Good Samaritans Debunk Story; Woman Held in Freeway Accident

A woman who told investigators that she was kidnapped and raped after a freeway car accident was arrested Friday on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and drunk driving.

Lydia L. Doll, 29, of San Clemente had told California Highway Patrol officers that she was forced into a car at gunpoint by two men on the Santa Ana Freeway. Investigators then went to the public for help in finding the kidnappers.

The two people who gave her a ride from the accident scene subsequently called the CHP and told investigators that wasn’t the case, Sgt. Paul Golonski said.

“It turns out the people who gave her a ride were two young women,” he said. “They were good Samaritans who just wanted to help her. She had flagged them down and said she needed a ride. . . . Later, she told them that she couldn’t afford to have another mark on her record.

“We had been skeptical from the start.”

About 5:45 p.m Wednesday, Doll’s car struck a van from behind, triggering a chain-reaction collision involving another vehicle.

Investigators believe Doll was drunk and intentionally left the scene because she didn’t want to face drunk driving charges. In 1990, Doll was convicted of felony drunk driving, Golonski said. She was being held Friday at Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000.