How a Mom's Pizza Hut Order Saved Her Family While Being Held Hostage

If you're ever held hostage, your first thought might be to fight, run, or scream . . . but perhaps your initial instinct should be to order delivery. When Cheryl Treadway's boyfriend took her family hostage, it was the Florida woman's quick thinking while placing an online Pizza Hut order that saved their lives. Ethan Nickerson, who had been holding the mother and her three kids captive at knifepoint after they returned from school, allowed Treadway to order pizza online — and it was her plea for help in the "special instructions" box that led to her boyfriend's capture.

"Please help. Get 911 to me," wrote Treadway in the delivery instructions, adding "911 hostage help!" before placing the order. The restaurant's manager, who has worked at Pizza Hut for 28 years, recognized the address and quickly called authorities. Twenty minutes of hostage negotiation later, police were able to convince Nickerson to release Treadway's family from their Florida home. The captor, who has been charged with "aggravated assault with a weapon, battery, false imprisonment, and obstructing justice by depriving communication to law enforcement," was under the influence of heavy narcotics on the day of the lifesaving pizza order.

While it may not be the most conventional way to fight crime, an online delivery service helped save this family from an extremely dangerous situation. If that's not the best way to assure lifelong Pizza Hut patronage, we don't know what is!