An as yet unnamed 25-year-old woman from California has managed to escape her kidnapper 10 years after being taken, thanks to Facebook. Isidro Garcia, 41, kidnapped her, sexually assaulted her, forced her into marrying him and then fathered a child with her.
Garcia had met the girl through her mother, who he was going out with in 2004. Police say the mother had suspected he was sexually abusing her daughter. And in June of that year, her suspicions became a sickening reality when she was assaulted by Garcia and he drugged the girl before taking her to a house in Compton and locking her up in the garage.
Moving the girl from place to place so that he wouldn't get caught, Garcia would abuse and threaten the girl so that she wouldn't escape. He told her the police and her family were no longer looking for her, said that if she escaped that she would be deported and provided her with forged identification so no-one would find her.
In 2007, he forced her into marriage and in 2012 they had a child together, *The Telegraph *reports. Garcia got them both jobs as night cleaners so he could keep her under his watch.
So far, so so sad. But not only has the woman now managed to escape - her escape thoroughly modern. She found her sister on Facebook and then had the courage to come forward and tell police what was happening. Garcia has now been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping for rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
Garcia has not yet been formally charged, as he doesn't yet have a lawyer. And there's no word yet on how the woman is coping with her new-found freedom.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.