On Friday, October 2nd, in Utah,  a woman was saved by a locksmith when he  encountered a hostage situation,  by her jealous ex-boyfriend, Grant Eggertsen.   

The woman whose name has not yet been released, told officers that she was held hostage by her ex-boyfriend, Grant Eggertsen (45), Southeast of Salt Lake City. He had a key from the time when they were dating, and unexpectedly showed up on a Thursday night. Then, the following day a locksmith came by to fix the front door. 

“There was also a man there who acted suspiciously, staying close to the female and only allowing her to have her phone with his permission”, said the locksmith Greg, whose full name was not released,   “So obviously, that drew some attention from me. But I was wearing a mask, so I couldn’t mouth anything to her or anything,” Greg said.  “She’s showing me the ‘911’ again, kind of making sure that I saw it. And I made eye contact with her, to basically let her know that yeah, I saw it.” 

“I think that any time a man uses physical restraint or harm he intends to cause harm to a woman. He restricted her freedom and her movement and that is illegal,” said Mrs. Carolyne Dymond, an NHS teacher, when asked if the locksmith was right to call the police.

“And so, it’s not like I was trying to guess what was really going on. She gave me some great clues that there was an issue there.”

The woman wrote ‘911’ on her hand as the locksmith was about to leave, and then showed him her hand. Greg called a friend who worked in the FBI to ask for advice on what he should do.  After that message, he called the police to tell them what was going on. They arrived shortly after and arrested the ex-boyfriend. 

When an officer came to the house to check in on the report, he recalled that the woman “quickly opened the door and walked fast out the front door and stated that ,Eggertsen, was downstairs in the house,” as he put it.  

This case is being investigated as domestic violence. Eggertsen is facing charges for aggravated kidnapping in the course  of 

committing unlawful detention as well as criminal trespass of a dwelling and simple assault.

An interview with Mrs. Dymond, Journalism and English teacher at Naugatuck High School, shares her thoughts on this story and what might’ve happened if the locksmith never came.