Wordle Helped Save An 80-Year-Old Woman From A Naked Home Intruder

Denyse Holt was held for nearly 20 hours against her will by a man wielding a pair of scissors.
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An 80-year-old woman’s love of the popular word game Wordle helped her get out of a terrifying situation.

Denyse Holt of Lincolnwood, Illinois, was held against her will for hours after an intruder broke into her home. And her failure to text one of her daughters her score in Wordle ― a daily puzzle in which players have to figure out a five-letter word in six guesses ― helped tip off family that something was seriously wrong.

Holt went to sleep alone in her home Saturday night and woke up at 1 a.m. the next day to a naked, bleeding man holding scissors, CBS 2 Chicago reported. The man allegedly threatened to cut her if she screamed, then got into bed with her.

Holt told the Washington Post she surprised herself with her calm response to the situation, and that she felt obeying his demands gave her the best chance of survival.

Denyse Holt.
Denyse Holt.
Screenshot CBS Chicago via YouTube

The man was shivering, and told Holt that he needed all of her blankets. But after she gave him the blankets, he said he needed to get in the shower and took her with him, she told The Post. Next, she said, he insisted they take a bath, and made her lie on top of him in the tub while she was still dressed in her nightgown.

He later locked her in a bathroom in her basement, she said. She was still dressed in her wet nightgown, and sat cold and hungry in the bathroom for nearly 20 hours. He would not bring her any food or her medicine, which she takes for pain. Holt lost track of time while she was locked in her basement, but kept herself calm by doing meditative breathing one of her daughter’s had taught her, stretching and marching around.

Holt’s daughters — who both live on the West Coast, thousands of miles away from their mother’s home — began to notice that something was off. One daughter noticed her mom hadn’t responded to several of her texts. The other became alarmed that her mother failed to text her score from that day’s Wordle.

“I didn’t send my older daughter a Wordle in the morning. And that was disconcerting to her,” Holt told CBS 2.

The siblings got in touch, and Holt’s family and friends called Lincolnwood police for a wellness check.

The Lincolnwood Police Department confirmed to USA Today that the suspect, identified as James H. Davis III, had secured the door to Holt’s bathroom with a chair. Police also said that he had collected all the phones in her home, preventing her from contacting family.

Police rescued Holt from the bathroom and found Davis upstairs armed with several knives, the Post reported. A local SWAT team ultimately apprehended him and shot him with a stun gun.

Police told USA Today that Davis had discarded his clothing early Sunday during a “mental health crisis” before breaking into the home.

Davis was charged with home invasion with a dangerous weapon, aggravated kidnapping while armed with a dangerous weapon and two counts of aggravated assault against a peace officer.

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