CHINA TOPIX

05/19/2024 08:02:16 pm

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California Woman Found 10 Years After Disappearance

A California woman who went missing at the age of 15 came forward on Tuesday to report that she had been held against her will for the last decade.

The woman, whose name wasn't released, contacted police after she found her sister on Facebook, authorities said.

Her alleged abductor, Isidro Garcia, 41, has been arrested and accused of kidnapping, rape, and false imprisonment.

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The now 25-year-old kidnap victim also told police that Garcia forced her to marry him and bear his child.

The victim first came in contact with Garcia in 2004 when he was dating her mother and living with the family. In June 2004 Garcia assaulted the mother and, after drugging the girl, took her to a house in Compton where he locked her in the garage.

Police said Garcia used physical and emotional abuse to prevent the girl from leaving, telling the young victim that her family had given up looking for her and moving frequently to avoid detection.

Garcia also threatened the victim with deportation for her and her family should she come forward to authorities.

In 2007, Garcia forced the woman into marrying him and she bore a child for him in 2012.

Police were called to a residence on Monday to deal with a domestic abuse report and were told by the woman they found there that she had been held captive for 10 years, according to local media reports.

The case bears similarities to last year's Cleveland incident where Amanda Berry freed herself and two other fellow abducted girls from the home of their captor, Ariel Castro, after years of being sexually abused while in captivity. Castro killed himself in prison in September 2013.

Garcia, who was arrested on Tuesday, has not been formally charged but the case has been presented to the Orange County district attorney's office for consideration.  

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