Strange incident in the woods

[Livelaughlovesigns]

It’s still playing on my mind and was just really odd.

Today, Dh and I took Dd, 5 and our dog in the woods/fields by our home. All was fine and we were heading back home, I was walking ahead keeping track of our dog and Dh was with Dd (she walks slowly, wants to stop to play/have adventures etc)
I saw a person walking behind Dh who was swaying from side to side and just seemed very odd, I felt a bit strange and started to call to Dd to run to me (as in a game-run as fast as you can/who’s the winner type thing) Dh had also noticed and started to walk more quickly, he then picked her up and started to hurry to me and we got to an open part where there were houses and cars. Dd was getting upset and shouting about why he picked her up etc and we were watching this person in the distance acting so strangely, staggering everywhere and then suddenly running.
A man came up talking on his phone (Russian I think and looking around everywhere) Dh asked him if he was looking for someone, the man didn’t speak English, so Dh started motioning towards the woods where the person had ran ( Dh says it was a woman)
Dh then went with the man to show him where she was and Dh said he saw this man find her
We explained to Dd, without trying to scare her.
As we were walking back we were discussing it and saying why did we try to run away, why didn’t we try to help them.
It was just a really really odd situation, we in these woods almost daily, nothing ever happens.

I keep wondering about this woman and what on earth had happened to her, Dh thinks she may have been drunk because of New year and wandered back and lost her way (the woods are next to the beach)

Would you have done the same thing? My initial feeling was fear and to get dd away

@ItAintGonnaGoDownEasyIfItAintCheezy It didn’t occur to me at all, they were both older, my parents age, my first thought was she was drunk/unwell /lost and he was worried and trying to find her
we thought we’d helped and done the right thing

It's only a snapshot of a situation which appeared to be weird - a thread can't really help.

If you do have concerns about welfare you could try 101 but it's not much to go on.

Dh is going to call them, we thought we were doing the right thing

Alone with a child you have a point. However there were two adults, one could take the child, the other could check if the woman needed help.

She could have dementia

Sorry I’ve not explained this well I don’t think, the man wasn’t chasing her/she wasn’t running away from him. He came up from the street in a car, on his phone to her trying to find her, she was clearly lost and he was worried, he was an older man (almost grandfather type age and clearly worried)

How on earth do you know she hadn’t run away from him. You don’t. None of what you have written indicates she was or was not running away from him. So he was older, worried and had a car? And? Maybe she escaped from his basement after being held captive for 20 years, so yes, he was worried and looking for her? Or, maybe not.

Uh?? So who was running then? And if it was someone who was genuinely looking for someone then why post on here? None of what you say makes sense at all. Even you say you haven’t explained properly but have not bothered to give a better explained version! Just very weird op!

@Kalevala Thats what we did though. I stayed with Dd and dog and Dh went to her , albeit with this man, which as I say we thought was the right thing at the time

He was on the phone to her trying to find her and she was obviously lost and drunk by the looks of it and needed help. We thought this was the right thing to do

Or drugged and trafficked and managed to escape, until you helpfully got her back to her captor?

Ok the comments are really worrying me now, the situation was just really odd and we weren’t sure what to do or what was happening at all.

It all seemed completely genuine, the man was older and seemed very concerned etc

OP, I see in the moment you thought you'd done the right thing, and I do understand why you and your dd needed to get away. But I do think your dh should have considered that she didn't want to be found by the man, for whatever reason. Men who keep women in basements etc often drug them to keep them quiet. Having said that, they don't usually furnish them with a mobile phone....

No one knows exactly what has happened here but it all seems a bit dodgy.

1. Why was the woman staggering around in the woods alone?
2. You didn't mention she was on her phone?
3. How did you know the man was looking for her? Especially as you said he wasn't speaking English.

All seems really odd. I can understand why you were a bit freaked out. Hope she is safe.

She could have been unwell due to having diabetes, a UTI, Alzheimer’s etc. Lots of things make people behave strangely.

I think it’s understandable you were anxious about your child and wanted to get her out of the way. Even if it’s not rational it’s very normal to be hyper cautious as a parent.

You said your husband initially hurried away from the woman towards your child and yourself? He should have stopped and waited to see if she needed help!

This. If she was staggering she could have been doing so bc of hunger, enforced drugs, thirst, physical abuse, etc. I would call the cops as this woman could have been punished if she was actually being held against her will.

Yet you helpfully led this man to her, despite "not knowing what was happening at all".
Although 5 minutes ago you were adamant that they were on the phone to each other, trying to find each other??

Op I have just read your post again and you clearly say the women was staggering and then all of a sudden running so why are you now denying saying they were running! How do you know she wasn’t running away from him???
et me get this straight, a woman appeared drunk and staggering and all of a sudden started running! A man was on his phone who appeared to be looking for her but didn’t speak English! He could have been anyone and your DH told him were to find her? What makes your DH think he was doing the right thing by leading a random man (who you don’t know what, if any association he has with this woman or why he appeared to be looking for her) to where this woman was?

Drip feed.

This story changes so often I can’t keep up

You don’t know she wasn’t trying to get away from him. She may have been trying to avoid drawing attention to herself by running. And an older man is no less likely to be a danger to a woman than a younger one.

I don't want to have a go at you because you are getting a bit of a hard time over it but I don't really understand the dramatic way you've described it. With all the 'they' and 'them' staggering about and you being so scared for your DD. I honestly thought that you were maybe thinking she'd been mortally wounded or something but basically it was probably a drunk woman in the woods, who probably needed some help?

Bless you op, you are being interrogated by the mn police. Everything that you say will be dissected.

I would have been scared too.

OP I can understand your recollection might be unclear

I also understand you are not in charge of your husband’s actions

but he actually pointed out where this man could find a woman who was possibly trying to hide in the woods. That’s awful. He should have just called the police, not helped the man. Bizarre.

Well he’s not exactly going to say “oh sorry I kidnapped her and was about to harm her but she ran away”!!! Of course he’s going to sound genuine!!