Terrified Kidnapping Victim Saved By RivCo 911 Dispatcher

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A Riverside County 911 dispatcher was recently honored for her quick thinking that saved the life of a terrified kidnapping victim who was beaten, thrown inside a vehicle trunk, and driven more than 150 miles in darkness.

Meghan Gonzalez, a communications officer with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, got the fraught call shortly after 9 p.m. May 2.

There was no response from the caller, but Gonzalez could hear sounds in the background — dinging from a car door, a voice in the distance.

She listened for nearly 3 minutes, advising the caller to push any phone button to signify help was needed.

Nothing.

Gonzalez intuitively knew the caller was in trouble but was afraid to talk. The dispatcher sent a text message to the victim using the law enforcement agency's RapidDeploy Radius Mapping tool, which includes a text-from-911 feature.

Is there an emergency? Gonzalez wrote to the victim.

"YES" was the text reply.

Using GPS coordinates gleaned from the 911 call, Gonzalez immediately summoned a deputy response. She then continued communicating with the victim via text.

The victim wrote that she had been beaten and kidnapped from Blythe. She was naked, trapped in a trunk. She provided a vehicle description along with the suspect’s identity but had no idea where she was being driven to.

Gonzalez was tracking the suspect's travel via the RapidDeploy mapping tool, which provides an interactive display so dispatchers can identify a caller’s exact location.

The victim and her kidnapper were heading west through the desert.

The information was relayed to deputies in pursuit. Finally, after what must have seemed like an eternity to the victim, deputies caught up with the suspect in Moreno Valley. He was arrested.

The victim was pulled from the trunk and taken to safety.

Gonzalez is credited with saving her life. Earlier this month, the dispatcher was honored with the RapidDeploy "Superstar" award, which acknowledges those who made a lifesaving impact using RapidDeploy technology.

"We want to congratulate Meghan on her outstanding work that ensured this frightening ordeal had a positive outcome and a life was saved," the sheriff's department said in a released statement.

Further information about the suspect and victim was not released.