in the basement, using a chair to lock her inside for the next 17 hours.
“I was trying to survive, that’s all,” Ms Holt told WBBM-TV.
During that time, she could not communicate with the outside world or update her daughter as she usually does about her scores on the popular online word game. And Ms. Holt-Caldwell, who lives in Seattle, became concerned that her mom wasn’t reading her texts or updating her about Wordle.
“I’m across the country and I noticed it,” Holt-Caldwell said.
Holt-Caldwell asked Lincolnwood Police to conduct a health check and they rescued her mother from the bathroom. Police said officers arrested 32-year-old James H. Davis III was found armed with knives in an upstairs bedroom and arrested, when the SWAT team responded and used stun guns to subdue him, police said.
“She’s wonderful,” said Holt-Caldwell. Chicago Tribune of his mother. “She really doesn’t know how she was able to stay that calm.” Davis was taken to the Cook County Jail, where he remained in custody on Friday. The Chicago man faces serious charges of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, aggravated kidnapping while armed with a dangerous weapon, and aggravated assault against a peace officer.
The state attorney’s office said Davis is represented by the public defender’s office in Skokie, but there was no response at the office Friday.
,