Let us cover this women in our prayers: A 25-year-old woman who vanished as a teenager from her California home has contacted police after 10 years, claiming she was held captive and sexually assaulted for nearly a decade.
The Santa Ana Police Department said Wednesday that they have charged her alleged captor, 41-year-old Isidro Garcia, of Bell Gardens, with kidnap for rape, lewd act with a minor and false imprisonment.
The woman’s mother reported her then-15-year-old daughter missing to the Santa Ana Police Department in August of 2004 after a domestic violence incident. The mother said Garcia, who was her boyfriend and living with the family at the time, was also missing, and that she suspected Garcia had been sexually assaulting her daughter.
The woman told authorities that Garcia had assaulted her mother and drugged her, driving her to a house in Compton, Calif., police said.
Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna told The Associated Press that Garcia got false identification papers for the teen from Mexico in 2007 as part of his elaborate efforts to hide her age and name. Bertagna said Garcia got the papers so he could marry the girl.
Garcia allegedly did force the victim to marry him in 2007, and the two had a child together in 2012, according to authorities.
Authorities say the woman recently contacted her sister on Facebook, and eventually gained the courage to call police.
