A woman who was reported by her boyfriend to be kidnapped for ransom was found safe Wednesday in Huntington Beach, her family and police told NBC4.
Denise Huskins, 29, was reportedly abducted Monday morning from a Vallejo, California, home, police said.
Huskins' boyfriend claimed an intruder broke into his home early Monday morning and took her by force while demanding a ransom. But her boyfriend waited 11 hours to report it to police, officials said.
On Wednesday morning, the woman went to her mother’s house in Huntington Beach, but her mother wasn't home because she went to Vallejo to look for her daughter, Huskins' aunt said.
She then walked to her father’s home, also in Huntington Beach, but he is also in Vallejo. Huskins called her father from a neighbor's residence.
Relatives and friends hugged and cried outside the apartment building in Huntington Beach, relieved she was OK.
"Excitement, overwhelmed ... I didn't know anything that was going to happen. You hear these stories all the time and you watch TV about them and you never know," cousin Natalia Kane said. "I just was happy to hear that she was alive and safe, and home."
Huskins spoke with officers before they drove her in a car to be reunited with family in a more private place.
Additional details were not available, and it was not clear how she got to Huntington Beach. Vallejo police will be taking over the investigation into what happened.
"I wish I could tell you that it was party time jubilation and all that, but it was just relief more than anything," uncle Jeff Kane said.
Police on Tuesday did not elaborate on what the ransom demand might be. "All I can tell you is that there was a ransom demand," said Lt. Kenny Park of the Vallejo Police Department.
On Tuesday evening, over 100 trained search and rescue personnel, including a dive team, were searching the waterfront near Mare Island, from where Huskins' was reportedly kidnapped.
Huskins is from Huntington Beach, and according to her Facebook page moved to Vallejo in June 2014. She is a physical therapist at Kaiser Permanente.
Hetty Chang, John Cádiz Klemack, and Jodi Hernandez contributed to this report.
Photo Credit: Photos courtesy of the Huskins family.