Realtor Found Tied Up in Rural Arizona Motel

A Val Verde real estate agent kidnaped at gunpoint on Wednesday was found tied up in an Arizona motel room Friday morning after a maid heard her cries and summoned help, witnesses and authorities said.

Paula Harrington had disappeared after showing several homes in the small Santa Clarita Valley community to an unidentified male customer Wednesday afternoon.

The 26-year-old real estate agent was locked in a room of the El Coronado Motel in Gila Bend, Ariz., about 10 a.m. when she was discovered bound and partially gagged on the bed, said motel manager Vinaykent Patel.

“She said, ‘I’m tied up and I can’t open the door, call the police,’ ” said Patel, who was brought to the room by a maid who first heard the woman’s cries.

About the same time, the kidnaper called Harrington’s office to reveal where she was, authorities said.

The kidnaper, described as a white man in his 40s, is still at large, authorities said. He had left the motel about an hour before Harrington was discovered, authorities said.

FBI spokesman Jack Callahan said late Friday that Harrington had been assaulted. The FBI was investigating the case because the kidnaper crossed the state line.

“There is some indications at this point that this is not the first time” that the suspect has kidnaped a woman, he said. “We are cautioning the public, especially women.”

Callahan said they hoped to release a composite of the suspect today.

DeAnne Tippetts, the owner of the Century 21 office near Santa Clarita where Harrington worked, said she accepted a collect call about 10:30 a.m. Friday from a man who did not identify himself.

She said the man told her Harrington was unharmed in a motel room in Gila Bend, a town of about 1,747 people, located 68 miles southwest of Phoenix.

“I was just in shock,” Tippetts said. “I hoped it was real and I was elated at the thought she might be all right.”

The call was brief and the man spoke calmly, trying to make sure she got the location right, Tippetts added.

Tippetts said she called 911, and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies alerted Arizona police. Harrington was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital Medical Center in Phoenix for observation and questioning by police, said relatives of Harrington who had flown to Arizona to be with her.

Harrington’s husband, Chris, who also flew to Arizona on Friday afternoon, said he expects her to be able to return home today.

“Yesterday was my birthday . . . see if you can figure out the best present I received,” said Chris Harrington during an impromptu news conference late Friday in the FBI offices in Phoenix.

Earlier in the day, Harrington said he spoke to his wife briefly on the phone and she seemed to be in good spirits.

“Paula is the toughest woman in a crisis I’ve ever known,” he said. “I’m sure she’ll handle this as well as anyone could.”

She did not discuss in detail what had happened to her, Harrington added.

Patel said the man who rented the room had checked into the motel about 9 p.m. Thursday, paying $24.42 for a double room. He registered under the name Joseph P. Sterling. Authorities could not confirm whether it was his true name.

“He asked for a room with one bed and he said he wanted it with a good TV and a good air conditioner,” Patel said.

Patel said the man drove up in a blue-green Jeep Cherokee, which was gone the following morning.

The suspect, a medium-build white male in his 40s with thinning brown hair, is being sought, said Ron Spear, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Residents of Val Verde, population 1,500, were elated about the news. Many had helped search for Harrington on Thursday in the hills surrounding Val Verde, located about 10 miles northwest of Santa Clarita. They also distributed tens of thousands of flyers nationally asking for help in locating her.

Two friends of Harrington’s hugged each other and jumped up and down with excitement at the Val Verde General Store when they learned Harrington had been found. Then they went outside and began waving down passing cars to spread the news.

“I thought she was gone,” said one of the women, Breeze Pierce, 24. “I got a big lump in my throat when I thought they weren’t going to find her.”

The kidnaping incident began about 2 p.m. Wednesday when a man walked into Harrington’s office, asking to look at homes in Val Verde. Several employees were on duty at the time and he did not ask specifically for Harrington.

They drove to Val Verde in the man’s Jeep Cherokee. Police officials said they believe the pair visited “four or five” homes because Harrington’s business cards were found there.

A co-worker of Harrington’s grew suspicious when Harrington did not return after about 2 1/2 hours and went to Val Verde to look for her. She spotted what she believed was the man’s Jeep at a home about 4:30 p.m. and, feeling something was wrong, wrote down the license plate number and called for help from a nearby house.

The Jeep was gone when the co-worker returned. Investigators discovered the license plates on the vehicle had been stolen from a car in Pismo Beach.

Harrington made an ATM withdrawal of $300 from a Bank of America branch in Hacienda Heights at 8:34 p.m. Wednesday, said Lt. Donald Bear of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide bureau. A photo from the bank camera showing her head and shoulders did not reveal anyone in back or to the side of her, and she did not appear to be under duress.

“She looked like she was trying her best to cope with a bad situation,” her husband said Friday.

Police officials called off the search Thursday afternoon after learning of the transaction.

Harrington’s other family members said they were thrilled Harrington had been found. Her father, Richard Morse, said everyone tried to remain optimistic, but were very worried.

“It feels good not to have those negative thoughts anymore,” he said. “It was going through all of our minds, whether spoken or unspoken.”

Sabbatini, a Times correspondent, reported the story from Los Angeles. Kaplan, a Times staff writer, reported from Phoenix.