Woman, 80, rescued from naked intruder after daughter realizes she missed Wordle puzzle
A man accused of breaking into an 80-year-old woman’s Chicago area home and holding her hostage for 17 hours has been arrested thanks to a popular word game.
After weeks of comparing their Wordle game results, Meredith Holt-Caldwell, of Seattle, grew immediately distressed when her 80-year-old mother, Denyse Holt, who lives in the Chicago area, failed to send over her grid on Feb. 5. The daily word game had long been a way for them to connect, and on top of that, her mother was not answering her texts either, she told CBS Chicago.
Earlier the same morning, an armed and naked suspect broke into Holt’s Lincolnwood home. The man has since been identified as James Davis III, who authorities suspect has a mental illness. Holt said she was startled awake when Davis busted through a window, leaving his arms bloodied, and then threatened her with a pair of scissors.
“I didn’t think I was going to live,” she told CBS. “I was in shock. I was trying to survive.”
Davis promised Holt he would not harm her, but he did force her to take a warm bath with him while she was still in her nightgown. She said he also disconnected all the phones, stole knives from the kitchen, and then locked her away inside basement bathroom.
More than 2,000 miles away, Holt-Caldwell was waiting for her mother to post her daily Wordle results. She never did, however, prompting the concerned daughter to request a welfare check. It triggered an hours-long standoff with law enforcement.
Holt’s family said the SWAT team eventually burst through the door of the residence and subdued the suspect with a stun gun.
In total, Holt was in captivity for 17 hours. She said she did stretches and exercises in the cold bathroom to keep warm.
Davis was charged with home invasion with a dangerous weapon, aggravated kidnapping while armed with a dangerous weapon and aggravated assault against a peace officer.
“I’m very lucky,” said Holt, who survived the ordeal without injury.
Wordle, a logic game developed by New York City-based software engineer Josh Wardle, skyrocketed to viral popularity earlier this year. Every day, participants are given six chances to guess a new five-letter word.
