LISTEN: Island County 911 operator helps save woman being held captive

OAK HARBOR -- A local 911 operator saves a woman from a man holding her captive.

When the operator heard something that didn't sound right, she took action. And in this case, it may have saved a life.

"It was a quiet day until that call," 911 operator Diane Waldroop said at the Island County 911 dispatch center.

It was a Saturday, and a call came in.

"There was nothing; it was just dead air, and that will happen sometimes," she said.

So Waldroop did what she'd been trained to do in this situation.

"I recalled the number and a male answered the phone."

Man: "Hello?"

Wadroop: "Hi, this is 911. We just got a call from this number. Is there an emergency there?"

Man: "Oh, no, no, we're OK." (At that point, a woman screams in the background)

The line disconnected.

"It was just the way that he was answering me, made me feel like it wasn't genuine," she said.

Turns out, she was right.

She traced the address and sent officers to Moran Road on Whidbey Island.

According to court documents, when police arrived, they found a woman covered in feces -- the same woman Waldroop heard yelling for help.

She told police that a man she knew had held her captive for five days, brutally raping her. Police arrested the suspect, who they found hiding in the woods nearby..

"That's what I come to work for, every day, to take that call," Waldroop said.

The man accused of holding the woman faces kidnapping and rape charges. He's now in jail on $150,000 bail.