Approximately two hours later, McDonald's then estranged husband Harry Karl also received a call from a male who sounded "like a nervous young kid" also informing him not to call police if he wanted to see McDonald alive again. While McDonald was supposedly being held by her abductors at another home, she telephoned her agent Harold Plant, actor Michael Wilding (whom she was dating at the time), and columnist Harrison Carroll. McDonald told Carroll that two men kidnapped her from her house, demanded that she give them her ring and money and gave her "a shot of something". McDonald later said one of the men discovered her making the call to Carroll; he then took the phone from her, slapped her, blindfolded her and loaded her into a car. According to McDonald, the two men drove with her for some time and discussed taking her to a house in Mexico but, after hearing reports of her kidnapping on the radio, decided against this idea and dumped her on the side of the road. On January 5, a truck driver discovered McDonald on a highway near Indio, California. After being rescued, McDonald told police that on January 4, "two swarthy men" came to her house brandishing a sawed-off gun demanding that she open the door or they would shoot into the bedrooms of her children. After entering the home, McDonald said the two men took some jewelry, prepared a note and discussed demanding a $30,000 ransom for her return. The men then allowed McDonald to put on a robe and slippers and pack a small carrying case. They then forced McDonald into their car where she claimed she was blindfolded and driven to a home. At the home, McDonald said the men forced her to swallow pills which made her drowsy. She also claimed that she was able to make the three phone calls when the men left the room. A doctor who examined McDonald discovered she had two cracked teeth, bruises on her face and abrasions on her neck, legs and cheek but was otherwise unharmed. The doctor concluded that McDonald's injuries were not consistent with the supposed assault she claimed the two men inflicted on her. Police immediately began to doubt McDonald's story, which changed several times. Those doubts were furthered when it was discovered that the newspapers that the supposed two abductors used to construct the note found in McDonald's mailbox were found in McDonald's fireplace. Upon searching McDonald's home, police found a copy of the novel "The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown", by Sylvia Tate.