A Missouri woman was held captive in a basement room for about a month and repeatedly raped before she was able to escape, according to charging documents filed Tuesday.
The suspect, 39-year-old Timothy Haslett of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, was arrested Friday and appeared in court by video on Tuesday from jail. He is charged with first degree rape or attempted rape, first degree kidnapping and second degree assault.
The victim was found early on Friday, wearing black clothes with a metal collar with a lock on the front. The woman told the police that she was raped at the beginning of September, then she was taken to the house and kept in a small room in the suspect’s basement.
Police removed the lock that they said was restricting the woman’s breathing. She pointed to the house where she was held and then taken to the hospital.
According to the charge, he kept her restrained with handcuffs on her wrists and ankles. She managed to break free when he took his child to school. The woman told police that Haslet had whipped and raped her frequently. After she ran away she called for help and told the neighbors what had been done to her, they accommodated her and called the police, despite the woman’s fears that if they did so the man would kill them both.
The police continue to investigate the woman’s claims that there may be other victims who did not survive.
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