A Missouri teen, who had been missing since she was 15 years old, told police she escaped a home in a decaying, crime-ridden Illinois village where she was held captive and subjected to sexual assaults that resulted in pregnancy.
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About two dozen members of a SWAT team raided the home Thursday afternoon in southwestern Illinois’ Washington Park, taking into custody a 24-year-old man and his mother, who subjected the teen mom to beatings and sexual assaults on a daily basis.
As reported by the Associated Press:
“The conditions in there were definitely deplorable,” St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, the county’s top prosecutor, told The Associated Press on Friday after consulting with investigators at the scene.
Police also recovered the teen’s young child, who she said was the result of rape by her captor. The child was taken away in an ambulance.
No charges had been filed as of Friday morning, though Kelly said he anticipated investigators would submit reports for his review later in the day.
Initial evidence suggests that “some of the details are consistent with what the young lady is saying, and I think there’s something to it. We’re still trying to figure out what the heck is going on,” Kelly said.
Police in St. Louis listed the teen as a missing or runaway juvenile in April 2010, when she was 15.
The teen told police she was held against her will and was able to escape this week with the help of a relative.
What an incredible story. We hope and pray that the young 17-year-old is safe and sound with her child.
SOURCE: AP
Photo credit: AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, J.B. Forbes
