Husband of missing woman arrested after she is found safe

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A Virginia husband has been arrested after reporting his wife missing earlier this week.

Mark Ditto told police that he was worried when his wife, 41-year-old Connie Ditto, never returned home after going to a clinic on Tuesday.

“She said she wasn’t feeling well and was going to go to a walk-in clinic,” he said.

Police told Mark that his wife checked in at the medical clinic on Tuesday night but left before her name was called.

Connie texted Mark from the clinic and told him not to come. She said she was being sent to the hospital for X-rays. Mark later learned that was not true and she left before seeing a doctor. Her cell phone was turned off after that final text exchange.

On Friday, authorities found Connie when a license plate reader identified her vehicle at an Extended Stay America Hotel.

Officers say she was not harmed and was hiding from her husband because he allegedly assaulted her last week.

At that point, Connie took out a protective order against her husband and Mark Ditto was arrested for assault.

Ditto says the allegations are totally false and stem from an incident when his wife was drunk and he was trying to take her car keys so she wouldn’t drive.

 “I’m totally floored. We as a family are very happy Connie was found unharmed. I’m very sad and sorry for her apparent health problems. I’m very disappointed by what she’s put her family through and all the people across the country who supported her search,” Ditto told WTVR.

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