Houston police said they arrested and charged a man last week with holding a woman hostage in his garage for several years.
Authorities said they charged Lee Carter, 52, with aggravated kidnapping after arresting him at a Houston-area motel on Thursday.
Police said they don’t know where the woman, who wasn’t identified, is currently residing.
“It makes me sick as a human being,” Houston Police Commander Michael Collins told local ABC affiliate KTRK-TV. “I can tell you as a police department, we are here for the citizens of Houston, we are here for the community, and we are here to make sure that this individual and her family gets justice.”
Court documents said officers first made contact with the woman in April 2023 when they received a report of a kidnapping at Mr. Carter’s home. Upon arrival, officers heard a woman’s voice coming from one of the home’s windows and spoke to her at the scene.
She told police that she first encountered Mr. Carter while she was pregnant and panhandling four or five years ago, according to court documents.
The suspect gave her some money and then asked if she needed help. The woman said she did and then got in his car, which is when she told police Mr. Carter took her to his home and locked her in the garage.
Court documents said the woman accused Mr. Carter of repeatedly raping her and forcing her to take crack cocaine and pills while she was being held against her will. When the woman would beg Mr. Carter to let her leave, he would either drug her or threaten her with physical violence.
The woman said Mr. Carter only fed her snacks and chips, and rarely let her shower. The victim said she tried to run out of the house on the few occasions Mr. Carter let her in the home to bathe, but the suspect would chase her down and throw her back in the garage.
The woman said she managed to escape at one point; however, she wound up in a hospital, and Mr. Carter came to get her from the medical facility. The suspect boarded up the garage’s window after returning her to his home, according to court documents.
The filings said Mr. Carter allowed the woman to use his laptop, which is when she contacted 911 by using the Text Now application.
The documents said the woman was emaciated when police found her, weighing only 70 pounds and having a “pungent stench.”
Officers said they found a makeshift toilet that didn’t flush inside the garage, as well as a mattress covered with vomit and some snacks.
The court documents don’t address whether the woman ever gave birth, or what happened to the baby.
Police said they received eight calls for service at Mr. Carter’s house in the past year.
The suspect, who works as a real estate broker and is also a local rapper known as “Viper,” is currently being held on a $100,000 bond.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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