Secret code saves woman from dangerous situation

ELKHART, INDIANA (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A northern Indiana mother and her children are safe after being kidnapped and held by the woman's estranged boyfriend.

Investigators credit a simple safety plan with helping her let family members know she was in trouble. Investigators say that her captor allowed the victim to call her family. That's when police say the woman used a code word she had set up with relatives to alert them she was in danger.

The three day search for Kimberly Walker and her four children came to an end Wednesday at a hotel in Indiana. The boyfriend, who prosecutors say has a history of domestic abuse, is locked up on $500,000 bail.

But it is something Walker set up with family members before she was taken hostage Saturday that experts say should serve as a lesson.

Local domestic abuse counselors say the code word is part of a bigger safety plan. It is something they recommend to the hundreds of battered men and women they counsel each year. "I look at a safety plan the same as you would a fire drill. If you have a fire at your house, and haven't done a fire drill, you may become nervous and may exit in a way there's no door or window. If you don't have a safety plan, you may do the same thing," says Cathy Brown with the Domestic Assault Shelter Coalition.

Brown says it can be as simple as setting up an escape route if an abuser shows up. A code word to let others know of your trouble is also a good idea.

If you need help setting up a plan all you need to do is pick up the phone and call your local abuse crisis hotline.