A fast-thinking Florida mom used an online order to Pizza Hut to notify authorities that she and her children were being held hostage by her boyfriend.
Cheryl Treadway, along with her three children, were held hostage at knifepoint by Ethan Nickerson Monday afternoon. During the terrifying ordeal she managed to get permission from Nickerson to use a cell phone to order a pizza online. In the comments section for the order she wrote a message pleading for help and for them to call 911.
Treadway was a frequent customer of that particular Pizza Hut and her message raised an alarm with the staff. They contacted authorities who sent deputies to her home. Treadway answered the door holding one of her children. Via WPTV, authorities stated that, “She related to deputies that her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson, was in the home armed with a knife and that her other two children were also in the home with him.”
They escorted her and the child to safety and then negotiated with Nickerson until he eventually surrendered without a fight. The other two children were then removed from the home unharmed.
Lt. Curtis Ludden commended the mom’s resourcefulness:
“I don’t know if I ever would have thought of it. I mean it’s just something that she did so naturally. The boyfriend never knew about it until he saw us coming around the corner.”
Nickerson was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, battery, false imprisonment and obstructing justice by depriving communication to law enforcement.
