Huckleberries Online

KCSD Catches Kidnap Suspect

March 20, 2009 4:53 p.m. • 3 comments

A California kidnapping victim was rescued in Coeur d’Alene today after about a month missing. A cell phone helped locate the 35-year-old woman at 4304 Bourbon Street about 2 p.m., where Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies found her with Michael H. Luhdorff, 46. Luhdorff was jailed on a second-degree kidnapping charge. The Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, south of Fresno, told the sheriff’s department of the possible location about 12:45 p.m. and expect to have an arrest warrant for Luhdorff by Monday, according to the sheriff’s department. Luhdorff is a suspect in previous kidnappings in California and has a criminal history that includes drugs and theft convictions, the sheriff’s department said/Meghann M. Cuniff, SR. (KCSD release below)

On March 20^th 2009 at approximately 1242 hours, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department received information from Tulare County Sheriff’s Department in California regarding a possible kidnap victim who was in the Kootenai County area. Tulare County SD said they were actively “pinging” a cell phone belonging to the victim, Shannon Crose (06-09-73), and believed her location to be near

4304 Bourbon Street

in CdA Idaho. They listed Michael H. Luhdorff (06-16-62) as the suspect in the kidnapping that took place over 30 days earlier. Luhdorff was reported to have been the suspect in previous kidnappings in California with an extensive history for narcotics and theft violations.

At approximately 1400 hours Officers from the Coeur D’Alene Police Department and Deputies from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department located Crose and Luhdorff in front of the

Bourbon Street

address. Luhdorff was subsequently arrested for Second Degree Kidnapping.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department and Tulare County Sheriff’s Department are still investigating the incident. Tulare County SD indicated they should have an arrest warrant for Luhdorff by Monday.

Three comments on this post so far. Add yours!

hhuseland on March 20 at 8:28 p.m.
I guess there is much more to this story. For instance, after being abducted 30 days ago, her cell phone would have gone dead, without recharging. How, then , could signal from that phone still be active, unless the “kidnap victim” was in charge of her phone, which then begs the question as to whether a kidnapping even occurred.
1st_Amendment_Luv on March 23 at 3:45 p.m.
Herb, while that is a good point, and I agree that there is probably much more to this story, you have overlooked the obvious. It is very possible that the alleged kidnapper was using her phone. If he took it from her for his own use, he would have needed to recharge it. The article mentioned he had a history of narcotics and theft so it is a possibility that he was using her phone for his own purposes.

Unfortunately it’s hard to tell with the little information given in this article because it makes no mention of the victim’s condition when found or if there was any connection between her and the kidnapper prior to her abduction.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.