My friend and I try to check in on my other friends that are driving home from work, unaware of the creepy man who was following them until it was too late.

This happened years ago when I was still in high school, but I’m still shaken up about it. Let me tell you guys first, I have a bunch of friends that work at a fast food restaurant near my house. I’m the designated driver, as the place closes really late and it isn’t safe for my friends to walk home alone at night, so I would pick them up. I would also always text them at the end of their shifts to make sure they get home safe.<br><br>On one particular night, I received a text from one of my coworkers/friend, let’s call her Emma that read: <br><br>“I’m glad I have you to check in on me every night. I never noticed how bad it is until tonight.” <br><br>I asked Emma what she meant, and she told me that a man followed her until she was a few blocks away from her house. I grew worried and immediately texted the rest of my coworkers to see if the same thing happened to them. Sure enough, they all had the same situation- a man in a black vehicle with tinted windows would follow them from work until they were only blocks away from home. <br><br>By this time, I became extremely worried. I texted Emma back and asked her if she remembered any details from the license plate, to which she replied “Of course! The plate read “ILUVMEE”- the creepy part was that it was an Illinois state plate, but the man had a Detroit red wings hat in his car. Also, the license plate said it was from Texas, not Michigan, so I have no idea what’s going on there.”<br><br>My first thought was “wow, I’m glad she got the plate number” but my second thought was “wait, why does the man have a Detroit red wings hat when his car is from Texas?” I immediately texted my friend that we think the he might be driving a stolen car, which would also explain why he had Texas plates in Illinois. <br><br>The next morning, I went to the police station (with the license plate info written down on a piece of paper) and filed a missing persons report for a man with the license plate “ILUVMEE.” The police were very confused at first because, as you guessed it- the man with the plate number “ILUVMEE” was not actually missing, it was his car that was stolen. The man who owned the car was a resident of Texas, but his car was stolen while he was in Chicago for work, as the thief broke into his car, stole his spare key, and drove off with the car. <br><br>With this information, they tracked down my friends one by one in order to find out where the thief was, and eventually found him at a rest stop in Indiana. They found my friends phone and wallet in the center console of the car, and she was reported missing by her worried parents. <br><br>The police told me that the man was most likely targeting fast food workers, as he knew that they would be leaving at a certain hour of the night. He also knew that they would be walking alone, which would make it easy for him to abduct them. The scariest part was that he had already abducted a girl that worked at the McDonald’s just across the street from where we worked, but they found her safe and sound in his car. <br><br>The man’s motives were never disclosed to me (the police just said it was “not safe for a minor to know”) but they told me that the man was arrested and is no longer a threat to society. <br><br>I hope that the guy who kidnapped teenage girls at gunpoint from fast food restaurants is in prison for a long time, and I also hope that he never encounters any of you- that is why this guy will always be on my “Let’s Not Meet” list.