DETROIT (WXYZ) — “This victim stated that she thought she was going to die. This is what she said. She did not know that anyone was ever going to come and save her,” says community activist Tamara Liberty Smith.
Smith and the family of the 70-year-old woman would not give up trying to find her. They say she has mild dementia and she was reported missing Monday.
Then late Thursday afternoon, they found her in an abandoned apartment building on Merton Road near Third Avenue in Detroit.
“I start calling ‘auntie, auntie, auntie, auntie. Auntie said ‘yeahhhh’,” is how the woman’s nephew Deshon describes it.
We're not showing you the woman's face because her family believes she was sexually assaulted.
“She also told me that the guy had a dog. She told me she thinks he has someone else,” says Alei.
“The victim has stated that he takes her from where he's residing in the building and places her in the basement when he leaves until he comes back,” says Smith.
A 57-year-old man was taken into custody on outstanding charges unrelated to the woman. The family says they had shown him her photo and missing flier at a nearby party store and his stories changed. Then yesterday he said she might be at an apartment building he manages.
“So, we're actually thinking we're going somewhere that is a building where people live,” says Smith.
But this was it. The family went in searching for her.
And I can't even believe he had the audacity to say he was the manager of an apartment that's burnt, broken windows, trash everywhere. I don't understand,” says Amir.
They start calling her name.
“We hear her. She's yelling with all her strength letting us know that she's there. And the sick part about it is she was in the basement,” says Smith.
The woman had to be carried out. She was in clothes that weren't hers and the family believes she was held against her will and used in sex trafficking. And if she was, she was smarter than anyone victimizing her may have thought. Once police were on the scene, the woman gave one of her nieces something that may hold valuable DNA.
“Grateful. Happy because it could have been worse,” says Deshon.
“She was almost, like, lifeless but she was grateful to be found,” says Smith.
As for the man taken into custody on unrelated charges, Detroit police say they're investigating allegations against him and trying to determine if the woman was a prisoner and sexually assaulted.
“Denied it. I said you been known she was here. You been knew she was here. You knew she was here. He said no I didn't no I didn't,” says Deshon.
Those who searched for her are so grateful they found her alive.
“Enough is enough. It's time for us as a community to get on the ground because engagement makes a difference,” says Smith.
