ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- A Palm Coast woman was in critical condition at Flagler Hospital after law enforcement officials were told she was abducted from Flagler County, beaten, bound and forced to participate in a pagan ritual in St. Johns County.

Michelle Wood, 42, was found early Monday morning lying beside the road in the 9100 block of U.S. 1 South. The deputies who responded said her face appeared to be severely beaten, her eyes were bruised and swollen shut. Her top lip was swollen, her shirt covered in blood and still had a piece of nylon rope around her right wrist and a bungee cord around her left ankle and her belt loop.

Wood told the deputies a story that began when five guys stopped her Saturday on her way home from church, put a gun to her head and forced her to drive to a home in Bunnell where a drug party was going on.

She said a teenager she didn't know was tied up inside the house and they threatened to kill him if she didn't cooperate and she was attacked by a woman with a knife when she refused to participate in a devil worship ceremony.

She said she got away, but they caught up with her again on Sunday, tying her up and putting her in the cargo area of a metallic blue SUV.

"A couple of them stayed in the back with me, holding me down," she is quoted as saying in the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office offense report.

Wood said she was once a member of a Santeria Voodoo group and she believes some of her attackers were members of that group. They practice a religion practiced in the caribbean, Haiti and Cuba which includes animal sacrifices.

She said that after about 40 minutes, they took her into a field, where they were building a fire and "preparing a circle." She told deputies they were preparing for the Autumn Equinox and they needed her there.

Wood said the next thing she remembered, she woke up in the woods, used a pocket knife to cut the ropes from her wrists, called 911 with her cell phone and crawled to the road.

She said she left the group about nine months ago and began attending a Christian church. "They did this to me because I left the family and they want me back," Wood told deputies.

Officials said there was no evidence of brain damage to Wood and a blood test showed no evidence of drugs. Records show that Wood was previously forced to seek mental health services because she was suicidal.

While the Flagler County Sheriff's Office is the lead agency in the criminal investigation, St. Johns County authorities are looking into the possibility of cult activity in the area.

"The report, again, speaks volumes about what occurred and, obviously, it does involve some cult stuff," SJCSO Sgt. Chuck Mulligan said on Tuesday. "Flagler county deputies will be looking into that to decide what happens to this lady."