Mother held hostage at knifepoint includes special instructions on pizza order: ‘Get 911 to me!’

This Monday in Highlands County, Florida, police were able to rescue a woman and her three children who were allegedly being held hostage at knifepoint by her boyfriend, when she used an app to order pizza online from Pizza Hut.

The woman included special instructions with the order that read, “Please help. Get 9/11 to me.”

When employees at the Pizza Hut in Avon Park, Fla. saw Cheryl Treadway’s name on the order, they immediately recognized her as a regular customer and alerted police.

“We’ve never seen that before,” Candy Hamilton, the restaurant’s manager said. “I’ve been here 28 years and never, never seen nothing like that come through.”

Courtesy of WFLA
Courtesy of WFLA

From WFLA:

Deputies responded to the Pizza Hut and to the delivery location for the order.

Upon arrival at the home, deputies were greeted by Cheryl Treadway who was carrying a small child in her arms. She told deputies that her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson, was in the home armed with a knife and that her other two children were also in the home with him. After she was escorted to safety, deputies approached the home.

Lieutenant Curtis Ludden began to speak with Nickerson through the closed door of the home.

“His first words were, of course, ‘I’m not coming out because I know I’m going to jail,’” Ludden said.

After about 20 minutes, Lieutenant Ludden was able to talk him into coming out peacefully. The other two children were then removed from the home, unharmed.

According to a report from NBC, Nickerson was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, battery, false imprisonment, and obstructing justice by depriving communication to law enforcement.

Watch NBC’s report on the story below:

[Featured image via WFLA]

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