Two U.S. Forest Service employees kidnapped while working in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Gumboot Lake Campground Thursday morning were released after 1 a.m. Friday after being held for more than 12 hours, officials said. Authorities said the workers were zip-tied and held at gunpoint inside a trailer near Gumboot Lake.
U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said the employees were conducting field work and called the incident a "frightening experience for everyone involved." He said, "They weren't patrolling there, they were just going to do their work. It was just seasonal work they would do on a regular basis," and added, "I want to say how profoundly grateful and relieved that we are that our two employees were released safely. Their well-being continues to be our highest priority."
Federal charging documents filed Friday accuse Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, and Phoenix Henrichsen, 23, of kidnapping a federal employee and aiding and abetting. The men appeared in federal court in Sacramento on Monday and did not enter pleas, and a preliminary examination was scheduled for Aug. 3. Prosecutors have said the charges could carry a life sentence if convicted; Henrichsen also faces a potential $250,000 fine.
An affidavit alleges the two victims were Forest Service biologists conducting research for a study on frog habitats when Joseph Henrichsen approached them near Gumboot Lake Campground about 290 miles north of San Francisco. The filing says Joseph, carrying an AR-15-style rifle, zip-tied the biologists' hands behind their backs, ordered them to a nearby trailer where Phoenix joined him, and at one point put a woman into the Forest Service Nissan the pair had been riding in and drove her several miles away.
The affidavit says Joseph used the woman's phone to make several calls and left a message for a federal forest ranger that said, "I've taken two fed biologists hostage from the Forest Service," and that during the standoff he told negotiators he had a grenade and threatened to use it if officers did not back away. Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, said by email Monday she was "not able to go beyond what is included in that filing."
Authorities said negotiators were ultimately able to get the kidnappers to release the victims after 1 a.m. Friday, before the suspects surrendered. The 49-year-old suspect and his adult son surrendered around 2:30 a.m. Friday and walked out of the trailer carrying an assault rifle and knives; Brian Tosh, acting special agent in charge for the FBI's Sacramento field office, said that at the time of their surrender Joseph Henrichsen "had an AR-15 and knives, and claimed to have grenades."
Multiple local and federal agencies responded to the remote scene, and law enforcement dispatched SWAT, hostage negotiators, a bomb squad and snipers; officials said it was a little after 4 p.m. Thursday before direct negotiations began. Deputies from the Siskiyou County Sheriff's office reached the area around noon Thursday, deployed drones to help locate the trailer and began calling additional law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Scanner audio captured tense moments as the FBI negotiated with a man who identified himself on the air as Charles Perry, later identified as Joseph Charles Henrichsen. In the audio the man directed negotiators to meet him near Gumboot Lake saying, "I have two biologists in my custody right now ... I'm requesting FBI investigators speak to [me] so that I can release these hostages." A negotiator identifying himself as Russell is heard repeatedly trying to reach the campsite and following Henrichsen's directions, and telling agents they would drive as close as the team would allow and would not point guns as they approached.
Officials said they could not confirm whether the suspects owned or resided in the trailer and that investigators do not yet have a motive. Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said the remoteness of the trailer presented challenges for law enforcement, noting the rough terrain and one-lane roads in that part of Northern California.
Authorities identified the younger suspect as Phoenix, 23, and said neither man had a prior history with local law enforcement in Siskiyou County. Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said at a news conference Friday that the suspects were not known to law enforcement.
Court and property records show Joseph Henrichsen lived in Orange County for several years and that he was arrested in Whatcom County, Washington, in 2022. He has previously been described in that case as having a "spiraling mental health condition" and was accused of harassing homeowners of Russian and Ukrainian descent; the Washington case was dismissed because the state was unable to provide psychiatric treatment to Joseph in a timely manner. Records also indicate Phoenix attended Bellingham High School in Washington, and a person with Joseph's name previously owned a mortgage business whose licenses were later suspended.
It was not clear whether the two defendants had legal counsel, court records showed.