EL CAJON, Calif. " A 75-year-old woman who was bound and gagged in the back of her station wagon for two days without food or water was rescued Wednesday after police pulled over her alleged kidnappers for speeding, authorities said.
The woman was kidnapped Monday from her La Mesa home and was severely beaten while in captivity, said San Diego County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Varnau.
Police pulled her car over early Wednesday and found the woman inside after opening the back hatch. Varnau said the woman was hospitalized and in good spirits.
Three people were arrested for allegedly kidnapping the woman, beating her and stealing credit cards from her home.
"She was in fear for her life the entire two days," Varnau said.
The woman told deputies one of her kidnappers was a salesman from a carpet company who sold her a $2,000 vacuum. She said he came back later, choked her until she passed out, tied her hands and feet and gagged her mouth with duct tape.
When she woke up she was in the back of her car, Varnau said.
The woman chewed through the duct tape and yelled for help when the car was parked at a gas station, but no one heard her, Varnau said.
A man and woman then beat and punched her in the face several times, Varnau said. When police found her, she had two black eyes and her face was swollen.
Authorities arrested Luis Osborne and Antoinette Baker, both 18 and from El Cajon, and Jeffrey Nelson, 19, of Lakeside, said Lt. Dennis Brugos.
Brugos said a shovel also was found in the car and "she may have been on the way to her death."
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, www.signonsandiego.com
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