Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OAKLEY, Summit County — Police responding to reports of a woman being held captive arrested both the woman and her alleged captor on Thursday.
Deputies were notified Thursday that a fugitive named Matthew George Nielsen was hiding at a home in Oakley and holding a woman named Terry Ann Flink against her will, Summit County Sheriff's Capt. Justin Martinez said.
Flink had apparently called two different people in the Salt Lake area and reported that she was being held captive.
"Terry said she believed she was drugged by Matthew and at one point tried to escape, but was tackled by Matthew and dragged back into the residence," Martinez said. "Terry's phone was then shut off."
Both of them called the sheriff's office. Deputies obtained a search warrant and dispatched a SWAT team, which surrounded the house and tried to make contact with those inside.
(Flink) was trying to conceal him and was telling us one thing and telling her friends an entirely different story. It was pretty ambiguous as to her level of being held captive.
–Summit County Sheriff's Capt. Justin Martinez
Flink exited the home barefoot and appeared to be under the influence of some substance, Martinez said.
"She was not entirely lucid, was not wearing any shoes so we believe there was some drug use involved. But what those drugs are or were is not known," the captain said, adding there was evidence of methamphetamine use found in the residence.
Deputies asked Flink where Nielsen was and the woman allegedly reported he had left an hour earlier. But when the team members entered and searched the home, they found Nielsen hiding under a mattress in one of the bedrooms.
"(Flink) was trying to conceal him and was telling us one thing and telling her friends an entirely different story," Martinez said. "It was pretty ambiguous as to her level of being held captive."
Warrants totaling $600,000 had been issued for Nielsen's arrest, Martinez said, for charges ranging from child abuse to assault to tampering with a witness. He was booked on those warrants.
Flink was booked for investigation of harboring a person from arrest as well as a warrant for alcohol use. She did not appear to be injured in the incident.
"The information we were given is that we had a situation where someone was in distress, so we're going to utilize the resources available to effect a rescue," Martinez said. "After it was all said and done, we went in there, we negotiated, we did not use any unnecessary force and we resolved the situation without aggravating it any further."
Earlier this year, Nielsen was accused of assaulting his girlfriend in a courthouse. He was also charged last year with in two domestic violence cases.
