A California 19-year-old is accused of holding his underage girlfriend captive in a car for five days straight while he attacked and sexually assaulted her, Hanford police told KGPE.
The victim was rescued at around 12 p.m. Friday after a resident of an apartment complex in Hanford found her topless with severe blows to her arms and legs inside a Chevy Malibu parked outside.
The 16-year-old girl was held captive in the vehicle for five days while Eddie Perez allegedly beat and raped her repeatedly, forcing her to use the bathroom inside the car and keeping her bound by tying her hands and hair to the car's interior, said Hanford Police Sergeant Justin Vallin.
"Perez only left her alone in the car when he would go out for food and water," Vallin told the station.
The unnamed girl's family reported her missing about two weeks ago, thinking she had run away, the Associated Press reported. Vallin said investigators suspected she was with Perez the entire time but the relationship took a violent turn when he thought she cheated on him.
Albert Martinez was outside the East Malone street apartment where he lives when he heard screaming coming from the grey Chevy Malibu. He called 911.
"She was beaten to the point where she looked like she had tattoos on her legs and her arms, how badly bruised that they were," Martinez told KGPE.
The girl had broken bones and could not walk. She is currently recovering at a hospital after undergoing surgery.
Perez was arrested Saturday after police found him in an apartment not far from where the victim was found, the AP reported. He now faces charges of rape, torture, false imprisonment, suspicion of kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. Police say he used a car tire iron to beat his girlfriend.
Martinez says he didn't hesitate to help rescue a girl who could have been someone else's daughter.
"Goodness, that could have been my daughter," he told KGPE. "She was a kid herself. She was only 16 years old, so if you put that into perspective, that could be anyone's daughter, anyone's sister."
