Woman IDs Kidnapper as Disguised Ex-Housekeeper

A woman in California fought off a would-be kidnapper hiding in her car—and identified the assailant as her former housekeeper in a wig, say police in Riverside County. The strange sequence of events:

• Erin Quinn of Temecula received a text on Dec. 18 asking her to pick up toys for a charity drive from a person claiming to be an elderly woman, reports the Los Angeles Times. When she arrived and knocked on the door, nobody answered.
• While Quinn was knocking on the door, the assailant snuck into her unlocked car and hid in the backseat, reports KABC. When Quinn got back in the vehicle, "someone grabs my hair and starts Tasing me on the side of the head," Quinn tells the outlet.

• The assailant then made Quinn drive, threatening to go after her family, reports KTLA. Quinn says she tried to get bystanders' attention by honking and screaming. "Nobody's doing anything, so I start driving [again] and as I'm driving, [the assailant] is Tasering me and pulling my hair and it caused me to crash my car," she says.
• The women fought when the car stopped, and Quinn tells the outlets that she pulled off her assailant's wig to recognize Olga Mendez, a housekeeper who worked for her four years ago. She says they parted on good terms. In their scuffle, Quinn says she bit off the tip of one of her would-be kidnapper's fingers in a panic. The assailant fled.
• The Riverside County Sheriff's Department arrested Mendez 10 days later and have charged her with kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal threats. A friend of Quinn's has set up a GoFundMe page to help her pay for medical bills and damage to her vehicle.

(More kidnapping stories.)