SISKIYOU COUNTY, CA — Armed with an AR-15 rifle, Joseph Charles Henrichsen walked up to two U.S. Forest Service biologists researching frogs in a remote area of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and demanded they turn around with their hands in the air, federal authorities wrote in a court complaint filed last week.
Henrichsen, 49, grabbed their wrists and ziptied the biologists' hands together before taking them to a nearby trailer where he had been staying with his 23-year-old son Phoenix Henrichsen, according to the complaint.
For the next 15 hours, the elder Henrichsen held the biologists, two women bound and hostage inside the trailer, while demanding to talk with the FBI, according to the complaint.
At some point, he separated the women, taking one on a miles-long drive through the forest towards Lake Siskiyou, where he called a forest ranger on the phone and told them he had taken the biologists hostage, according to the complaint.
"I'm driving in the ranger vehicle right now," Henrichsen said in the call, according to the complaint. "Say hi to [Victim 1]."
The biologist can be heard briefly before Henrichsen continues, saying he had "live rounds ready to (expletive) [inaudible] anyone who (expletive) with me," according to the complaint.
The complaint offers new details on the harrowing ordeal on July 16, which, according to authorities, left the two biologists shaken and officials searching for a motive behind the abduction.
Henrichsen and his son were charged Monday with kidnapping federal employees, as well as aiding and abetting, according to the Department of Justice.
They appeared in court shackled and wearing orange jail-issued jumpsuits as a judge read the charges against them, according to the Sacramento Bee, which first reported the details of the kidnapping in the complaint.
Years before Henrichsen was accused of kidnapping and holding hostage the two biologists in California, he was living in Whatcom County, Washington, and went by "Charles Perry," according to a report from the Bellingham Herald.
There, Henrichsen was arrested in 2022 after officials said he threw fireworks at his landlord's property, left a vulgar message and handcuffs at their front door and walked around "angrily" while carrying a gun, according to the report.
Officials suggested Henrichsen targeted his landlord because of his race and charged him with a hate crime, according to the report.
Henrichsen denied targeting his landlord because of his race and told officials he did so because the landlord supposedly was preventing him from getting lumber scraps, according to the report.
That, along with a few other run-ins with deputies in the days before, led officials to believe Henrichsen's mental health was "spiraling," according to the report.
Family members, meanwhile, told a state psychologist that Henrichsen's increasingly suspicious and hostile behavior started after his ex-wife died, according to the Spokesman-Review.
A judge ordered Henrichsen to be admitted to an inpatient psychiatric facility. But the case against Henrichsen was dismissed four months later after county officials failed to have him admitted into the facility, according to the Spokesman-Review.
It's unclear when Henrichsen arrived in Siskiyou County with Phoenix.
Authorities suggest the two had been staying in a small trailer near where the biologists were studying frogs. A photo shows the setup of the trailer, including towels seemingly hung to dry, a worn-down yellow-green lawn chair, a gray tarp and other miscellaneous items strewn about.
Inside the trailer, Henrichsen ordered Phoenix to clear space for the biologists to sit down. Phoenix complied, and the women were kept hostage until Henrichsen got what he wanted: the FBI.
"So what I’d like to have happen, I’d like to have you send me a (expletive) fed investigator, with a goddamn badge, preferabl[y] from the FBI," Henrichsen said during the call earlier with a forest ranger. "And we can talk things through a little bit."
The federal complaint doesn't say why Henrichsen wanted to talk with the FBI. During the 15-hour standoff, the local Sheriff's Office mobilized deputies and a special response team, using drones to find the trailer.
Negotiations with Henrichsen began around 4:20 p.m. By then, the biologists had been held hostage for more than five hours.
During this time, Henrichsen told law enforcement that he had weapons and a grenade and that he'd use it if they didn't back away from the trailer, according to the complaint.
Henrichsen also pleaded for authorities to call a friend who would be able to take care of his son, according to the federal complaint.
Nearly nine more hours passed before Henrichsen let the hostages go, authorities. His son would then surrender around 2:30 a.m., followed by Henrichsen five minutes later, according to the complaint.
Brian Tosh, the active special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento field office, commended local law enforcement for their roles in helping secure the release of the hostages.
Situations like these, Tosh said, don't often end with everyone leaving the scene safely.
"We are so proud of these survivors and are beyond grateful for their release," said Brian Tosh, the active special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento field office. "Both are resting and will need some time to process this experience."
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