Police: Woman admits abduction for ransom; victim found dead

A woman acknowledged kidnapping a woman she knew and picking up a $250,000 ransom that authorities handed over in hopes of the safe return of the victim, but her body was found along a rural road two days later, a police report said Monday.

Police tailed and arrested Theresa Wiltse, 49, after she got the ransom for Sandra Harris, 69, at a gourmet grocery store Friday night, the document said.

“Theresa confessed to being part of the kidnapping,” along with two men she identified only as “Jose” and “Jesus,” the report said.

But her “role appears to be much bigger than she claims,” police wrote, adding that blood was found in the backseat of Wiltse’s vehicle and it was being analyzed.

Harris appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound, but an autopsy will be conducted later this week to establish when and how she died, prosecutors said. A driver found Sandra Harris’ body Sunday in arid scrubland along a road south of Kennewick, off Interstate 82.

The kidnapping was not random – Wiltse knew the victim and her husband, Randy Harris, who owns a pawn shop in the city of Kennewick called Ace Jewelry and Loan, authorities said.

Wiltse lives in the small town of Connell about 40 miles away. She worked as a state prison guard in Walla Walla from 2008 to 2010, when she quit, the Corrections Department said.

“The exact nature of how they are known to each other is still a part of this investigation,” police said in a statement.

A man who answered the phone at the pawn shop Monday said Randy Harris was not there and declined additional comment.

Wiltse, who was booked on suspicion of kidnapping, had her bail set at $1 million during a brief court appearance. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to charge her.

Benton County public defender Eric Hsu, whose office is representing Wiltse, declined to comment Monday.

Police only have Wiltse in custody but said they were not ruling out the possibility of additional arrests.

“But we do not have any specific persons that we are looking for,” according to police in the community about 130 miles southwest of Spokane.

Harris was kidnapped Friday from her Kennewick home, police said. Harris called her husband at work from her cellphone to say the kidnapper was demanding money, they said.

The FBI joined local police in contacting the suspect and negotiating for several hours before agreeing to meet up in rural Franklin County that night to pay the ransom.

Shortly afterward, a SWAT team arrested Wiltse near the tiny community of Eltopia. She was driving a rental car with California plates.