Watch CBS News

Report: Michaele Salahi not kidnapped, shacked up with rocker

Tareq and Michaele Salahi attend the Bud Light Hotel Playboy Party on Feb. 4, 2011, in Dallas. Getty

Updated 10:43 p.m. EDT

(CBS) Former "The Real Housewives of DC" star Michaele Salahi told a sheriff's deputy that she is with a "good friend" and has not been abducted, according to authorities.

According to the Washington Post, that good friend is Journey guitarist Neal Schon, 57. Michaele is apparently currently with him at a concert tour stop in Memphis. (Journey, the Post reports, had played at Salahi-run polo matches in recent years.)

Warren County, Va., Sheriff's Office released a statement on Wednesday saying that after her husband, Tareq, reported her as abducted, Michaele Salahi spoke to one of its officers and "seemed calm, was engaged in conversation, and assured the deputy that she had left the residence with a good friend and was where she wanted to be."

The statement continues: "Mrs. Salahi advised that she did not want Mr. Salahi to know where she was. Mrs. Salahi advised Deputy Glavis that she was very sorry that the Sheriff's Office had to be involved, but she did not want to be home right now."

The sheriff's office added that it is working with the FBI "in an attempt to make additional contact with Mrs. Salahi to assure her well being."

Tareq Salahi, said through his manager earlier Wednesday that he had not seen his wife since Tuesday morning and feared she had been kidnapped.

"It is our belief as of last night, Michaele Salahi may have been kidnapped or abducted and is being held under duress and forced to tell persons, including authorities, she is OK," manager Gina Rodriguez told CNN.

Salahi contacted local authorizes but was concerned that they were not taking the case seriously, according to reports, and also contacted the FBI.

He reportedly last saw his wife at 11 a.m. at their Virginia home when she was leaving for a hair appointment and a dance class. She did not make either appointment, Rodriguez said.

She later called her husband from an unfamiliar phone number and said she was going to her mother's house, reports say.

Warren County Sheriff's Dept. told Tareq Salahi that they received a call from his wife saying that she was fine and was just dealing with some "family issues," according to TMZ. The husband told the website that he believed she had been forced to make the call by her abductor.

The Salahis are perhaps best known for allegedly crashing a White House state dinner in 2009.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.