Courier helps free captive who wrote 'call 911' on parcel

Image source, Franklin County Sheriff

Image caption, James Tyler Jordan, 33, is being held on $100,000 bail

A UPS driver who noticed "call 911" scrawled on a package helped free a woman held captive and sexually assaulted in her own home, police say.

The Missouri woman spoke to the delivery man at the door while her alleged captor, her own husband, was standing behind her with a gun.

She managed to write her plea for help on the mail item and the driver alerted police, according to court documents.

A SWAT team was dispatched and arrested James Tyler Jordan, 33.

The wife told police that shortly before the UPS driver showed up at the property near Robertsville on Tuesday, her husband was holding a gun to her head and had threatened he would kill her then turn the weapon on himself.

Mr Jordan's wife told authorities her husband had forced her to strip and subjected her to sexual assaults while refusing to let her leave the house.

During her ordeal, which began on Monday night, a three-year-old child was locked in a bedroom without food or water for 15 hours, according to court documents.

"He was a huge help," Franklin County Sheriff's Department Sgt TJ Wild told KMOV-TV of the UPS driver.

In a statement, UPS praised its employee for having "followed protocol when he saw a customer in distress".

Mr Jordan is charged with sexual assault, domestic assault, felonious restraint, unlawful use of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child.

He is being held on $100,000 (拢80,000) bail.