LINCOLNWOOD, Ill. (WGN) – An 80-year-old woman who was being held hostage by an intruder was saved, in part, because she hadn’t texted her daily Wordle score to one of her daughters.
Police in Lincolnwood, Illinois, responded to a well-being check at the woman’s home on Sunday at around 9:40 p.m. after one of the woman’s daughters said she hadn’t heard from her.
“I didn’t send my older daughter a Wordle in the morning. And that was disconcerting to her,” the victim later told WBBM.
When police arrived, they found a broken window on the first floor of the home, and also observed blood. The woman was found in the basement, where she had been held hostage for hours. She was physically unharmed, and police took her to safety.
Police also found a suspect, identified later as 32-year-old James Davis III, armed with multiple knives on the second floor of the home. A SWAT team was called in response and officials used a stun gun on him, but were unsuccessful.
The man continued to refuse to surrender, forcing officials to use “less than lethal options” to apprehend him just before 3 a.m. Monday. He was hospitalized and taken into custody.
Davis was charged with felony home invasion, aggravated kidnapping while armed with a weapon and two counts of aggravated assault against a peace officer.
Police said he was naked when he broke into the woman’s home, and may have been having a mental health crisis. Officials added that Davis, armed with scissors, had demanded the woman’s help. He also took all the phones from the home to keep the 80-year-old from calling the authorities, and placed the woman in the basement, using a chair to secure the door.
Davis and the woman did not know each other, police said.
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