Taken into custody after an all-night standoff in West Sacramento, a woman who allegedly held her mother against her will, then slit her own wrists, became a fugitive for a short time Thursday morning.
Melissa Dodd, 38, briefly escaped from a police interrogation room about 9:15 this morning, said Sgt. Nathan Steele. He said the woman was left alone briefly in the room, which had two doors. One was locked, but the other had been improperly secured. He said she was recaptured within minutes.
According to West Sacramento Lt. Tod Sockman, a call for medical aid was received for a home on Marston Street about 7 p.m. Wednesday. As the father, who has health issues, was being loaded into an ambulance, his daughter, Dodd, stormed back into the home and locked her mother out of the house.
Police tried to talk to the daughter to let the mother back into the house. Eventually, the daughter returned outside, grabbed her mother and pulled her into the house. Sockman said Dodd, who also lived at the home, had two warrants and possessed weapons.
At one point Wednesday night, police threw a cell phone into the home to try to communicate with Dodd. They also called in hostage negotiators and SWAT officers.
West Sacramento police could see inside the house. They knew that Dodd had slit her wrists.
All along, Dodd had refused to give up. Police could view her holding a handgun all night, Sockman said.
About 4:15 a.m. SWAT officers went inside and took Dodd into custody. Her mother was OK and Dodd was treated for her self-inflicted injury.
Dodd already has outstanding warrants for domestic violence and possession of stolen property.
"We tried to do everything we could to get her to come out," he said.
Steele said Dodd was arrested for suspicion of false imprisonment and attempted escape.
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