Woman secretly calls 911 during terrifying ride across Houston

HOUSTON -- A woman's quick-thinking helped deputies locate her during a frightening ride in which the driver refused to let her out.

Asiuh Lizcano is relieved to be back home and playing with her puppy. As the two walked around her apartment complex, she remembers the far different scene early Monday morning. Lizcano was being driven to Austin against her will. The man at the wheel? Christopher Nwoke, a man she met just a week ago.

"He was like, 'I'm going to Austin, I got court and you're coming,'" recalled Lizcano. "I'm like, 'No, I don't want to come, you don't need me to come to court with you.'"

Lizcano says she met Nwoke through mutual friends last week. On Monday morning, he called and offered to take her to breakfast. However, once she got in the car, Lizcano says Nwoke began driving to Austin, instead of a nearby restaurant. That's when she became afraid.

"I was shaking, I was scared. I didn't know what he was going to do."

So she secretly called 911. Once the dispatcher answered, Lizcano pretended to be having a casual conversation with a friend.

"The driver didn't realize she was talking to us," said Sgt. Reece Hardy of Houston Police. "So she's talking to him, while giving us landmarks, things of that nature, so we can catch up to them."

Lizcano says with 911 on the other end, she would ask Nwoke to drop her off to use the restroom by mentioning various landmarks that had facilities. "I was like, 'Why won't you let me out to pee, and I bet you there's a restroom out here in the Drury Inn, why don't you let me out?' And he was like 'No, you're not getting out.'"

Lizcano's iPhone shows a 35 minute call to 911, which eventually led Precinct 5 Constables to locate the vehicle in west Harris County. They were able to pull the car over without additional incident. Court records show Nwoke indeed had a court appearance scheduled for Austin. He has a trespassing charge there. However, he never made it Austin. Now, Nwoke's facing new charges of unlawful restraint in Houston.

Lizcano says she's learned a valuable lesson. "I regret even picking up a phone for him, I regret even looking his way, I regret even the chance to put in any harm's way."