Woman In Dog Collar Escapes, Bangs On Doors For Help After Man Holds Her Hostage For Weeks

A 22-year-old woman, held captive for about a month, managed to escape from a Missouri house before being found malnourished with a metal dog collar around her neck.

The suspect, 39-year-old Timothy M. Haslett of Excelsior Springs, was arrested and is facing rape, kidnapping and assault charges.

The victim told police she was picked up in September and taken to Haslett's house, where he kept her in a small room that appeared to have been designed to hold her hostage in his basement, according to charging documents filed Tuesday, the Kansas City Star reported.

The woman said Haslett would "frequently" whip her and rape her while she was held captive, according to the report.

"He kept her restrained in handcuffs on her wrists and ankles. She was able to get free when he took his child to school," an Excelsior Springs detective wrote in a probable cause statement.

The woman went banging on the doors of Haslett's neighbors and begged for help after her Friday morning escape.

"She didn't have much of a voice. It was more of a light 'help me' than anything," Lisa Johnson, a Don Shelton Boulevard resident, told KSHB 41.

The weak and bruised woman ran to the next door when Johnson went inside to call 911, the report said.

"It frightened her. She told me if I called the cops he'd kill us both," Johnson added.

Ciara Tharp said her grandmother, who lives next door to Johnson, took the woman in.

"She heard a woman screaming and came knocking on the door, so she opened the door and the lady said, 'You have to help me, I've been raped, I've been held captive,'" Tharp told the outlet. "She's like, 'You gotta help me.'"

The woman appeared malnourished and was found wearing latex lingerie as well as a metal collar that appeared to have a padlock on the front.

"My grandma could tell she was weak," Tharp added. "She didn't have a whole lot of clothes on. She said she had a metal dog collar around her neck and could see the ligature marks around her wrists."

Tharp said the victim also had duct tape around her neck that she might have pulled down from her mouth.

Police arrived at the scene and removed the lock that was affecting the woman's breathing.

A detective said in the probable cause statement that the woman pointed at the house in which she was being held captive while being driven to the hospital, AP News reported.

Haslett was arrested Friday and appeared in court by video Tuesday from the Clay County jail.

His house was blocked off by yellow police tape for days after the woman's escape as law enforcement officials gathered evidence.

"It will take time to analyze evidence ... It will take time to interview people involved. It will take time to use that information to see if the suspect in this case is connected to any more crimes," the Clay County Sheriff's Office said in a message on Facebook.