Man With Autism Riding In U-Haul Stolen In Anaheim Found Safe In L.A.

ANAHEIM, CA — A 63-year-old man with autism who was abducted Wednesday when the U-Haul truck he was in was stolen from the Anaheim area was found safe Thursday morning, the Anaheim Police Department said.

Authorities said James Blackwood and the moving truck were found at a motel in the 3000 block of South La Brea Avenue in Baldwin Hills around 8 a.m. Thursday. Blackwood was unharmed and in "good health," Anaheim police said.

Police detained several people found with Blackwood at the motel, but Anaheim officials did not say if the group was arrested in connection with the abduction.

Blackwood and the U-Haul truck had been missing from the Anaheim area since Wednesday afternoon when the truck was reported stolen in the 3100 block of West Lincoln Avenue.

Anaheim police said Blackwood has the "mental age of a 4-year-old" and was sitting inside the truck at the time of the theft.

A person wanted in connection with the theft was described as a thin woman in her 20s with straight, long blond hair and wearing a white bandana over her face. Police did not say if a woman matching that description was among the group detained at the motel.