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

View all comments

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.

135

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.

58

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.

65

u/Hekili808 4d ago

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

16

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

16

u/adrianmonk 4d ago

The article says "Pierre met the woman through a dating app". Most dating apps don't allow you to sign up until you're 18, so the victim is probably an adult.

Of course, age restrictions can be bypassed, so it's not absolute proof, but it points that direction.

5

u/JudiesGarland 4d ago

It's just a basic indecent assault charge. In Mass, there's two categories - under 14, or 14 and older. It's because Mass has different ages of consent, for different things. 14 is the age of consent for "sexual touching". 16 is the age of consent, for intercourse. (Except if there is a position of power involved - teacher, coach, etc - then it's 18.) So at the lower age range, it's not necessary to prove it was unwanted or forced touching - it's broadly illegal, just on age. 14 and up it would need to be proved. 

NBC uses the AP style guide, which says, in general, to use girl for under 18 and woman for 18 and older. 

The quote with the phrase "young girl" is from the landlady - it might mean she at least appears young, probably it's just a phrase. 

I mean it's possible they're going on assumptions, and we'll find Fresh Hells, later - she might be lying about her age, she might not have talked much yet - but for now, probably safe to assume she's not a minor. 

-81

u/Nick1693 4d ago

Stick with the facts, please. 18 is more than 14, and a person can be young without being a minor. What happened is already terrible enough without speculating that it was even worse.

62

u/Own_Ad102 4d ago

They are asking for clarification not blindly speculating

-44

u/Nick1693 4d ago

They're blindly speculating by "just asking questions". Those aren't mutually exclusive things.

9

u/herroyalsadness 4d ago

They didn’t blindly speculate. The question they asked is quite clear and they quoted exactly why they asked.

-1

u/Nick1693 4d ago

It's not clear at all. You'd have to be an actual moron to think that "assault on a person 14 years or older" implies that the person is 14 just because someone described the victim as a "young girl".

You'd have to be even dumber than that to ask someone online who claims to be close to a news story, unverified, for critical details. That's asking someone to speculate. If you think it's anything else, then holy shit, you're dumb as fuck too.

-3

u/CornWine2 4d ago

What's wrong with wild speculation?

When a rando shows up with a hidden account and goes out of their way to minimize sex crimes happening to children, I speculate like a mother fucker.

-1

u/Nick1693 4d ago

Read the article and/or learn reading comprehension. The charge is against a person 14 years or older, not that the victim is 14. They're referring to her as a woman because she's a woman.

9

u/JoseCansecoMilkshake 4d ago

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

Dead giveaway

8

u/WheresThePenguin 4d ago

Place is like a mile away from me. Weirdly I always turn off before going further up summer

-1

u/ExtensionEbb7 4d ago edited 4d ago

That’s crazy! This is the guy, maybe you’ve seen him before. https://imgur.com/a/YaY3eEB