Two U.S. Forest Service employees abducted while on duty in Northern California were freed after being held at gunpoint for more than 12 hours inside a rural trailer, officials said Friday. Authorities arrested two suspects — a father and his adult son — who were allegedly armed with guns and knives.
The Forest Service workers were taken sometime before 11 a.m. Thursday while carrying out field work in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said during a Friday news conference.
Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said deputies were alerted by U.S. Forest Service officials after one of the suspects, 49-year-old Joseph Charles Henrichsen, allegedly told authorities the two employees had been zip-tied and were being held at gunpoint in a trailer in a remote area outside Mount Shasta. The small Northern California city sits roughly 50 miles south of the Oregon-California border.
“Mr. Henrichsen indicated that he had firearms, ammunition, and wanted to speak with the FBI,” LaRue said.
A large law enforcement response followed, with local and federal agencies, including the FBI, moving into the area. LaRue said authorities used drones to pinpoint the trailer where the two U.S. Forest Service employees were being held. SWAT officers, hostage negotiators, a bomb squad and snipers were also sent to the scene.
According to the sheriff, officers were not able to begin direct negotiations with Joseph Henrichsen and his son, Phoenix Henrichsen, until shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday.
“We attempted every effort to begin communicating with him to resolve the potential conflict,” LaRue told reporters.
The hostages were released from the trailer shortly before 2 a.m. Friday, LaRue said. Officials said neither worker suffered serious injuries during the ordeal.
About 40 minutes later, the two suspects emerged from the trailer and were taken into custody.
Brian Tosch, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Sacramento field office, said that at the time of their surrender, Charles Henrichsen “had an AR-15 and knives, and claimed to have grenades.”
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Officials could not confirm if the suspects owned or resided in the trailer where the victims were held. Investigators do not yet have a motive in the kidnapping, Tosch said. The two suspects will face federal charges of kidnapping a federal employee, said Eric Grant, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California.
Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson emphasized that the remoteness of the trailer presented challenges for law enforcement.
“I’ve got to tell you folks, this is remote Northern California, out in a rural area where it’s tough to get resources in and out, it’s a small one-lane road,” Johnson said. “It is rough terrain and different than handling an incident within a city or urban environment.”
Schultz said the two employees were performing routine work when they were kidnapped.
“They weren’t patrolling there, they were just going to do their work. It was just seasonal work they would do on a regular basis,” Schultz said, describing the incident as a “frightening experience for everyone involved.”
“I want to say how profoundly grateful and relieved that we are that our two employees were released safely,” he said.
