Missouri man charged with kidnapping after allegedly holding woman captive

A 22-year-old woman was allegedly held captive for weeks in the basement of a Missouri man who restrained, whipped and raped her until she was able to escape the house of horrors Friday, reports said.

The victim fled the Excelsior Springs home of her alleged captor Timothy Haslett Jr., 39, after he left to take his child to school, according to reports.

She then ran to a neighbor’s home for help, allegedly appearing malnourished and wearing a metal dog collar with a padlock around her neck, reports said.

Neighbors said the woman showed clear signs of abuse.

Ciara Tharp told Kansas City-based NBC affiliate KSHB that her grandmother heard the woman banging on her door and yelling for help at around 7:45 a.m. Friday.

“She heard a woman screaming and came knocking on the door, so she opened the door and the lady said, ‘You have to help me, I’ve been raped, I’ve been held captive,’” Tharp said. “She’s like, ‘You gotta help me.’”

Tharp’s grandmother brought her into her home, wrapped her in a blanket and gave her food and water, KSHB reported.

“My grandma could tell she was weak,” Tharp said. “She didn’t have a whole lot of clothes on. She said she had a metal dog collar around her neck and could see the ligature marks around her wrists.”

The victim told Tharp’s grandmother and another neighbor that her abuser lived down the street and said she was afraid he would kill her if he found out she escaped.

Tharp’s grandmother called 911 and the woman was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. On the way, she pointed to Haslett’s home and identified it as the place she had been held captive since early September, according to the station.

Officers who responded to the call found the victim, who has not been identified, wearing latex lingerie and a metal collar with a padlock around her neck, according to court documents filed Tuesday and obtained by the local ABC affiliate KMBC News.

She also had duct tape around her neck and marks on her wrists and ankles.

The woman told police that she had been picked up in Kansas City by a man named Timothy at the beginning of September. Since then, she said she had been held hostage in small room he had built in his basement — where she was restrained in handcuffs around her wrists and ankles, the documents state.

She said Haslett raped her repeatedly and frequently in the tiny basement room and that he also whipped her while restrained.

Emergency responders found injuries on her back that were consistent with being whipped. They also noted that the collar locked around her neck was restricting her breathing, the court docs state.

Police executed a search warrant of Haslett’s home and discovered the basement room the woman described. They also recovered multiple firearms from the home.

Officers took Haslett into custody the same day his alleged victim escaped on an unrelated animal control violation.

He has since been charged with rape, kidnapping and assault.

The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment and is listed in stable condition, according to KMBC.

She said that there were other victims, however investigators have been unable to identify any.

Tharp said the woman told her grandmother that Haslett killed her friends.

“She made the comment that ‘he killed my friends. They didn’t make it. He killed my friends’,” Tharp said. “She just kept repeating it.”

Police said they are thoroughly investigating the possibility of additional victims but have found no evidence of any thus far.