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The 25-year-old Wheaton woman who Montgomery County Police believed was kidnapped Sunday by her estranged boyfriend contacted county police on Monday to say she was OK, according to a police spokeswoman.
However, police still are not sure if Sakina Knight, 25, of the 11100 block of Georgia Avenue was taken against her will, said Lucille Baur, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman.
Baur said she could not release the location from where Knight called. She said detectives met with her in person Monday to confirm her safety and determined she was unharmed.
"We needed to be certain that she was not being asked to say anything against her will," Baur said of the in-person meeting.
However, Baur said Montgomery County police are still trying to obtain a warrant for Knight's estranged boyfriend, Pennsylvania resident Kareem Gaines, 32, for first-degree burglary. Gaines also has an outstanding warrant in Pennsylvania alleging he shot someone several times during a robbery in the state, according to a Montgomery County police press release.
Baur said police do not know the whereabouts of Gaines, nor if Knight was with Gaines when she contacted police on Monday.
Neither police nor relatives had known Knight's whereabouts since about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, which is when police received a call from Knight to stand by and provide assistance while she retrieved items from her apartment, according to Officer Melanie Brenner, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Police.
Police believe Knight was having a domestic dispute with Gaines. Brenner said the two were not living together.
"She was having some kind of issue with him and just wanted to get some things," Brenner said of the Sunday morning call.
At 2 p.m. Sunday, police received another call from a neighbor that Gaines was breaking into Knight's apartment.
Because Gaines is known to carry armed weapons, Brenner said police took every precaution before entering the apartment. Georgia Avenue at Reedie Drive was closed as well as Amherst Avenue between Prichard Road and Reedie. Traffic was diverted onto Veirs Mill Road, and the parking garage at Reedie and Amherst was cleared and closed, Brenner said.
When police finally entered the residence, neither Knight nor Gaines was there. Police believed Gaines "could be armed and dangerous and may have abducted [Knight] against her will," according to a police press release. They were asking for the public's help in locating Knight.