Handcuffed in the trunk of a car, Ezra K. Kualaau called his mother on his cell phone and fired a volley of text messages in the hope of rescue.

“;I'm gonna die, Mom,”; Kualaau said in a text message Saturday night. “;I do not know where I at. … I love you Mommy.”;

But Kualaau, 17, did not die. Honolulu police stopped the vehicle and set him free.

The two men charged with kidnapping Kualaau are scheduled to appear in Honolulu District Court today.

Bladesin-Isaiah Bailey and Andrew Josiah Rodriguez, both 19, have been charged with kidnapping and second-degree assault in the incident Saturday. Bail was set at $20,000 for each.

From an unspecified source, police received a report of a kidnapping at 9:40 p.m. Saturday fronting 98-1560 Kaahumanu St. in Aiea and a description of the white car. Kualaau had mentioned a white Impala in a text to his mom.

Using a cell phone, Kualaau reached police dispatch from the trunk.

Police said dispatch was able to get a single “;ping”; from Kualaau's cell phone to determine that the vehicle was in the vicinity of Salt Lake Boulevard and Ala Ilima Street.

Police patrol officers saw two men in a car fitting the vehicle's description heading west on Salt Lake Boulevard and stopped the car at Bougainville Drive at 11:03 p.m. Kualaau identified Bailey and Rodriguez as the two men who assaulted him, handcuffed him, forced him into the trunk and drove off, police said.