Washington woman says she escaped home where she was held captive for days; police find man dead inside
A 27-year-old woman claimed to have escaped a home in Gig Harbor, Washington, where an older man held her captive for multiple days, authorities said.
A woman covered in blood showed up outside a home in Washington state over the weekend and claimed to have been held against her will for multiple days inside a nearby house, where responding police later found a man dead inside, authorities said.
The injured 27-year-old woman told officers that she escaped from a residence near Sehmel Drive in Gig Harbor just after an older man had beaten her, the Gig Harbor Police Department said.
The woman had run to a neighbor’s house with several deep lacerations to her head, according to police.
The residents of the home, Gary and Robin Marcello, told FOX13 Seattle that they were sleeping when the doorbell suddenly woke them up.
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"I went outside and looked out my driveway and a young lady was walking away and then turned around and looked at me and had blood all over her face," Gary Marcello said.
Robin Marcello recalled the "horrific" scene, saying the girl was bleeding out of her ear and that she kept repeating, "He’s going to kill me, he’s going to kill me."
The injured woman told officers at the scene that a man she did not know had picked her up in an unfamiliar location in either King or Thurston County days before her escape and admitted to drug use.
She was unable to provide officers with more information before she was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Police went to the home that the woman described and found blood on the porch area outside. Officers, with assistance from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, tried to contact any occupants inside the home, but there was no answer.
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Officers obtained a warrant and entered the home, where they found a 66-year-old male deceased from what they said was an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators also found evidence that someone had tried to set a fire within the home.
Police did not immediately release the identities of the woman or the deceased man.
The investigation remains ongoing.