A California volunteer has revealed her ‘living nightmare’ after she was kidnapped by a scammer posing as a donor for a holiday toy drive.
Erin Quinn was lured to a home in Winchester on the premise of collecting the toys on December 18, KTLA reports.
She said received a text from an anonymous number which claimed to be from an old woman named Connie wishing to donate gifts.
She arrived at the address and began to walk up to the home before receiving another message stating someone would bring the toys to her car.
As she got back into her vehicle, Quinn was grabbed from behind by a woman who began yanking her hair and tasering her.
Quinn was ordered to drive by the woman, but she ended up crashing her car after about 25 minutes due to the pain from being tasered around 30 times.
Eventually she managed to escape her vehicle and the women began tussling at the side of the road – with Quinn even biting off part of her attacker’s finger.
California volunteer Erin Quinn recounted her terror after she was kidnapped by a scammer posing as a donor for a holiday toy drive
Quinn said her attacker climbed into her car and began tasering her, causing her to crash her car
Quinn was left with burns on her scalp after being tasered around 30 times during the ordeal
‘I kicked her as hard as I could,’ Quinn explained. ‘She tried to put her fingers in my mouth, maybe in an attempt to rip my mouth open, and in a complete panic, I bit part of a portion of her finger off in self-defense because I didn’t know what else to do.’
In a stunning twist, Quinn said that she suddenly recognized her assailant as a former house keeper.
She claimed that the woman had disguised herself in a blonde wig. She fled the scene when a bystander rushed over to help.
‘My brain was jolting so bad and my body was shutting down and I thought either I was going to die or I was going to pass out,’ Quinn said.
The force is choosing to withhold the suspect’s name as she has not been formally charged. She currently remains at large.
‘I am completely terrified,’ Quinn said. ‘I don’t know why she would do this.’
Quinn was left with bruising on her limbs, taser burns to her scalp, missing clumps of hair and broken nails.
‘My entire world has been turned upside down,’ she wrote on a GoFundMe set up to cover the cost of her bills while she takes time to recover.
The victim sustained bruises from the attack, which continued after she crashed her car
She described how she was forced to bite off part of her attacker’s finger in a desperate bid to escape
Quinn believes the culprit is a former housekeeper who had plans to take her to Mexico for ransom money
Police are now investigating but said the suspect, who has not been formally charged, remains at large
‘All I was trying to do was help with the Christmas toy drive and thought I’d be able to stop by really quick to pick up these presents before I started my workday.
‘I was completely set up (there were no presents) and when I got back into my vehicle, I had no idea someone was waiting for me, ready to attack.’
She believes her attacker, who she has not spoken to for nine months, was hoping to take her over the border.
‘I strongly believe that her plan was to kidnap me and take me to Mexico for either ransom or sale,’ Quinn added.
She said she and her mother had previously supported the suspect by providing housing and money for her and her daughter.
Quinn also hit out at other bystanders who saw what was going on but did not intervene.
‘Several construction workers around the area witnessed what was going on, videotaped, and did nothing,’ she said.
But she praised passerby William King as a ‘hero’ for managing to pull the attacker off her.
