A
15-year-old Minnesota girl thought she was being of help to a friend's
father but instead got kidnapped and was held captive for 29 days.
During the period of her captivity, she was repeatedly raped, tied up
with zip ties and locked in a closet.
The
girl finally escaped and swam across a lake to safety, prosecutors said
on Thursday in announcing charges against three men.
Court documents
detail instances in which the girl said she believed that the men were
trying to kill her, including when she fought back as one of them tried
to push her underwater in a bathtub, and another when a cord or rope was
placed around her neck and she was forced to hang until she couldn't
breathe.
Weeks
into her captivity, police knocked on the door of the mobile home where
she was being held to investigate a report of stolen property, but no
one answered. After that, the men told the girl to get into a duffel
bag, loaded her in the back of a truck, and moved her to an abandoned
home in rural, western Minnesota.
She
escaped from the home on Tuesday when the men left her alone for the
first time in nearly a month as they went to get pizza. She knocked on
nearby doors, then swam across part of a lake, losing her pants and
shoes in the water, and flagged down a farmer for help and she was
reunited with her family on the same day.
Three
men were charged with multiple counts on Thursday. Thomas Barker, 32,
of Carlos, Minnesota, and Steven Powers, 20, of Benson, were charged
with kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, and false imprisonment. Joshua
Holby, 31, of Carlos was charged with kidnapping and false
imprisonment.
According
to the criminal complaint, Barker, who is the girl's friend's
dad, kidnapped the girl from her home in Alexandria, about 214
kilometers northwest of Minneapolis, on Aug. 8 by tricking her into
thinking he needed her to talk to his son, who was misbehaving. Since
his son is her friend, she agreed to help, leaving her phone behind.
Prosecutors
say Barker drove the girl to his mobile home in Carlos, about 9 miles
away, restrained her and sexually assaulted her, brandishing a firearm
and threatening to kill her. The girl told police that shortly after her
abduction, Barker, who has cerebral palsy and is physically-impaired,
put her in a bathtub while she was restrained with zip ties and she
believes that he tried to drown her but she fought back.
In
a second incident, the girl told police, she was put in a duffel bag
that Holby and Barker put in the bathtub, but she stuck her head out of a
hole in the bag. She told police that in another incident, a rope or
cord was placed around her neck and she was required to stand on a
bucket, the complaint said.
"She
stated that Holby then forced her off of the bucket and she described a
period in which she could not breathe," the complaint said. She said
Powers also forced her to snort a line of "white powder."
The
criminal complaint says Powers arrived at the home about two weeks into
the girl's abduction and was told not to go into Barker's room when
Barker and Holby left the residence. But Powers became curious, went
into the bedroom and found the girl in the locked closet.
"Powers did not free (her), nor did he contact law enforcement," the complaint said.
The complaint says the girl had a television set and fan in the closet, and food and water were brought to her.
The
farmer who found her told police he saw something moving in a field of
tall grass about 300 yards away from him, then realized it was a female
running toward him — wet and wearing no pants or shoes. When she got
closer, the farmer recognized her as the girl pictured in missing-person
fliers in the area. The girl said she needed the cops "now" and he
called 911 while she got into his truck and hid, the complaint said.
According
to the complaint, Barker told police that he had used methamphetamine
and alcohol, but he denied knowing the girl or picking her up. Barker
also said that Powers had been with the girl, but that he had not and he
declined to answer more questions, the complaint said.
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