Warning: Details in this story may be disturbing for some readers. Discretion is advised.
A man is accused of holding a woman captive for three days inside an abandoned home in Chicago before a Good Samaritan heard her cries for help and led police to her location, prosecutors said in court Wednesday.
Joel Cammon, 44, of Blue Island, faces felony charges of aggravated kidnapping inflicting harm and aggravated criminal sexual assault after authorities alleged he handcuffed a 36-year-old woman inside an abandoned home and chained her in an attic for multiple days. He was ordered held without bail during a hearing Wednesday.
In court, prosecutors alleged Cammon had met the woman previously and paid her for sex. The pair had agreed to meet at the home in the 11900 block of South Eggleston for a similar encounter on May 18, but an argument broke out between the two and Cammon, who worked as a "quasi-security guard at a nearby store," used his handcuffs and "handcuffed her against her will," a proffer from bond court stated.
"Once she was handcuffed he dragged her to the upstairs attic where he chained her right ankle to the wall with her arms handcuffed in front of her body," the proffer read.
Cammon then allegedly sexually assaulted the woman as she was tied up and left her. He returned the next day and, according to prosecutors, sexually assaulted the woman a second time before leaving her again.
"After this second sexual assault the defendant again left, leaving behind the victim
chained and handcuffed," the proffer stated. "She continued to bang on the wall and yell for help but no one heard her. She remained there until she was found on May 21st."
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That's when a Good Samaritan heard the woman screaming inside the home and called police.
“I called the police immediately,” Antione Dobine said. “I waited for them to come, and when police got here they discovered there was a young lady in there, handcuffed and chained.”
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Authorities say they freed the woman from an upstairs bedroom, and took her to an area hospital.
Surveillance video in the area showed Cammon walking in an alley leading to the home at the times the woman said she was assaulted, prosecutors said.
"This defendant held this victim prisoner for 3 days. He sexually assaulted her, left,
went on with his life knowing she was held captive in that abandoned home, and then came back just to sexually assault her again. The actions of the defendant are straight out of horror movie," the proffer read.
It was not immediately clear if Cammon had an attorney.
