AVON PARK -- A central Florida woman helped save herself and her children by sending a message in an online pizza order that asked employees to call 911 because she was being held hostage.
The Avon Park Pizza Hut employees spotted what Cheryl Treadway wrote in the comment section of her online order. Employees recognized Treadway as a regular customer and called the sheriff's office.
Highlands County Sheriff's deputies went to the home, where they were greeted by Treadway, who was carrying a small child. She told them her boyfriend, Ethan Nickerson, 26, was inside the home, armed with a knife. Her other two children were also inside.
Treadway and the child were escorted to safety.
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A TV station reports Lt. Curtis Ludden started talking to Nickerson through a closed door.
"His first words were, of course, `I'm not coming out because I know I'm going to jail,'" Ludden told the station.
It took about 20 minutes for Ludden to talk Nickerson into coming out peacefully. The children were not harmed.
According to an arrest report, the couple had been arguing throughout the day, as Nickerson carried a knife. When Treadway started to leave to pick up her children from school, Nickerson grabbed her and took her phone away. He went with her to the school.
Deputies say she eventually talked Nickerson into letting her use her phone to order a pizza. But immediately after sending the request, Nickerson took the phone back.
Nickerson was arrested and now faces multiple charges including aggravated assault with a weapon without intent to kill, battery and false imprisonment. He remained in the Highlands County Jail on Wednesday and bond has been set at $45,000. Jail records didn't indicate whether he has hired an attorney.
Authorities credit Treadway's quick thinking and the fast response by deputies for a peaceful conclusion.
"I don't know if I would have thought of it," Ludden said of the message in the pizza order. "I mean it's just something she did so naturally. The boyfriend never knew about it until he saw us coming around the corner."
The cry for help was also a first for Pizza Hut manager Candy Hamilton.
"We've never seen that before," Hamiton said. "I've been here 28 years and never, never seen nothing like that come through."
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