News Story - Idaho State Journal

A message scrawled inside a public campground rest room in Northern Utah by a possible kidnap victim put authorities on alert Monday and resulted in the arrest of an Idaho Falls man on unrelated charges.

An attempt to locate welfare check was sent out at 1:45 a.m. to regional law enforcement by the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office after finding the note, ostensibly written by an adult female at a campground near Mantua, a tiny community approximately 5 miles east of Brigham City.

According to an Idaho State Police press release, the message made reference to a vehicle license plate that was a close match of a vehicle located at an Idaho Falls residence by an ISP trooper. Contact was made with Todd L. Taylor at the residence. The report said Taylor "became belligerent and non-compliant" during the interview.

A search warrant was obtained and executed in the early morning hours at Taylor's residence. No evidence was found indicating a kidnap victim had been held at the residence. Taylor was arrested for possession of a stolen firearm, drug possession and possession of paraphernalia.

Utah authorities have received no additional information that confirms a kidnapping or indicates the message was a hoax.

"We have no reports in the state of Utah of any missing people or people being kidnapped," Box Elder Sheriff Lynn Yeates said Tuesday.

The investigation is still ongoing in both Utah and Idaho. Citizens are asked to watch for vehicle with a license plate number of 8B4231 OR 8B4Z31. This alphanumeric sequence is consistent with Idaho license plates but could be displayed on a vehicle bearing any state license plate. If you have any information, please call the Idaho State Police at (208) 525-7277 or *ISP on your cell phone.

This document was originally published online on Tuesday, August 26, 2008

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