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Kidnapped Woman Makes Daring Call that Saved Her Life

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An Ohio woman being held hostage made a whispered call to 911 while her captor slept in the same room. The call saved her life.

Moments later, Ashland police burst into the abandoned house where she was being held. They arrested her captor Shawn Grate and discovered two bodies in the home, owned by Pump House Ministries.

Bruce Wilkinson, pastor and director of the ministry, said the house has been unoccupied since March and was padlocked and checked weekly.

The woman spoke with a 911 dispatcher for 20 minutes, using Grate's phone while he slept. She told the operator "I've been abducted" and begged "please hurry."

She said that Grate had tied her up but that she was able to partially free herself. She also explained that he had a stun gun.

Grate took investigators to a third person's remains at a property near Mansfield in neighboring Richland County.

He remains jailed on an abduction charge. Records show that Grate is homeless, has a long criminal record, and served time on a burglery charge in 1997.

ABC News offers the following tips from retired NYPD detective sergeant and negotiator Wallace Zeins for anyone held hostage:

  1. Remain calm. Speak slowly, softly and clearly to the hostage-taker.
  2. Be observant. Details about your captor and your surroundings can help you make decisions that will lead to your survival.
  3. Tell the hostage-taker if you need vital medications. He doesn't want a sick hostage and is more likely to release those with medical issues.
  4. Don't try and escape or be a hero. Zeins says you shouldn't try and take the hostage-taker out. It's as much in his interest as it is yours to keep the situation non-violent.

In a related story, Charity Gibson tells the 700 Club how she was able to forgive her captors after being kidnapped. Watch here:

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About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim