Man arrested after woman left message claiming she was being held against her will

GREEN RIVER, Utah – A man was arrested at a Green River gas station last week after a female victim left a note saying she was being held against her will.

Richard Phillips, 38, was arrested on June 20 and faces several charges, including kidnapping.

According to the police report, a Utah Highway Patrol officer was alerted to the unidentified woman’s message and spotted a vehicle traveling east on Interstate 70 from the Salina area. The patrol officer followed the vehicle driven by Phillips when it stopped at the Love’s gas station in Green River.

As the officer approached Phillips, he smelled marijuana and “was shown a red cup in the center console containing a burnt marijuana cigarette,” the report said.

The officer believed Phillips was fleeing the area when he was asked to move his vehicle to another area until an Emery County Sheriff’s Office deputy blocked his path.

After a brief standoff, Phillips was taken into custody.

In front of the gas station, a woman approached the police officer and handed him a note she had received from the victim while they were both in the restroom.

“The message asked the person to call her daughter and report the missing car. The suspect had her phone,” the report said.

After questioning Phillips and the victim, it emerged that she was held against her will and was attacked multiple times.

The victim told an investigator that she and Phillips had a previous relationship but are no longer together. She said Phillips approached her as she was getting into her own car outside a Walmart in Michigan and told her to “drive him wherever he wanted to go.”

Phillips allegedly forced the woman to drive him to Denver, where she was assaulted before calling police. However, by the time officers arrived, Phillips had left the hotel with all of the victim’s belongings. When he returned, Phillips sent them to Las Vegas, where they stayed for a few days.

After Phillips was allegedly attacked again in Las Vegas, the woman said he fled again before police arrived. Phillips later returned and the two drove to Salt Lake City, where they stayed for several nights before returning to Las Vegas.

The victim told police that Phillips “mentally and emotionally abused” her and took her phone away from her and only let her use it in his presence. When the two were traveling again in Utah, the woman left the note in the bathroom of a gas station in Salina, and when another woman discovered the note, she notified police.

The woman claimed she had contacted police 32 times since November to report Phillips at her home.