Kidnapped Woman Rescued by a Pizza Delivery

When a pizza delivery man drove 30 miles out of his way to deliver an order, he was probably hoping for a big tip—but he became a hero instead.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on June 01 2009

Photo Credit: Jon Sullivan

Last Tuesday, pizza delivery driver Chris Turner received a phone call from a customer who wanted him to deliver a pizza to a small cabin in the Tennessee mountains, 30 miles away from his shop. Normally, Turner wouldn’t have made a delivery so far from his normal route, but for some reason, he decided to make an exception.

It’s a good thing Turner made that trip. Though he may have hoped for a good tip, he got something much better: the opportunity to save a woman’s life.

When Turner showed up at the cabin, a man came to the door and paid for his purchase by credit card. When the man was looking down to sign his receipt, Turner noticed something very strange.

Turner saw “[a] young lady pop over the back of the couch with her hands bound together.” She “was mouthing to me ‘please call 9-1-1,’ quite a few times,” he told WBIR.

Turner played it cool while completing the delivery, and told the abductor to have a nice day. As soon as he was away from the house, he called the police from his cell phone.

According to the police, their investigation suggests that the woman had been abducted while jogging in her Atlanta neighborhood, and had been sexually assaulted by the man. She was being held captive when Turner came across the scene.

Thanks to Turner’s quick work, police were able to rescue the kidnapped woman and arrest the captor. The woman and her husband have since stopped by the pizza place where Turner works to thank him personally.

“She was just thanking me ... for trusting her,” Turner told the Associated Press. “She said he was going to kill her ... after he got done with her.”

It was just luck that Turner was willing to make that fateful delivery—but after that experience, we’re betting that if he gets another out-of-the-way delivery request, he won’t hesitate to make the trip. What’s a little bit of extra mileage when you might be saving a life?

Update: Since our publication of this story, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has revealed that the woman in question has a history of filing false assault reports, so all may not be as it seemed. No matter what the case may be, though, we still commend Chris Turner for his brave response based on the evidence available to him at the time!

Filed under: General Interest, Heroes,

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