A California woman was held captive, raped and beaten repeatedly for weeks by three men until she was able to escape last week, sheriffs told KTVU.
Sonoma County sheriffs arrested three male suspects Wednesday on suspicion of kidnapping the 22-year-old woman, who finally escaped the rural house in Santa Rosa last Wednesday by fleeing through an open door.
The victim was initially believed to have been held captive for three weeks, but sheriffs now think she was held against her will since late December, KTVU reported.
She said she was repeatedly raped and beaten, allegedly by a resident at the home named Jose Angel Barajas-Mireles. He is accused of being responsible for most of the assaults while his alleged accomplices- Jaime Gomez Cisneros and Guillermo Crestino Avina- were supposed to make sure she didn't escape.
It's not immediately clear how the woman came to be held prisoner at the residence. She initially told investigators she was randomly abducted at gunpoint but police later determined that wasn't true.
"Out of an overwhelming sense of fear of retaliation coupled with the traumatic events she endured, she initially stated to law enforcement that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint," the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office told The Fresno Bee.
Barajas-Mireles, 34, was charged with aggravated sodomy, aggravated oral copulation and aggravated rape. He is being held on $6 million bail.
Cisneros, 52, and Avina, 34, were both charged with false imprisonment and accessories to Barajas-Mireles. Both were held on $11,000 bail.
