Police have slapped a Virginia man with assault charges after finding his wife who had vanished several days earlier and sent a strange text that prompted a massive search.

Mark Ditto, 49, was charged with domestic assault after police found the wife, 41-year-old Connie Ditto, at a motel, according to a Fox News report.

Connie Ditto had sent her husband a text saying she was checking into a hospital for a head injury she had suffered a week ago. When police found her, they had probable cause to arrest Mark Ditto on domestic assault charges, Henrico County police said according to the report.

Authorities believe there was an incident a week before she disappeared, but they would not say whether it was the reason she disappeared in the first place.

The woman was found thanks to a license plate reader that recognized her plate. She was at an Extended Stay America Hotel north of Richmond at the time. Afterward, she got an order of protection against her husband.

The woman had told police she was hiding from her husband because he was abusive to her. However, Mark Ditto has denied the allegations. He accuses Connie Ditto of being drunk and that he and his daughters had tried to take her car keys.

Connie Ditto apparently visited the Patient First clinic complaining of head pain on Tuesday, but left the clinic before her name was called to receive X-rays.

Mark Ditto and her daughters went to the clinic and other hospitals looking for her and then filed a police report when they could not find her.