Mystery deepens in search for reportedly kidnapped Vallejo woman

VALLEJO, Calif. (KTVU) -- Search teams took to the waters off Mare Island Tuesday night in their effort to locate any sign of a 29-year-old Vallejo woman who police have been told was kidnapped and is being held for ransom.

Vallejo police said that Tuesday night, search dogs picked up a scent in the water. Despite the darkness, a dive team is focusing on that area as the search went into the night.

"Well, we don't know exactly what it is, but our search dogs did seem to key in and have interest in a certain area of the water," said Vallejo Police Lt. Kenny Park. "We have deployed the sonar and we're looking into it to determine what that object might be."

A dive team using sonar equipment searched the area near the Hwy 37 bridge, but it's not known if they turned up anything related to the case of Denise Huskins.

The physical therapist was reportedly kidnapped Monday from her boyfriend's home on Kirkland Avenue.

Police would not confirm that her boyfriend is the person who alerted them to the abduction.

Investigators would only say that a man told them Huskins was forcibly removed from the home early Monday morning and that there was a ransom demand.

Police weren't notified until several hours later, around 2 p.m. Officials would not offer an explanation for the delay in reporting.

They found a Toyota Camry that was removed from the house at an undisclosed location. It's registered to Huskins' boyfriend.

Both Huskins' dad and uncle flew in from Orange County to talk with police about the investigation.

"We have all the same types of questions everyone has," said Huskins' uncle Jeff Kane. "We want to know what happened and we want to know where she is and how the family can get her back."

More than 100 searchers from several agencies, including the FBI, fanned out across Mare Island Tuesday with detectives combing through the home and removing potential evidence.

The foot searches have been suspended with efforts now focused on the nearby waters.

As another day passed without any sign of his daughter, Mike Huskins' worry grows still he's hopeful she'll be found.

"I know the kind of person she is. She's fighting, I know that," he said. "That gives me confidence."