The alleged abduction and ransom of California woman Denise Huskins on Monday was a hoax, and possibly a criminal one, police said late Wednesday.
Lt. Kenny Park, a spokesman for the Vallejo Police Department, said at a news conference that the whole thing was a "wild goose chase," and that Huskins showed up unharmed at her father's apartment in Huntington Beach Wednesday morning.
Her father, Mike Huskins, had traveled hours north to her and her boyfriend's house in Vallejo to assist with the citywide search, and received a call from his daughter around 9:30 a.m.,
The Associated Press reported.
"She wasn't crying at all. She just said, 'Daddy, I'm OK,'" he told reporters. "It's going to take a while before it all sorts out, I think."
Police planned to fly Huskins, 29, back to northern California on Thursday with assistance from the FBI, however she and her family members have since broken contact with all authorities.
Initial reports said that Huskins likely concocted the ransom plot with her boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, 30, who called in the kidnapping report Monday afternoon. The ransom request was $8,500.
Park said that the pair had squandered a great deal of police resources, and had 40 detectives working their case at one point.
"Devoting all of our resources 24 hours a day in a wild goose chase it's a tremendous loss," Park said. "It's disappointing, it's disheartening. The fact that we wasted all of these resources for nothing, it's upsetting."
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