911 caller’s ‘gut feeling’ saved life of woman who was kidnapped and raped in Lake County

“I firmly believe that the victim’s life was saved because of the gut feeling the caller had,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.

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Sun-Times file

A man fearing something was wrong after receiving a “strange call” discovered a woman being sexually assaulted in a Lake Barrington business early Wednesday.

Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg credited the man with saving the 20-year-old woman’s life. “I firmly believe that the victim’s life was saved because of the gut feeling (he) had,” Idleburg said in a statement.

Ryan Storm, 20, of Palatine, was arrested hours later and charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual abuse, according to the sheriff’s office.

The judge set bond at $3 million during his initial court hearing Thursday.

Authorities said Storm cut off the victim’s clothes, urinated on her, tied her arms above her head and hanged her from a forklift. Storm allegedly threatened to snap the victim’s neck if she screamed, the sheriff’s office said.

Police were alerted that something was wrong when someone called 911 to report a “strange call” from Storm that prompted the caller to check on Storm’s wellbeing, police said.

The caller entered Storm’s workplace around 2 a.m. Wednesday in the 28000 block of Commercial Avenue and found him sexually assaulting the victim, police said.

Storm ran out, and the caller found a woman “bound to a piece of heavy equipment,” police said. The woman was taken to a hospital and was recovering.

Hours later, officers arrested Storm during a foot chase in Fox River Grove, police said.

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