PALATKA, Fla. -- A woman who police were told was beaten and left for dead has contacted the Putnam County Sheriff's Office to say she is safe.

Brenda Horn called Thursday night to confirm her identity and say she was alive and well.

Kenneth Tilley, 34, of Daytona Beach, told Putnam and Clay County detectives that he got in an argument with Horn Sunday night, beat her and left her behind a Dumpster at a Bostwick convenience store.

He recanted the story the next day, saying he was trying to get deputies to locate her so she could bail him out of jail.

Maj. Keith Riddick with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said Horn told police she was battered by Tilley last Thursday night before she went to work. Police said she then left Daytona Monday morning with a male friend and has been in the Florida Panhandle since.

Tilley is accused of stealing a car in Volusia County and driving north through Putnam and Clay counties before deputies found him passed out along U.S. Highway 17. He told investigators he had beaten Horn and left her body behind a convenience store in Bostwick.

Riddick said Thursday a friend of Horn's called her and told her of the law enforcement and media attention. Horn, who was traveling on Interstate 10 back to Daytona, was asked to call law enforcement to assure her she was safe.

Riddick said Horn stopped at a highway patrol emergency phone just outside of Tallahassee. An FHP trooper confirmed her identity.

Tilley was being held on an auto-theft charge. Deputies are considering adding charges of false report of a crime.