Missing Teen

Abused By Man She Met Online
September 13, 2004

By Kim Riemland

The 14-year-old girl was found after reportedly being kidnapped, raped, and beaten by a man she met on the internet.

FIRCREST - A teenage girl who disappeared from her home in Camas nearly two weeks was reportedly kidnapped, beaten and raped by a man she met on the internet.

The girl's mom used her daughter's web postings to help track her to a home in Fircrest.

A Fircrest police officer knocked on the door and found the 14-year-old girl lying on a bed inside. She was nearly naked and dazed.

The officer also found rooms filled with what investigators believe is evidence of abuse.

The girl suffers from a form of Autism. Detectives say she met her suspected abuser, a father of three, online. What police say happened after that is sickening.

"We recovered a lot of sexually related materials. It looks like he had a couple of rooms set up in the house for videotaping and hardcore sexual activity," said Det. Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

"And we've recovered digital cameras and computers so we still have a lot of evidence to go through," he added. "We believe that there were some things going on there that may have been going on for some time."

The 47-year-old man is charged with kidnapping, rape of a child, and sexual exploitation of a minor.

Court documents detail numerous allegations of sexual abuse.

Documents say the girl told detectives he also hit her with a whip, put a hood over her head, and hit her with a bamboo stick. When he left the house he would chain her to the bed.

After being missing for nearly two weeks, the girl called her mom from the hospital Sunday night.

"I didn't even know it was her, I thought it was her sister at first," said the teen's mom through her tears. "Then she said 'mommy, it was a bad man.' I realized it was her and all we could both do is cry."

The prosecutor says toxicology tests will determine whether the girl was drugged. Video tapes and computer drives seized at the home may tell investigators even more about what went on inside.

The girl is now home and away from the man who she calls "the bad man she met on the internet."

Prosecutors believe there could be other victims in the case. Other people might have also been involved in committing the crime.

The suspect is being held on $250,000 bail.

Copyright 2004 Fisher Communications, Inc. (KOMO TV)