Wordle has been all the rage lately, with thousands of users logging into the guessing-word game each and every day to solve that puzzle — and often bragging about it on various social media sites.
So, “just how did this game save somebody’s life?”, I hear you ask. Well, it all started with a woman in Illinois and her very observant daughter.
80-year-old Denyse Holt told WBBM The story of how a naked man broke into her Lincolnwood home, disconnected her phone lines, dragged her around the house and finally barricaded her into her bathroom, where she stayed for roughly 17 hours.
She told of how she “didn’t think I was going to live.” A frightening thought. So, how was she rescued? Her daughter had noticed that she hadn’t sent her usual Wordle score through, so she knew something was wrong and then notified authorities.
”I didn’t send my older daughter a Wordle [score] in the morning and that was disconcerting to her,” the homeowner stated.
Lincolnwood police officers received a call from Holt’s concerned daughter and stated it was unusual to not hear from her for such a long period of time, this caused officers to go check on the 80-year-old.
When officers arrived at the scene they immediately noticed a broken window and upon entering the home, Holt was found held in the basement. Although she was not physical hurt, she was understandably very distressed.
They eventually found the suspect on the second floor, armed with several knives and had to call for back-up in order to take him into custody. The suspect was later transferred to a local hospital for medical treatment for what is to be a mental health crisis prior to breaking into the home.
“The subject then awoke the victim armed with scissors and demanded the victim provide him assistance. The subject threatened the victim and collected all telephones/cell phones within the residence to disable the ability for the victim to communicate with anyone,” the news release said. “The subject also placed the victim in the basement bathroom securing the door with a chair.”
The suspect was charged with home invasion with a dangerous weapon, aggravated kidnapping while armed with a dangerous weapon and also aggravated assault against an officer.
It’s not believed that the suspect and victim were in any way connected.