The Arizona Republic
Since September, the 15-year-old girl had been raped repeatedly, threatened with death and sold for sex over the Internet, police said.
Her captors hid the runaway in a hollowed-out box spring covered with a piece of wood and tucked underneath a bed in a small apartment complex adjacent to Interstate 17 in west Phoenix.
Then, in a brief moment Monday afternoon, while they were sleeping, the girl managed to sneak a phone call to her mother. She needed help, she said. She knew the general area where she was but couldn't give an address.
Just after midnight Monday, Phoenix police, who had been looking for a runaway in the same area, rescued the sobbing girl.
Matthew Gray, 18, and Jannelle Butler, 19, were arrested and accused of a litany of crimes related to sexual assault and prostitution.
Police say that after repeated visits to the apartment, Butler finally pointed officers to the girl's makeshift hiding place, saying she was worried the girl might be running out of oxygen.
"What we have is a broken 15-year-old girl who was alone and felt like her life was over," said Sgt. Andy Hill of the Phoenix Police Department. "Thank God she's alive.
"Look what she went through. It's just unbelievable. I've never heard of anything so horrific done to a kid."
The girl's ordeal began in September when she ran away from her El Mirage home, then met Gray and Butler through a friend, Hill said. The girl was taken to Washington Park in Phoenix, where police say Gray and Butler bound her and took her to a nearby apartment, where "she was viciously and violently gang-raped by several unknown suspects for several hours."
After that, the 5-foot-6, 140-pound girl was taken to an apartment in the 2500 block of West McLellan Boulevard, where she was imprisoned periodically in a cramped dog kennel for about three days, threatened with a gun and "totally brainwashed," Hill said.
Police said that the suspects asked her, "How do you want to die?" and "Where do you want to get shot?" The suspects threatened to kill her family, too, police said.
"Within three hours of knowing these people, she was bound, gagged, gang-raped and psychologically and emotionally tortured until she completely broke down," Hill said.
The girl was forced to work as a prostitute for at least a month. Police say she was portrayed on the Internet as an adult and forced to have sex with dozens of men. Officials say it wasn't clear how much money the suspects pocketed
The girl and her family were not identified by police. It is the policy of The Arizona Republic not identify sexual-assault victims.
Neither Gray nor Butler appears to have a criminal record in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Gray was booked on suspicion of numerous sex-related charges, including sexual assault, kidnapping, 80 counts of receiving the earnings of a prostitute, 80 counts of pandering and 42 counts of operating a house of prostitution. Butler was booked on suspicion of child prostitution, kidnapping, 25 counts of receiving the earnings of a prostitute and 50 counts of pandering.
Police began looking for the girl after her mother reported her missing in September. At the end of that month, a relative of one of the suspects called police to the apartment where the girl was found to report a domestic-violence incident. While at the McLellan complex, police were told about a possible runaway who might be in the apartment, Hill said.
The girl reportedly had been seen at the complex. The officers couldn't find the girl but wrote a report that was forwarded to detectives.
In the meantime, the girl's mother called Phoenix police after hearing her daughter was being held in the city.
Police, suspecting that the runaway might be the missing El Mirage girl, visited the McLellan apartment at least three times but never saw the girl, Hill said. "They were constantly looking out for her," he said.
After the girl's phone call Monday afternoon, her mother called police again. Four officers returned to the apartment.
"They were told she wasn't here," Hill said. "But they knew she had to be."
After talking to neighbors who had seen the girl, the officers went back to the apartment and "Butler broke down," Hill said.
"It's sad," said Lorraine Montoya, who lives at the complex. "A lot of stuff goes on here, but something like this has never happened. This scares a lot of people. . . . If they could do this to 15-year-old, they could do it to a 10-year-old."
Her captors hid the runaway in a hollowed-out box spring covered with a piece of wood and tucked underneath a bed in a small apartment complex adjacent to Interstate 17 in west Phoenix.
Then, in a brief moment Monday afternoon, while they were sleeping, the girl managed to sneak a phone call to her mother. She needed help, she said. She knew the general area where she was but couldn't give an address.
Just after midnight Monday, Phoenix police, who had been looking for a runaway in the same area, rescued the sobbing girl.
Matthew Gray, 18, and Jannelle Butler, 19, were arrested and accused of a litany of crimes related to sexual assault and prostitution.
Police say that after repeated visits to the apartment, Butler finally pointed officers to the girl's makeshift hiding place, saying she was worried the girl might be running out of oxygen.
"What we have is a broken 15-year-old girl who was alone and felt like her life was over," said Sgt. Andy Hill of the Phoenix Police Department. "Thank God she's alive.
"Look what she went through. It's just unbelievable. I've never heard of anything so horrific done to a kid."
The girl's ordeal began in September when she ran away from her El Mirage home, then met Gray and Butler through a friend, Hill said. The girl was taken to Washington Park in Phoenix, where police say Gray and Butler bound her and took her to a nearby apartment, where "she was viciously and violently gang-raped by several unknown suspects for several hours."
After that, the 5-foot-6, 140-pound girl was taken to an apartment in the 2500 block of West McLellan Boulevard, where she was imprisoned periodically in a cramped dog kennel for about three days, threatened with a gun and "totally brainwashed," Hill said.
Police said that the suspects asked her, "How do you want to die?" and "Where do you want to get shot?" The suspects threatened to kill her family, too, police said.
"Within three hours of knowing these people, she was bound, gagged, gang-raped and psychologically and emotionally tortured until she completely broke down," Hill said.
The girl was forced to work as a prostitute for at least a month. Police say she was portrayed on the Internet as an adult and forced to have sex with dozens of men. Officials say it wasn't clear how much money the suspects pocketed
The girl and her family were not identified by police. It is the policy of The Arizona Republic not identify sexual-assault victims.
Neither Gray nor Butler appears to have a criminal record in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Gray was booked on suspicion of numerous sex-related charges, including sexual assault, kidnapping, 80 counts of receiving the earnings of a prostitute, 80 counts of pandering and 42 counts of operating a house of prostitution. Butler was booked on suspicion of child prostitution, kidnapping, 25 counts of receiving the earnings of a prostitute and 50 counts of pandering.
Police began looking for the girl after her mother reported her missing in September. At the end of that month, a relative of one of the suspects called police to the apartment where the girl was found to report a domestic-violence incident. While at the McLellan complex, police were told about a possible runaway who might be in the apartment, Hill said.
The girl reportedly had been seen at the complex. The officers couldn't find the girl but wrote a report that was forwarded to detectives.
In the meantime, the girl's mother called Phoenix police after hearing her daughter was being held in the city.
Police, suspecting that the runaway might be the missing El Mirage girl, visited the McLellan apartment at least three times but never saw the girl, Hill said. "They were constantly looking out for her," he said.
After the girl's phone call Monday afternoon, her mother called police again. Four officers returned to the apartment.
"They were told she wasn't here," Hill said. "But they knew she had to be."
After talking to neighbors who had seen the girl, the officers went back to the apartment and "Butler broke down," Hill said.
"It's sad," said Lorraine Montoya, who lives at the complex. "A lot of stuff goes on here, but something like this has never happened. This scares a lot of people. . . . If they could do this to 15-year-old, they could do it to a 10-year-old."
1 comment:
If this can happen to a girl in the U.S., then you can bet it happens all the time in South America, Europe, the Caribbean....
Thankfully this girl has something on her side that Natalee's family does not: honest, skilled investigators who are dedicated to the truth and justice, not lapdogs to organized crime and corrupt politicians.
I am so glad this girl is back home with her family tonight. You can bet she will never be the same, but love can heal anything and in time I know everything will be much better for her and her family. God bless you sweetie, whoever you are.
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