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California woman says she escaped kidnapper near Butte

Man possibly headed to Bozeman, police say
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BUTTE - Police in Butte are investigating a possible kidnapping case coming out of Rocker.

About 10 p.m. Monday, a woman was at the Flying J Truck Stop, claiming she had just escaped from a man who had offered her a ride just two days earlier in her hometown of Ventura, Calif.

She claimed the man wouldn't let her leave his van as he drove to Montana.

It was only when he stopped to get gas at the Rocker truck stop just west of Butte that she ran from the vehicle and got help from a customer in the parking lot.

“We did respond out there, by the time we got out there the blue van was gone. The male was asking information on how to get to Bozeman, so he may have traveled that way, so we put an attempt to locate on a blue van with a broken rear window and it has 13-county plates,” said Butte Undersheriff George Skuletich.

The suspect is a white male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 145 pounds, balding with a gray beard.

Anyone with information is asked to call Butte Law Enforcement at 497-1120.