Post by Scumhunter on May 13, 2015 0:06:05 GMT -5
(above photo credit: National Sex Offender registry)
The Sedalia Police Department is looking for a suspect in connection with keeping a Sedalia woman captive in a wooden box in his home since January.
According to SPD, at 6 p.m. Thursday, the department received a phone call from a 38-year-old “hysterical” white female who stated she had just escaped captivity from a residence in the 800 block of East 15th Street, where she had been held captive by suspect James Barton Horn Jr., 47, of Sedalia, since January. The female fled to a neighbor’s home near the area of Montgomery Avenue and East 15th Street, where she called 911 for help.
SPD officers immediately responded to the area, and upon arrival the victim “seemed physically OK,” said SPD Chief John DeGonia during a Friday morning news conference. However, by the time officers responded, Horn had fled the area.
“We actively have officers out looking for this subject,” said SPD Chief John DeGonia. “Later in the evening, we got tips where he was at. It was south of town in the county. We responded, we called (Missouri State) Highway Patrol and the (Pettis) County (Sheriff’s Office) for help and sent some officers out there. When we got there we found his vehicle, but he was not there. He is still (at large). We got another tip this morning, and we have teams out looking for him and we will continue to do that until we locate him.”
DeGonia said additional officers as well as officers with the Drug Enforcement Unit have been asked to help respond to “get as much manpower as we could get.”
While at the scene, the victim relayed her story to officers, giving detailed information that helped officers obtain a search warrant for the residence. Howell said she sounded “hysterical” when she, with help from the neighbor, called 911, but seemed calm once officers arrived on scene.
“She said she was being kept in a wooden box within the home,” said SPD Detective Josh Howell. “When officers first responded to the residence, we did a protective sweep to make sure no evidence was destroyed and make sure no one else was being held captive in the home, and we did locate what appeared to be a wooden box. We obtained a search warrant at that point.
“While we were obtaining the search warrant we were also interviewing the victim, she gave details about how she was held captive and where. Once we obtained a search warrant and served it, we did indeed find a homemade wooden container that would certainly contain a human being. It appeared to be used for just that purpose.”
Howell said the victim is believed to be credible because “what she told us is exactly what we found.”
DeGonia said officers believe the relationship between the victim and Horn “began as consensual, but it eventually led to ‘you can’t leave.’”
Howell and DeGonia said the female had not been reported missing because neighbors reported seeing the pair together outside from time to time. Howell also said she had contact with others, such as family members, but it was “very controlled.”
At this time, the victim has been taken to a “safe, undisclosed location” and is “doing well, considering the circumstances.”
Expected charges for Horn include felonious restraint, charges of sexual assault, and assault. SPD has been in contact with federal authorities throughout the investigation, and DeGonia said they “hope and expect federal charges.”
Horn has a past criminal history, and is 5’11” and 175 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Sex Offender Registry, Horn is a registered sex offender. The site states on Feb. 18, 1992, he sexually assaulted a 22-year-old female in Memphis, Tenn., and he was convicted in September 1993. Court documents state he pleaded guilty to charges of sexual battery and kidnapping.
Documents from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Western Division also state he pled guilty to interstate kidnapping after forcing an ex-girlfriend to have sex with him in her home in July 1996. He then took her to a motel in West Memphis, Ark., and tied her up, and then the pair traveled to another motel in Springfield, Mo., where federal agents raided the motel, arresting Horn.
According to a document from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Western Division, Horn was petitioned to be classified as a “sexually dangerous person” on Sept. 27, 2007, but he was eventually released from jail.
DeGonia said Horn has stated he will possibly harm himself or law enforcement officers. If anyone sees or has any contact with Horn, or has any information regarding the case, they are encouraged to call the Sedalia Police Department immediately at 660-826-8100.
Thoughts? Not only is this case one of the most disturbing I've seen a while (if I wasn't on a forum where I had to be professional- I'd let a few words fly), but as mentioned in one article, it's amazing that you have a guy supposedly on parole, that's a known danger to women, that apparently was not really watched that closely. The following is an excerpt from a news article:
"Horn is required to register as a sex offender. The address on file does not match the address where the woman said she had been kept in a box off-and-on for four months. The probable cause affidavit filed in the case indicates Horn was living at that address and not at the one on file. It is also near a school, which as a registered sex offender, Horn would not be allowed to live."
According to the federal probation office’s webpage, officers are supposed to check on offenders at both their home and workplace. They’re also supposed to issue a report by the fifth of each month."
Because of what in my opinion is Government bureaucracy, we now have a dangerous sex offender on the loose. He needs to bw caught ASAP.
www.sedaliademocrat.com/news/home_top-news/153248112/SPD-looking-for-suspect-in-captivity-case
pix11.com/2015/05/01/woman-held-captive-in-wooden-box-by-boyfriend/
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