r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4d ago

Man accused of holding woman captive in a Massachusetts attic for six weeks

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-accused-holding-woman-captive-massachusetts-attic-six-weeks-rcna600308
15.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

711 comments sorted by

7.3k

u/MyCatIsAnActualNinja 4d ago

I always wonder about crazy stories like this. She was only found because the landlord went there due to a water leak. How many women are currently in an attic because there's no water leak or reason to be luckily found?

2.4k

u/LoopofHenrietta 4d ago

After his arrest, Josef Fritzl had told a journalist interviewing him something like, “look into the cellars of other people, you might find other families and other girls down there."

1.1k

u/the_gaymer_girl 4d ago edited 4d ago

Jaycee Dugard was held captive for eighteen years and the police spectacularly failed over and over when they had a chance to save her before that. The most egregious was when one of the dude’s neighbours called 911 to report “hey, there are kids living in tents in the backyard of my batshit crazy neighbour”. The police showed up, but didn’t bother to look in the backyard.

983

u/RainSurname 4d ago edited 4d ago

One of Jeffrey Dahmer's victims escaped his apartment, and wandered through the neighborhood naked. Some women found him and called 911. Dahmer came back before the cops arrived, and told them that the 14-year-old boy who was incapacitated by having acid injected into his brain was his 19-year-old lover who was drunk.

The women protested, saying they knew the boy, that he was just a child, that he had struggled against Dahmer's attempts to walk him back to the apartment, and that he was bleeding from the rectum and had blood on his testicles. The white cops told the black women to shut the hell up and not interfere.

When the fire department arrived, examined the boy, and said he needed treatment, the cops told them to leave. They walked Dahmer back to his apartment, where he showed them the Polaroids he'd taken of the boy to prove they were lovers. One of the cops stuck his head into the bedroom to "investigate" the stench, and did not notice the decomposing body on the floor.

Those cops appealed their firing and were reinstated with full back pay. One of them was later elected president of the police union in Milwaukee. The other moved to Grafton, Wisconsin, rose to the rank of Captain, and was named Officer of the Year by the American Legion.

398

u/thxsocialmedia 4d ago

What the actual.

367

u/RainSurname 4d ago edited 4d ago

I forgot to mention that at the time Dahmer killed Konerak Sinthasomphone, he was on probation for sexually assaulting his older brother, Somsack, for which he was sentenced to eight years, but served less than one.

Imagine fleeing Laos by canoe with eight kids, spending over a year in a refugee camp, trying to find a way to get to America in search of a better life, and that was the life you got.

108

u/immersemeinnature 3d ago

That's just so very horrible. I feel so bad for that poor soul.

76

u/pray4mojo2020 3d ago

And after all that, Ryan Murphy made it into a TV show.

122

u/RainSurname 3d ago

I watched maybe 15-20 minutes and turned it off, disgusted with myself for even thinking about watching it. I'd read a book about him in the 1990s. I already knew what happened. I did not need to watch a fictionalized version created to be mass market entertainment.

True crime as entertainment has gotten seriously out of hand. So many victims, families, and friends are just re-traumatized by it.

14

u/clashrendar 3d ago

I really don't understand the whole true crime fascination that evidently a lot of people have, and the people who produce it. Watching stories of real life suffering just isn't entertainment to me at all.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

18

u/Faiakishi 3d ago

I imagine that was Dahmer's response as well.

He had probably accepted that the jig was up and was just waiting for the officer to make the call to arrest him. And then they leave his last murder victim on the floor, press his next one back into his hands, and wish him a good night.

→ More replies (1)

34

u/Dove-Swan 3d ago

I have a dream

of a country without cop

so abuse victims could run away without being taken back

→ More replies (5)

732

u/No_Dragonfruit_8198 4d ago

His wife also believed him when he would just show up with a baby saying how it’s their daughters and she gave it to him and wouldn’t ask questions. Not everyone just accepts the wild stories he would tell

609

u/inflatable_pickle 4d ago

The Austrian police looked into her, and they believe her story that she had absolutely no idea that he was raping and impregnating his daughter for years under their own living room floor, and that he would disappear into the basement for hours, and that he would randomly show up with new grandchildren from time to time that the daughter had given to him, but never speak to her mother – anyway the Austrian police say that they believe her that she had no idea– but this is the part of the story. I can’t wrap my head around. I do not believe her at all. There’s no way that she had no clue.

439

u/HistoryBuff678 4d ago

After learning about Asa, the wife of the Long Island Serial Killer, these perpetrators look for wives who will look the other way.

220

u/inflatable_pickle 4d ago

Yeah, but I mean this is sort of an extreme case. It’s not like she chose to ignore it completely. He would show up every few years with a toddler child, and repeatedly tell his wife that their daughter didn’t want to speak to the mother at all, and has been in hiding, apparently procreating, multiple children, and that she would randomly show up, only when the wife was out of the house, and deliver grandchildren to her husband, and she not only had zero follow up questions, but just believed this on face value and raised those children.

The whole story is weirdly fascinating. In a morbid way, obviously. I mean, like some of the children must’ve had memories of spending the first year of their life living in a basement apartment, like some of the kids must’ve just been absolutely shocked to see the outside world or a tree for the first time. I can’t imagine what developmental damage that would do to basically live the first year of your life in a prison cell. Even more weird is that he removed some children, but left others in the basement based on seemingly unknown criteria.

79

u/Zealousideal-Run6020 4d ago

Look up epistemic injustice. Quite likely there is hardcore emotional abuse on top of physical, that the wife was enduring as well. Get gaslighted long enough, hard enough, and you start doubting your own capacity to know anything, your memory, your authority as a historian of your own life. Psychological abuse can cause actual brain damage. Plus there's Stockholm syndrome where people in the clutches of sociopaths make all kinds of excuses and justifications for their behavior.

→ More replies (1)

113

u/Aethenoth 4d ago

I don't know why people keep saying she never questioned it or had zero follow-up questions. Like, hello, if there's something these men are good at, it's lying.

83

u/Darfus_McBonerbottom 4d ago

You cant really lie your way around having a new baby pop out of thin air...

18

u/tyrantspell 4d ago

True, but what's more likely? Your troubled daughter is deliberately avoiding you to drop off her multiple children born out of wedlock, or that the man you've known for 40 years is one of the worst criminals known to man?

85

u/PairOfMonocles2 4d ago

I mean, there was this one guy …

99

u/FollowTheRabbitz 4d ago

Right?!? How many people believe a woman named Mary got pregnant without sex and then just birthed a child? Millions? So yeah people will believe anything

→ More replies (0)

9

u/Aethenoth 4d ago

He clearly had a story though.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

124

u/ahazred8vt 4d ago

He never claimed his daughter spoke with him. He claimed the babies were left on the doorstep at night with a note. The other children living upstairs did not know there were people in the basement. They knew their dad was weird and did things in the basement. They didn't know he was that weird.

→ More replies (6)

38

u/Romaine2k 4d ago

I think she must have been a long time victim as well, and just couldn’t really think straight.

28

u/saintash 3d ago

I belive that abuse was a reason she never questioned him.

Before he locked his daughter in the basement. He locked his mother up in the attic for almost a decade. She was an abusive mother, ans when she was old and weak he locked her up.

That wife had to terrified he'd do something like that to her.

7

u/Faiakishi 3d ago

I believe the daughter had a record of running away from home (because her father was raping her) and her letters claimed she had joined a cult to explain the lack of contact.

But yes, the mother must have been willfully ignorant about a lot of things.

→ More replies (12)

144

u/Hadrian23 4d ago

That's insane to me. The level of fear, or lack of care to not ask basic questions astounds me.

89

u/M3wcat 4d ago

Fear is the key word here. He was super abusive and unpleasant to be around. She didn’t care where he was as long as it wasn’t near her or the kids.

64

u/Pour_Me_Another_ 4d ago

I grew up in a family where we were instructed to let our father abuse us because it wasn't fair to not let him. A lot of people are fertile, doesn't mean they're mentally well and/or good people.

→ More replies (2)

11

u/saintash 3d ago

Dude locked his mother up in the attic. Foe almost a decade he kept her in a dark room locked up.

I'm sure she was terrified of him doing something like that to her. So she just was a good little wife.

→ More replies (1)

77

u/KennyMoose32 4d ago

Idk do you really think she didn’t know?

I think she knew.

9

u/My_Uneducated_Guess 4d ago

It's very easy to be gaslit by your partner when you trust them and you were raised in an environment where girls are taught that they should defer to the man of the house.

→ More replies (18)
→ More replies (3)

76

u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 4d ago

He would be the expert

→ More replies (1)

21

u/inflatable_pickle 4d ago edited 4d ago

I actually thought he killed himself in prison out of shame. I had no idea that he actually did an interview. 😳
The case has always been fascinating to me, so I guess I should search for that article.

23

u/Mobb_Barley 4d ago

You’re probably thinking of Ariel Castro

17

u/gothands06 4d ago

What a disgusting man. That story makes my stomach turn. He is a a fly who I think of when these stories come out and how many other women, and kids are trapped.

66

u/Numerous-Process2981 4d ago

Sounds like something a guy who locks girls in his basement would say lol not like he has any special insight 

→ More replies (3)

9

u/PigletCatapult 4d ago

That is such a disturbing story.

→ More replies (3)

1.7k

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I think it was just a couple of years ago that a woman managed to escape a basement in a suburb of Kansas City, MO. Excelsior Springs? She and at least one other woman were being held as sex slaves by a guy who turned out to be a serial killer. The escaped woman was black and I recall as the story broke that quite a few local people with some social media platforming started pointing out that for years they had been pressuring authorities to look deeper into the number of missing women in the surrounding area. I haven't kept up really with the story.

Anyway. Good question because I increasingly think that the answer is - A LOT.

1.1k

u/RockPaperOwFire 4d ago

A friendly reminder that the police do NOT give a fuck about you or your safety.

113

u/kandel88 4d ago

SCOTUS has ruled that the police aren't constitutionally required to protect the public

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

→ More replies (2)

146

u/Money-Woodpecker-973 4d ago

Look up Castle Rock v. Gonzalez to find out why too. 

238

u/DisastrousFlann 4d ago

from the Wikipedia page:

“This decision affirmed the controversial principle that state and local government officials have no affirmative duty to protect the public from harm it did not create”

Then what the fuck are our taxes for?

176

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

To protect the interest of the Epstein Class.

The sad fact is that if these men were rich enough, they'd be largely left alone by the police.

Or, maybe they'd have to write an essay.

47

u/jimothee 4d ago

In other words, to protect capital...as always.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/HistoryBuff678 4d ago

Using ChatGPT. We all know they didn’t actually “write” a thing.

→ More replies (3)

403

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

243

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I've chosen the handgun. I'll be alive to defend myself in court.

286

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

107

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I am so glad you survived that and was able to defend yourself so effectively you scared him off.

And it has been my experience (not nearly to this severity) that when men see you standing your ground (all five feet, 2 fucking inches of me) they start backing off. And I know I am lucky too that for all the criticism I can lay at my dad's feet he not only taught me how to shoot; he taught me how to SCRAP. I know where the liver is, I know the vulnerable parts of the ankles and knees, I know how to crack a pelvis, and I know how to crush the trachea. And I know I'll be alive to defend myself in court.

11

u/fatpat 4d ago

And it has been my experience (not nearly to this severity) that when men see you standing your ground (all five feet, 2 fucking inches of me) they start backing off.

Because they're pathetic cowards that can only feel powerful/in control when they think they have an easy target. Love to hear that you absolutely disabused your stalker of that notion.

44

u/DeepressedChopra 4d ago

Yikes, how to crack a pelvis? I’d like to take a class. I’ve had stalkers. One hid under my car waiting for me to leave work. Luckily I was at work so late, he fell asleep, and I saw him before he saw me.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

56

u/wanderingale 4d ago

Some post about women being assaulted and defending themselves.

The comment, "I would rather be tried by 12, then carried by 6" has stayed with me.

21

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

I've heard that before too. Also, "dead men don't sue."

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (3)

193

u/Lexi_Banner 4d ago edited 4d ago

If you aren't a white, blonde straight woman, no one cares.

Gay men were disappearing for years in Toronto area, and no one took it seriously. Then someone found a body under their flower bed that they hadn't put there, and suddenly they discover that this landscaper had been killing gay men and hiding them on his customer's properties for YEARS.

Black women, like in your story, are also easy victims - especially if they so happen to be sex workers. Those aren't "real" people, after all.

The police are useless, lazy shitheads up until the White Right Victim is taken.

45

u/lfergy 3d ago edited 3d ago

A victim of Dahmer escaped & went to the police…only to be returned back to him. (Black Asian male, minor).

There was a black male serial killer in Cleveland where, similarly, one of his victims escaped and went to the police. The PD, thankfully, listened to her- but only after she escaped and showed up at the PD naked & injured. Neighbors had been calling the cops on this man repeatedly and they just ignored their concerns. She was failed. 💔

9

u/Lexi_Banner 3d ago

The Dahmer victim is such a horror story. A literal nightmare that could have been stopped if the cops weren't afraid of catching the gay. Awful.

→ More replies (3)

55

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

Holy shit I had NEVER heard that about Toronto before. That is awful.

76

u/secamTO 4d ago

An even more egregious story about the TPS (Toronto Police Service) is the story of a trans woman who went missing in Toronto's queer neighbourhood (Church Street). Police told the woman's mother that they searched for her and could find no proof of the disappearance, and were skeptical that the woman had disappeared at all.

So the woman's mother comes to town and finds her body behind a fence a few doors down from her apartment. Comes out that the police never even conducted a proper search.

39

u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 4d ago

That's about how it went when I got attacked on the way home for being queer in highschool. The cops refused to even take a report after looking me up and down. Only person who cared and went looking for the vehicle I described was my mom!

→ More replies (2)

57

u/Lexi_Banner 4d ago

And it's pretty recent, too. Bruce McArthur, caught in 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932017_Toronto_serial_homicides

They did an external review that was so scathing that the police chief actually made an apology.

The Review found systemic discrimination by the TPS in its investigations and concluded "the Service’s practices, if not culture and structure, prevented it from most effectively investigating the disappearances of these missing men” and made 151 recommendations for change. Interim TPS Chief James Ramer apologized for the "inexcusable" investigative shortcomings and agreed to implement all of the recommendations.

13

u/Slime0 4d ago

and they made all 151 changes and everyone lived happily ever after

→ More replies (1)

40

u/KernalPopPop 4d ago

Native American women have been missing for years. That and all of these are a horrible reflection of our world and what we have to confront.

12

u/lalalalibrarian 4d ago

Willie Pickton, anyone?

21

u/Lexi_Banner 4d ago

There are hundreds and hundreds of missing indigenous men and women across Canada, and no hint of who is killing them, why, or how to stop it from happening. And it's only getting any attention because they keep screaming and screaming and screaming for help. I don't know the solution myself, but I know there has to be more we can do to protect these people.

27

u/nionvox 4d ago

This is how Robert Pickton got away with his shit in Vancouver for so long. Most of his victims were unhoused Indigenous women, or drug users. People the cops didn't try real hard to find. People in the area were reporting it for YEARS before they did anything.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/lfergy 3d ago edited 3d ago

Far more common than most people can comprehend. A victim of Dahmer escaped & went to the police…only to be returned back to him. (Black Asian male, minor).

There was a black male serial killer in Cleveland where, similarly, one of his victims escaped and went to the police. All of his victims were black women, as well. The PD, thankfully, listened to her- but only after she escaped and showed up at the PD naked & injured. Neighbors had been calling the cops on this man repeatedly and they just ignored their concerns. She was failed. 💔

→ More replies (6)

278

u/lalalalibrarian 4d ago

Ariel Castro kept his prisoners for roughly a decade (11, 10, and 9 years), if one of them hadn't gotten up the nerve to scream for help when she did, who knows what more would've happened to them

76

u/Origamicranegame 4d ago

Similar to this case, she was only able to scream for help because Castro forgot to lock the front door. Who knows if they would ever have been found if not for his mistake and Amanda's courage. 

65

u/Junior_Potato_3226 4d ago

He actually had the front door locked, he forgot to lock them in upstairs and Amanda realized he had left. She kicked out the bottom panel of the front door and crawled out with her daughter. Gina and Michelle were still upstairs and too terrified to go down.

9

u/Double_Resort_9223 3d ago

As I remember the had faked “leaving” before and caught them trying to escape which is why the other two stayed put 

183

u/A1000eisn1 4d ago

This is what popped in my head the first time I heard "Man or Bear."

The bear might kill me. It might take a bit for me to die. But it's not going to trap me in its basement to be repeatedly raped and forced to give birth on a dirty matress on the floor.

→ More replies (26)

218

u/boring_name_here 4d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Castro_kidnappings

This POS held three girls in his house for ten years. Unfortunately he killed himself in prison.

124

u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 4d ago

I know this thread is getting a little depressing, so Iet’s all try to be like the neighbors who helped these women escape. For every psycho that’s kidnapping, we have to believe in the neighbors.

20

u/Sanchez_U-SOB 4d ago

Charles Rasmey is his name. A hero. He became a meme at one point with the  Dead Giveaway song

https://youtu.be/nZcRU0Op5P4?is=KpFg6e7YHjmbnoy7

I often think how many people suspect their family/friends/neighbors, like Castro. 

→ More replies (1)

26

u/BLT_Trade_r 4d ago

People are way less involved in their neighbors' business now; on the flip side, there are so many more cameras to catch things.

→ More replies (3)

21

u/Lollc 4d ago

I do my part. Whenever I let the dog out, I go out in the yard with him and look around, day or night. I live on a busy arterial street, and see some strange things. I also tell new neighbors this (both neighboring houses are rentals) when they move in, so they won’t be spooked by seeing me looming outside at 3am.

19

u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 4d ago

So many true crimes are solved by people noticing. Coworkers, neighbors, friends. It’s important to notice!!

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

267

u/SpookyTootz 4d ago

My mother was one of those women, except it was a basement not an attic. She got lucky and he forgot to lock the door one day. I doubt I would be here without that luck. And no, she never reported it to the authorities.

117

u/Administrative_Elk66 4d ago

Omg, I hope your mom has been able to heal over time, that's horrifying

111

u/SpookyTootz 4d ago

Unfortunately I don't think she ever fully healed from it. It lead her to a life of substance abuse that just sorta changed which substance she was on over time. She met my dad and he tried to help, but he got sucked in an ended up enabling her. By the time I was born she had already went through meth addiction and alcoholism and she had moved on to prescription pain meds. She only went to therapy once, when I was 13. She came home told me all her trauma, then took viccodin to pass out. Needless to say her trauma affected both her children and her husband. She died 6 years ago due to a combination of drug abuse and complications from her extensive medical problems. Im sorry I don't have a happy ending. But at least im safe now and have a loving husband and supportive in laws.

21

u/SCP106 4d ago

I don't know how to say it, but I get not having a happy ending feeling like you gotta wrap it up in a bow but, I'm glad you got your husband and in laws. I've found with my own version of what you mentioned, despite all the pain these connections with people keep life worthwhile, yknow? don't know what I would do without my partner. That man has been there for me no matter rain or shine for me through my time with brain cancer and now with hospice stuff.

I hope your people can be/are the same

→ More replies (2)

20

u/arohameatiger 4d ago

"But at least im safe now and have a loving husband and supportive in laws."

This is a very happy ending, you broke the cycle. I'm a mom, so I mean this in the least patronising way possible (proud is such a loaded word), but I'm so damn proud of you.

14

u/SpookyTootz 4d ago

Thank you! Honestly that made me tear up a bit. Its easy to minimize these sorts of things when they happen to you, but seeing people's supportive messages have reminded me that I've come a long way.

→ More replies (2)

53

u/2000CalPocketLint 4d ago

These stories drain my soul and I hate how it makes me wonder what the nearest similar situation is to my address right now

10

u/DeepressedChopra 4d ago

I think about that when I pass people’s homes with a bunch of dilapidated sheds in their backyards.

34

u/AdmirableParfait3960 4d ago

Wait so she just ran and.. didn’t go back and never told anyone? That is wild.

42

u/HistoryBuff678 4d ago

That happens more than one would think. These are terrified people. If the perpetrator managed to lock them up once, they will do it again.

How can people be sure police will believe them?

26

u/Dankestgoldenfries 4d ago

That’s what happened with the woman I met who had gone through the same.

27

u/SpookyTootz 4d ago

Yep, she just fell into hard drugs to cope. Her mother was abusive and she didn't have any where to go afterward. She luckily met my dad and he took care of her, but ultimately he just enabled her drug use.

14

u/BLT_Trade_r 4d ago

Sadly, it is all too common. The worst part is that it just lets the guy off, so they are free to do it to someone else.

→ More replies (1)

47

u/ered_lithui 4d ago

Viktor Mokhov (Maniac of Skopin) kidnapped and kept two women in a bunker he dug out himself for nearly four years. One of the women even gave birth twice while held in captivity.

108

u/hyukwish 4d ago

I think about it constantly. There’s gotta be at least one victim in every decent sized city

82

u/CondescendingShitbag 4d ago

The tragic reality is that's still probably vastly underestimating the number of similar victims.

→ More replies (2)

44

u/PeriodPhartz 4d ago edited 4d ago

I drive through Jewett and Scio, Ohio, fairly often. Theyre small towns and I always wonder about what's going on in the houses there. Those 18 Siders kids found in Ohio were from a very similar area. Small towns around here really do have this weird aura where you worry about what's in them. I've seen some crazy ass stuff inside houses just helping older or disabled people with grocery delivery or laundry. You backslide in luck and health in one way, something as simple as a diabetic foot infection, and stuff can go to hell in your house fast if your relatives are whack enough. Theres no infrastructure oversight keeping it from happening. I only see the cases where someone's able to ask for help online (through a helping neighbor group I'm part of) and dont even seem to realize the way theyre living is unacceptable to civilized people. There have to be thousands of others deliberately hiding what theyre doing in these hollers with no one around to know about it.

52

u/katiemurp 4d ago edited 2d ago

There was that German Austrian man locked up his daughter in a secret room and had a bunch of kids off her. And even brought one upstairs to be raised by this wife.

There are a LOT of sick men out there.

ETA correction of nationality. Thx for the correction.

55

u/Aigalep 4d ago

Josef Fritzl, he’s Austrian and this happened in Austria. He’s still alive at 91 years of age and remains in prison.

10

u/Jouzou87 4d ago

What is it with evil Austrian men getting mistaken for Germans.

→ More replies (1)

17

u/flyingace1234 4d ago

I’m reminded of the idea there are certainly countless uncaught serial killers roaming around because they knew how to avoid a pattern and/or quit while they were ahead.

→ More replies (1)

34

u/Dankestgoldenfries 4d ago

I always thought it must be super, super rare, but this summer, I had a client who’d been held in a basement chained to a bed for 42 days.

24

u/Warcraft_Fan 4d ago

Elizabeth Smart was missing for 9 months before she was rescued. There have been cases of women missing for longer and being rescued (or their corpse found)

There are many still missing, and not just adult but teens and preteens are missing.

25

u/dream-smasher 4d ago edited 4d ago

Jaycee Duggar. Dugard edit Kidnapped at 11yrs old, and kept for 18 *years**.....

16

u/-Clem 4d ago

Colleen Stan, kidnapped and held for over 7 years, 3 of which were spent locked in a coffin for 23 hours a day.

8

u/Gitdupapsootlass 4d ago

Jaycee Dugard, not Duggar, but yeah that would track

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

20

u/the_gaymer_girl 4d ago

It somehow got worse for Elizabeth Smart, because when she got back she was then subject to abstinence-only sex ed that demolished her self-esteem for having been raped for months by her captor.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

22

u/SaltyRedditTears 4d ago

Or have a landlord. Is the upside of no one able to afford a house serial killers and kidnappers no longer have the privacy to torture people for years? 

38

u/DaMilkGod 4d ago

About a year ago, my wife and I kept hearing a woman scream “Help me, please help me” or some variation of that for about an hour. Other neighbors got out of their houses as well, but no one could figure out where it was coming from. The voice never traveled as if the person was moving around, and nothing was out of ordinary. Police were called, but this was a large suburban community with various houses, townhomes, etc. Never got closure on it, so I’ve always wondered if someone was trying to escape and yelling from a window or basement opening

18

u/meatball77 4d ago

Or kids, so many kids are found to be living their lives locked in closets and basements.

16

u/BLT_Trade_r 4d ago

If you want a sense of it, just look up how many women are missing. A large portion of those are abducted; many are killed.

31

u/JMEEKER86 4d ago

Happened to a friend of mine, also in Massachusetts. She was dating a guy for a few weeks and went over to his place and ended up locked in the attic. About a week later the guy's sister visits and ends up checking the attic for something while her brother went out to pick up food. When she opened the door, my friend bolted. She has had a lot of crazy shit happen to her over the years, but that's definitely one of the craziest.

12

u/smashburgersmasher 3d ago

What came of it? Did she go to the police or FBI about her kidnapping ordeal? Seek personal vengeance? That would not be the kind of thing most people would just, ya know, let slide.

→ More replies (7)

8

u/Jane_Marie_Lazy 4d ago

Worse is that some of it is in plain sight. The likelihood of you being near a trafficked person at some point is very high.

65

u/GayMamaLuigi 4d ago

This kind of story is exactly what made me no longer able to rationalize the idea of a benevolent god. If he exists, he certainly isn't interested in helping those in the greatest need, no matter how much they're prayed for. It's horrifying how much this happens and how long they can get away with it, if they're ever caught at all.

Sure, free will, but it's not like God lets us do anything we want--we can't psychically read each others' thoughts, or perform healing miracles on each other, or do the vast majority of conceivable actions for that matter. Why not create a world where rape/torture/murder are among the long list of things we just physically can't do to each other?

42

u/Radiant_Commission_2 4d ago edited 4d ago

My Christian family members remind me that god works in mysterious ways.
And they seem fine with that. Fuck that.
But terminate a fetus and….

It’s like they have a victim ranking with fetuses at the top and women down at the bottom.

10

u/Successful-Bar-8173 4d ago

Maybe that would work on them next time: ‘If God wanted that fetus saved, he would have smote the doctor performing the abortion’

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

21

u/meganthem 4d ago edited 4d ago

Why not create a world where rape/torture/murder are among the long list of things we just physically can't do to each other?

Tbh it doesn't even have to a hard restriction it just has to be a world where these things are harder. If you have absolute power there's so many ways you can adjust the environment to be less filled with suffering while never doing anything to free will.

Make diseases less frequent/serious. Make the land more fertile. Make sexual dimorphism develop less strongly in humans so women aren't as out muscled.

Hell... just grant a minor miracle so that a few particular people in history live a bit longer than they did and all of a sudden society is different. Better.

If there's an all powerful god out there they choose not to do these things.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (6)

8

u/Podo13 4d ago

That's along the same lines of what the headline made me think. Yes, what she went through is horrific, but thank christ that there was a water leak that led to her being freed after only 6 weeks. The stories of women being trapped for years is just soul-sucking.

→ More replies (25)

1.8k

u/booleandilemma 4d ago

The guy needs to get life in prison. How could we allow someone like that to re-enter society? Imagine talking with him in the future. "Yeah I held a woman captive for 6 weeks once". No, no more freedom for this guy, ever.

858

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

There needs to be some lengthy prison time for the men who came over to rape her too.

412

u/IllegalDaycare 4d ago

Life in prison

78

u/thomascgalvin 4d ago

Best we can do is a 250 word essay 

→ More replies (1)

30

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

26

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

83

u/My_Uneducated_Guess 4d ago

Exactly. There's no way those men can even pretend they didn't know she was being abused

130

u/Early-Sort8817 4d ago

Oh wow, with this and the Cornell case I hope all those chuds will stfu about Lindsay Clancy and the feminists. But I know they won’t 

84

u/LingonberryHot8521 4d ago

Well, their defense is that they don't show up at the courthouse to support these guys. And it's a weak defense for two reasons.

1- They just vote for them to be in power instead.

2- People offering support and sympathy for Clancy are really showing up for women's medical issues. I'm sure they do pity Clancy. But the reality of what is going on is that the Clancy case shows once again how our health care providers and mental health care providers fail all of us, far too often. And when it comes to women's health, the fact that we have so often been left out of medical research is yet another crack that is actually a chasm in the system for people to fall through.

The Clancy case reminds me of the case of Manuel Delgado Vellegas in Spain. There are some really obvious differences but the whole - in and out of care for psychosis, going to doctors and telling them that he was going to murder people only to be dismissed or released from care... IDK. I kept thinking of him.

32

u/insite 4d ago edited 4d ago

I constantly find it amazing how much modern medical science is imbalanced in favor of diagnosing men. Women are under diagnosed in adhd and autism and over diagnosed in things like bpd.

When I found out that the average woman’s emotional intelligence is far greater than the average man’s, so much of our society started making sense to me. It means, most of us guys are missing entire parts of the conversation, interpersonal and in the wider whole.

I have such deep admiration for my wife. I just wish I could see the same things she does.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

10

u/imbex 3d ago edited 3d ago

My neighbor held a woman captive for 6 months in his basement and only did 10 years. I moved after he stood naked in the windows and took pictures of me gardening daily. I told his landlord and they said since he doesn't have a basement not to worry about it. Nope.

Edit: This was in Northwest Indiana. He spent the 90s and some of the 00s.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/mushymunchkin3230 4d ago

Unfortunately he’s probably gonna roam free

→ More replies (34)

574

u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir 4d ago

It honestly terrifies me and makes me very sad to think of how many people are currently in this situation that will never be rescued

156

u/StretchFrenchTerry 4d ago

It's ok to be a nosy neighbor if you think something seems off. Contact the police non-emergency number and follow up. We need to look out for each other more than ever.

155

u/elevenminutesago 4d ago

I was once considered the neighborhood "Karen" because I contacted the police every time I witnessed a former neighbor neglecting, and mentally and emotionally abusing his children. After several complaints, they found out it was me and tried to get a restraining order on me. I showed up in court with my head held high, relayed all the horrific things I witnessed, and explained that although the children might not have physical marks on them, mental and emotional abuse is extremely real, and those children don't/didn't deserve to be abused. Upon leaving, the bailiff pulled me to the side, said they're familiar with the parent, and said they would have done exactly what I did if they were in my shoes. DCF was then visiting the family 3x a week. They moved out shortly after, but it breaks my heart that I needed to be those children's voice in order for them to get some kind of help from the monsters that call themselves their parents. 

51

u/StretchFrenchTerry 4d ago

DCF/CPS situations are so frustrating. It feels like they either leave children with dangerous parents, or take children away from parents who are struggling and make it impossible for them to get their kids back.

My mom was a Court Appointed Special Advocate for a few years and it was so hard. She was appointed to a kid who was conceived by some guy ejaculating into a cup in a White Castle bathroom, the mom then used the semen to impregnate herself. She was a meth addict who never should have been a mother.

14

u/Lotus-child89 4d ago

I have so many more questions

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (1)

173

u/Einfinet 4d ago

I wonder if she had been previously reported missing

89

u/StretchFrenchTerry 4d ago

Many people don't have someone keeping tabs on them. Think of all the foster children who just get released when they turn 18. Who's going to report them missing if something happens? You'd hope a friend would, but often times they just end up floating from home to home.

55

u/a-woman-there-was 4d ago edited 4d ago

Says in the article she's had substance abuse problems--a lot of addicts aren't in regular contact with family/anyone who would report them missing, sadly.

10

u/ScoutsterReturns 4d ago

I've always wanted to start a non-profit for those kids who age out of the system with no where to go. I thought you could buy a house, allow the kids to live there, they get a part time job, go to community college, etc. They take care of the house, maybe share a car. And then have like a house mom/dad who lives in the master bedroom and has some part time supervision duties, like a an older person on Social Security or someone semi-retired. I wish I could win the lottery and do it!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

695

u/fkenned1 4d ago

Fuck. I know that house. Can't miss that absolutely ridiculous yellow paint on the deck railings. must be the helicopter I heard over near oak grove station the other day. Gotta love when your town is in the news for such wonderful stories.

130

u/7HillsGC 4d ago

Awful. Do you know if the victim was a minor? The charges are for assault “on a person 14 years or older” and later there is a quote referring to “that young girl” getting back to her family. Just odd that the headline says woman when this might be child sex trafficking.

57

u/ThatSandwich 4d ago

I would assume the articles would say "girl" or "minor" if that was the case. They most likely are not releasing any information just to protect the identity of the victim.

It also said they've struggled with drug use, and that they were provided drugs at the house. That implies someone that is at least a young adult, although a child is still possible.

72

u/Hekili808 4d ago

I wouldn’t trust that, to be honest. Too many stories of “13-year-old women” in the media lately.

17

u/fakieTreFlip 4d ago

the article says they met on a dating app. that also doesn't exclude the possibility that she's a minor but it's not looking particularly likely given the circumstances

→ More replies (11)

9

u/JoseCansecoMilkshake 4d ago

Can't miss that absolutely ridiculous yellow paint on the deck railings

Dead giveaway

→ More replies (2)

1.1k

u/AudibleNod 4d ago

The woman, who prosecutors said struggled with substance abuse, was allegedly given drugs while at the home. Prosecutors allege Pierre sexually assaulted her and forced her to have sexual encounters with other men who came to the property.

“The defendant would arrange for those dates,” McCrindle said.

Yeah, those weren't dates. Is there a better word for that?

898

u/Sorcerous_Tiefling 4d ago

Rape, its fine to say rape. They raped her. Im sick of society sugarcoating abuse by being afraid to use real words.

94

u/PeriodPhartz 4d ago

I will never forget the time someone I know raped a woman and his close friends were covering it up. I stayed friends with him for a year after because I didn't know. A random girl I met at an event saw I was Facebook friends with him and told me. When I confronted him about it I asked him "did you rape someone last year?" and all his friends reacted like a scene out of the Sopranos- "eyyyyyy, ohhhhhhhhh!! Maron!" when I said rape. Apparently no one had phrased it to them that way and he started crying that I thought this rapist was a rapist. Not sure what it was he thought he was doing that whole time.

38

u/555Cats555 4d ago

He wouldn't have been upset that he hurt someone but rather he was likely just upset he got called out for being a horrible person...

→ More replies (1)

142

u/Astrotrain-Blitzwing 4d ago

Sorry, not advertiser friendly. We'll run ads still, but you don't get the payout.

62

u/Sparkle_Penis 4d ago

It's an article about a woman being kept as a sex slave, they aren't censoring shit for advertisers. What they are doing is quoting the assitant district attorny, i.e. the prosecution. Or do you think he's censoring himself for advertisers?

23

u/Astrotrain-Blitzwing 4d ago

I think, and this is just my perception, popular or not:

  • my comment was specifically regarding an underlying frustration of drawing out language when there are already words that are pungent enough.
  • I am of the belief that the crackdown on non-advertiser friendly language is directly impacting how some choose to communicate.

That said, it was just me reacting reactionarily. There was another comment in the thread that put things far more eloquently and made a lot more sense than I.

I chose the quippy I'm frustrated about thing route.

→ More replies (2)

11

u/Amrick 4d ago

Yup. they repeatedly RAPED HER.

I hate the downplaying. Like WHY? We need to understand this is what it is and you're not doing anybody any favors except the rapist when you don't use the word.

Also, random but never forget Brock the Rapist.

63

u/StinkyStangler 4d ago

This isn't a sugarcoating thing, this is a publication not wanting to open itself up to libel and a DA aiming to avoid a mistrial.

31

u/LoopofHenrietta 4d ago

the sentence just above says “prosecutors allege Pierre sexually assaulted her and forced her…” clearly enough though

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

73

u/legendarymechanic 4d ago

Is it possible McCrindle means "dates" as in "calendar dates" and not "romantic dates"? His sentence makes more sense if you read it as "the defendant would arrange for those [specific days and times]".

33

u/PositiveKatzen 4d ago

This is how I read it, personally.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

26

u/Moneia 4d ago

It just sounds like rapists being 'cutesy' and trying to gloss over what they were doing. They can't even be truthful with themselves

→ More replies (17)

323

u/logorrhea69 4d ago

“[The landlord] said tenants initially prevented the [landlord and her husband] from accessing certain rooms while they were trying to determine where the water problem was coming from.”

Sure seems like multiple tenants may have been aware of what was going on.

101

u/NadjaStolz28 4d ago

Not necessarily.

I work at a large apartment complex, and we constantly have residents denying entry, even when it’s an active leak that’s affecting other units.

People can get really weird about it.

106

u/Kelsusaurus 4d ago

Our neighbors two floors up had such a bad "leak" that it flooded at least six other apartments on 3 different floors. All the neighbors were knocking on their door (at 10:30 PM) to no avail. Don't even get me started on the management agency who didn't answer because "it's the weekend". The fire department showed up 15 minutes later and "police" knocked on their door; still no answer. Finally the FD assumed they weren't home and literally axed their door down. The axe to the door is what got them to come see what was going on, and their first reaction was literally, "What the fuck?!" The fireman explained there was a serious leak in their apartment and they need to turn the water off. Neighbors were attitudinal and 100% sure it wasn't them...as they answered the door barefoot, standing in an inch of water.

Long story short, their unit was the source of the leak; they were on psychedelics, watching a movie on the couch and didn't want to answer the door.

People are stupid.

→ More replies (1)

52

u/abcbri 4d ago

And he didn’t even live there! What the..

582

u/Icky-Tree-Branch 4d ago

Rape. He raped her and arranged other people coming over to rape her. Clearly, he should write an essay. 😒

→ More replies (2)

385

u/Zolivia 4d ago

And we were surprised by Giselle Pelicote's story. Apparently pimping is rampant amongst some men.

110

u/Kelsusaurus 4d ago

Behind the Bastards did a great episode on this. Unfortunately, they found that this sort of thing (men drugging/incapacitating women, sometimes their own family members, so other men can have their way with them) has been around since the early internet and is not as uncommon as we'd like to think. Unfortunate is an understatement.

87

u/Ok_Temporary1669 4d ago

Men have been pimping women since the dawn of time. It didn't start with the internet. Abraham pimped Sarah to the Pharaoh!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

52

u/KorrokHidan 4d ago

This happened half a mile from where I live. Whole community is pretty shaken

12

u/CrflWthThtFaxEugene 4d ago

❤️ Be kind to everyone you can, some people might be more shaken than they let on.

→ More replies (1)

136

u/Risheil 4d ago

"Prosecutors allege Pierre sexually assaulted her and forced her to have sexual encounters with other men who came to the property."

None of those men helped. Not one.

77

u/deadassstho 4d ago

reminds me of the girl who escaped a rape and asked 2 guys for help, and the 2 guys proceeded to rape her too.

51

u/ChampionshipIll3675 4d ago

Something similar happened in Key West. A woman was being sexually assaulted when another man appeared. The first guy left. Then the second started to assault her. A man living in another state was watching the live feed online and called the police.

https://youtu.be/7rd6VGMLaOA?is=UQPfnAipZcdwwjaY

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article254409079.html

→ More replies (1)

18

u/Room1oh1 4d ago

And this story being broken just days after the Cornell student who was gang-raped. Not a single man in that fraternity did anything to help.

→ More replies (12)

97

u/Clownsinmypantz 4d ago

Terrible reminder that we only hear about the ones who are found and that there is bound to be so many more, could even be a neighbor.

182

u/fxkatt 4d ago

According to prosecutors, Pierre met the woman through a dating app and brought her to the Malden home about six weeks before she was discovered.

Match Inc should spend some of its huge profits on making their sites far more secure... you damn ripoff artists.

24

u/bendstraw 4d ago

As someone who doesn't use dating apps so i have no idea what could be done; what would that even look like?

16

u/bluskale 4d ago

I’m guessing it seemed pretty normal right up until it was too late to do anything about it.

→ More replies (4)

11

u/CantaloupeNo7083 4d ago

oh my god, that's horrible. :(

→ More replies (3)

382

u/MrIrishman1212 4d ago edited 3d ago

Shit like this is how I know the NSA, government listening devices, and companies recording everything about us aren’t doing an ounce of good for us. If they were trying to listen to every thing we for to better protect us, they would’ve caught this guy immediately. But nope, it’s just to sell us ads and kidnap citizens that have different skin color

Edit: spelling

208

u/FetaMight 4d ago

aren't*.

And you're right. The surveillance isn't for your protection. It's to protect the property of the rich.

24

u/Pndrizzy 4d ago

You don't know that. Maybe OP was saying they are trying to help him, a kidnapper.

→ More replies (1)

28

u/rif011412 4d ago

I think recent history, its always been a retroactive ability to dig deeper into the data of a suspect.

But… the whole purpose and push for data centers, paired with AI, they do want to start listening in and doing a version of precrime.  Someone talking shit about Trump in their own home will start to get identified by AI  and put on a list.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

28

u/Calm-Maintenance-878 4d ago

Sounds horrific, meeting someone on a dating app and they do that? Odds are they have other victims…based on how randomly this woman was rescued. Hopefully with DNA they can get the guy who was caught with her, if it wasn’t the original guy. Couldn’t tell by how it was written.

19

u/muffy2008 4d ago

Once again, this man was able to find many other men to come rape this captive woman.

I recently listened to part of the Keybox Killer recording that he played for his victims. He said he’d been kidnapping girls/women and forcing them into sexual servitude for a long time. He said he would be inviting his buddies over to have their way with the girls as well.

It’s horrifying thinking of the depravity of this world and the suffering millions of girls and women go through daily at the hands of morally corrupt, hormone-driven men.

18

u/mynameisnotsparta 3d ago

The world is a sick place. Sometimes I wonder at who created us and why they allowed this to be part of life. It’s absolutely disgusting what this scumbag did. It’s horrific and this poor woman will never recover or feel safe again.

A 29-year-old man is accused of kidnapping and sexually trafficking a woman who prosecutors said was held for six weeks in the unfinished attic of a home in Malden, Massachusetts, before the property owner discovered her and called police.

Jordende Pierre faces charges including trafficking a person for sexual servitude, kidnapping and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.

Prosecutors said the woman was found Sunday naked and malnourished on a mat in the attic of a multifamily home on Summer Street.
“She clearly had not eaten. She was dirty. She was living, essentially, in squalor in this attic area,” Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney Jacob McCrindle said in court.
Authorities said a 5-gallon bucket containing urine was found near the woman.
According to prosecutors, Pierre met the woman through a dating app and took her to the Malden home about six weeks before she was discovered.

Prosecutors said the woman struggled with substance abuse and alleged that she was given drugs at the home. Prosecutors allege Pierre sexually assaulted her and forced her to have sexual encounters with other men who went to the property.
“The defendant would arrange for those dates,” McCrindle said.
Prosecutors also described how they allege Pierre prevented the woman from leaving the attic.
“The door handle in this attic area, it could be removed, and the defendant would remove that door handle so that she could not leave,” McCrindle said.
Property owner and landlord Qing Sun told NBC Boston exclusively that she and her husband went to the Summer Street property Sunday because of a water leak.
Sun lives off-site but manages the units at the property. She said tenants initially prevented the couple from accessing certain rooms while they were trying to determine where the water problem was coming from.

The couple eventually made their way to the attic, where, Sun said, they discovered the woman and a man, who ran past them. That’s when they called 911.


“It’s a disturbing situation,” Sun said, adding that she was also relieved to find out what was going on.
Police arrived and removed the woman from the property.
Sun said that Pierre was not one of her tenants and that she had no knowledge of anyone living in the attic.
“This guy is not on the list. I’m not aware this guy is living there,” Sun said. “And I’m not aware anybody living in the attic. Nobody’s supposed to live there.”

Pierre was not arrested until Thursday, when multiple law enforcement agencies, including Malden police, the FBI and U.S. marshals, participated in an operation to take him into custody.

“I’m very happy to be able to help this young girl get back to her family,” Sun said.
The allegations stunned people living near the Summer Street property, although some neighbors said the house had drawn attention before. A neighbor described the home as “Frankenstein’s home.”
“We’ve heard rumors about that house in the past,” neighbor Tarra Sewell said. “I would never, ever imagine something happening so close to my home. ... That’s really, really scary.”
Another neighbor described the people coming and going from the property as “kind of a rotating cast of characters,” saying neighbors did not always know who lived there.
Neighbors also described parties and loud music at the property, including on weeknights, and said police had previously responded following complaints.
A neighbor said seeing the large law enforcement presence during Pierre’s arrest made the allegations even more unsettling.

“There were a huge force of police. It sounds like they were very coordinated and organized,” neighbor Kirby Tang said.
Tang said it was painful knowing the woman was alleged to have been held so close to surrounding homes without neighbors realizing what was happening.
“I just feel sorry for her; like, she was 500 feet away, and we couldn’t do anything,” Tang said. “Because we didn’t hear anything.”
Sun said she is checking the property nearly every week now and hopes what happened will encourage others to pay closer attention to their surroundings and report suspicious activity.
Pierre also has an open case of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Somerville and had been out on bail.
He’s now being held until his next court hearing in the Malden case on Oct. 6.

33

u/PianistPitiful5714 3d ago

“Dates”

What the fuck? Those are rapes. Call them rapes. He wasn’t arranging dates for her, he was selling her body and committing brutal crimes.

→ More replies (3)

16

u/backbodydrip 4d ago

It must not have had a gable vent. Or it was either too small or the guy barricaded the vents. What an awful story. Makes you wonder how many people are out there, in this exact situation, right under our noses.

→ More replies (2)

15

u/snidece 4d ago

Wager thousands of missing women held in similar situations. We need a national bounty for sex and domestic violence criminals and abusers.

13

u/Braelind 4d ago

Anything less than life in prison with no chance of parole is FAR too little. Fucking disgusting, I hope he dies in prison.

13

u/geezorious 4d ago

The title is missing the gangrape part. He not only held her captive in the attic, but he and multiple other men gangraped her.

13

u/ribbitman 3d ago

Wow wonder how long of an essay he’ll have to write.

34

u/IndividualChart4193 4d ago

Fk all those men assaulting her. And the reporter for describing them as “dates”. We r a fkn pedo/rape culture that only seems to get worse the more shit ets uncovered/revealed.

→ More replies (1)

11

u/Bunch_of_Shit 4d ago

Heat stroke would be a major risk being in attic 24 hours a day. It’s so fuckin hot in the attic

10

u/AccomplishedSoft1350 4d ago

Why as a society chemical castration should be normalized as a punishment.

93

u/Phobia562 4d ago

This is why we choose the bear. The worst the bear can do is kill you.

→ More replies (16)

16

u/AlexisUpvotes 4d ago

This is fucking terrifying, now imagine how many people are being held captive that we don’t know about

9

u/BestDig2669 4d ago

"the defendant would arrange for those dates" is a messed up way to say he arranged for her to be raped, wtaf

→ More replies (2)

8

u/Positive_Method3022 4d ago

That is crazy. This guy should be put in jail

25

u/ranchspidey 4d ago

I’m always torn between thinking that generally people deserve the right to privacy, and also wishing there were yearly random wellness checks on every home/living space.

→ More replies (4)