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Missing woman turns up in Polk County

Kathleen M. Atkins said she was kidnapped and left by the side of the road. Police are investigating.

By Jacob H. Fries
Published March 8, 2006

CLEARWATER - A 44-year-old woman reported missing from her home Monday was found alive Tuesday more than 50 miles away in Polk County, authorities said.

Kathleen M. Atkins, who was reported missing and endangered about 8 a.m. Monday, appeared on the doorstep of a mobile home on State Road 33 near Lakeland at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, officials said. She asked for help, saying she had been kidnapped, and the resident called 911.

Atkins, a day care operator, appeared in good health. She was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, officials said. Her truck was found nearby.

Clearwater police investigators were still piecing together what happened.

"At this point the Clearwater Police Department has launched an active and aggressive investigation of a kidnapping," said police spokesman Wayne Shelor. "However, we don't have too many details to go on."

Matthew Davis, 19, said Atkins staggered onto his porch at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. She told him she had been abducted from her home on Sunday evening by a masked man.

"She was just emotionally distraught," Davis said.

Atkins told detectives that was she awakened early Monday morning when a stranger put a hand over her mouth. The man wrapped her in a blanket, picked her up and put her in the covered bed of a truck, she told detectives.

The man forced some pills in her mouth, she said. She went in and out of consciousness during what felt to her like a long drive in the truck. Eventually, the man stopped, opened the back of the truck and spoke to her in a nonthreatening manner, she told detectives. She remembered him closing the top and walking away.

Atkins then wriggled free of the blankets and stumbled toward Davis' home.

Medical specialists cleared Atkins of any serious trauma, and she was able to talk to detectives for more than two hours on Tuesday, Shelor said.

Her mother, Maryann Atkins, 68, declined to comment on the circumstances of her daughter's disappearance, saying, "We're just happy she's found."

Officers were called to Atkins' house about 8 a.m. Monday after a parent went to drop off his child with Atkins, who offers private day care, Shelor said. The parent found the front door ajar, but no one answered.

There was no sign of a struggle, he said, but "there were a number of indications that led detectives to be concerned for her whereabouts and her safety."

Her wallet and cell phone were still in the house, but her truck, a gray 2004 Dodge 1500 Ram quad cab with tinted windows, was missing, Shelor said.

Police spent much of the day gathering evidence and looking for witnesses.

A neighbor reported seeing Atkins' truck at 6:20 a.m.

It was gone at 7:50 a.m. when the parent arrived and found the door ajar.

[Last modified March 8, 2006, 13:45:13]