Father and son charged with violent kidnapping of US federal biologists
The conspiracy theories are sure to ramp up once again, with a father and son duo being charged over the violent kidnapping of two U.S. federal biologists.
Almost as quickly as it appeared, the wild story about a spate of unexplained government disappearances and deaths seemed to disappear.
Even President Donald Trump vowed to look into the concerning pattern, with several of these big names connected to covert work in the aerospace industry.
This latest story isn't connected to the above, but it sure gets you thinking about the safety of government employees and the information they might have.
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As reported by NBC, 49-year-old Joseph Charles Henrichsen and 23-year-old Phoenix Henrichsen have been charged with kidnapping the pair of US Forest Service researchers at gunpoint.
The workers were held hostage and zip-tied for nearly 15 hours in Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California, leading to a standoff with local law enforcement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California says Joseph Henrichsen had used one of the victims' phones to make a call, informing officers he had "live rounds ready to [expletive] anyone who [expletives] with me."
Although unnamed, it's said that the biologists had been carrying out research into frog habitats when they were attacked. At least one of them was a woman, with Joseph Henrichsen placing her in the back of the Forest Service Nissan they'd driven in, taking her several miles away, and making calls.
Joseph Henrichsen reportedly wanted to speak to the FBI and held the workers hostage in a trailer. It's believed that he had an AR-15 on his person and also claimed to have live grenades. Officers were told to move back from the trailer as he threatened to use one of the grenades.
The Henrichsens appeared in federal court in Sacramento but didn't enter pleas to charges of kidnapping a federal employee and aiding and abetting.
Charging documents don't list a motive for the kidnapping, while it's believed that Joseph Henrichsen lives some 580 miles away from where the incident took place, with a known address in Orange County.
Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue reiterated that neither of the suspects was known to law enforcement.
NBC notes that Joseph Henrichsen was arrested in Whatcom County, Washington, in 2022. The Bellingham Herald says he was accused of throwing fireworks at a neighbor's house, with the landlord being of Russian and Ukrainian descent.
Henrichsen apparently walked around with a gun, left homemade handcuffs, and wrote a note saying “Assassinate Vlad Putin."
The case included a hate crime charge but was dismissed because the state couldn't provide psychiatric treatment in good time.
As for the kidnapping of the biologists, Lauren Horwood, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, simply said: "I am not able to go beyond what is included in that filing.
If found guilty, Joseph and Phoenix Henrichsen could face a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
It's unclear whether either of them has legal counsel, although a preliminary examination is now scheduled for August 3.