Six people in Texas are accused of kidnapping and torturing a Maine woman they met online.
Felicity Emanuelle Walker, 22, Summer Syler Lawrence, 45, Breonna Cheyenne Johnson, 22, Amanda Marie Andrews, 22, Shayne Joseph Anderson, 30, and Charles K. Bryant, 21, all of Texas, were charged with aggravated kidnapping, according to ABC affiliate KLTV.
The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office found the Maine woman Tuesday in a wooded area in Athens, Texas.
“You see tragedy pretty much on a weekly basis here in this line of work, but this is one of the cases that you’ll never forget. It’s not something you see often,” Henderson County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse told KLTV.
Hillhouse said the woman reportedly met the six suspects online and was living with them since November.
Hillhouse told KLTV he does not know why, but she tried to leave the home about a week ago.
“When she wanted to leave, they wouldn’t let her and then they basically just tortured her, and assaulted her, and kept her there,” Hillhouse told KLTV.
Hillhouse told KLTV the suspects had shaved the word “rape” into the woman’s hair. The woman’s eyes and face appeared to be bruised, bloody and swollen. She also had bruises and cuts all over her body.
“She wasn’t in good shape. She did have visible injuries on her hands from a wax sealer. They were putting cigarettes out on her,” Hillhouse said.
She is being treated for her injuries.
“She basically informed us that she had been held hostage for over a week,” Hillhouse told KLTV.
The suspects are all being held at the Henderson County Jail on $500,000 bail.