According to CBS News, the mother of missing woman Alycia Yeoman received anonymous texts following her daughter's disappearance. The content of those texts demanded ransom money in exchange for information leading to Aly's whereabouts. The texts claimed that the 20-year-old college coed had been kidnapped.
Come to find out, the ransom texts were all just a hoax concocted by someone who clearly has too much time on his hands. Police have tracked him down, and confirmed that the suspect has nothing to do with the disappearance of Alycia Yeoman. This development comes as both a disappointment and as a relief. It's disappointing that police manpower and time that could have been used to search for Alycia, has been wasted on a dead end -- a dead end perpetrated by a troll who has nothing to do with this case. It's a relief, however, that (as far as we know) Alycia has not been kidnapped and held for ransom.
Of course, with it being nearly two weeks since the California woman vanished, it's hard to determine what may have happened to her. The vehicle that she was last seen driving has been discovered, though, which is always indicative of bad news to come.