A Texas rapper is accused of kidnapping a pregnant woman and locking her up for years in his home, where he allegedly raped her, forced her to take drugs, starved her and confined her in squalid conditions, KPRC-TV reports.
The disturbing allegations came to light this week when police in Houston arrested 52-year-old Lee Carter on a charge of aggravated kidnapping.
Although Carter was taken into custody on Thursday, authorities discovered the woman in April after she managed to contact 911.
The woman told responding officers that four or five years earlier, she was panhandling when Carter pulled over, gave her money, and offered to help her if she got in his car.
But Carter did not help. The victim alleges that she was kept locked inside Carter’s garage at his southeast Houston home on Perry Street except in the rare instances he would allow her to shower. She tried to escape multiple times but Carter was always able to catch her and lock her back in the garage.
At one point the victim was hospitalized, but Carter picked her up from the hospital and brought her back to his home, where he allegedly boarded the garage window, according to KPRC-TV, citing court documents.
The woman said Carter forced her to use crack cocaine, pills, and other illicit substances that rendered her physically incapacitated. She told Carter she did not want the drugs, but he demanded she use them, Fox 26 reports.
In the garage where the woman was kept, Carter had a makeshift toilet that could not flush, a vomit-soaked mattress, and a sink with water that dripped.
As for food, the woman told investigators that Carter gave her snacks and chips, but she typically never was satiated. Officers found the woman weighed “approximately 70 pounds with a pungent stench,” according to court records obtained by KPRC-TV.
Even though the victim was rescued, authorities say they do not know her current location. Her identity has not been released and it was not clear what happened with her pregnancy.
On Friday, police returned to Carter’s house searching for the woman, but the effort proved fruitless.
“We found a dog inside, feces on the floor and an empty room with the TV on,” Houston Police Commander Michael Collins told KTRK-TV.
Authorities say Carter is a real estate broker and working on a master’s degree in business administration. He is also a popular rapper in the Houston area under the stage name of “Viper.”
Carter is being held in the Harris County Jail pending $100,000 bail. If he is released, he will have to wear a GPS tracker and is prohibited from contact with the victim. He is expected to return to court Monday, according to KHOU-TV.
One neighbor told KPRC-TV that he sensed something was amiss at Carter’s residence and suspected it might involve human trafficking or production of pornography.
“All of it gave me a red flag,” Jedediah Beights told the television station. “Everything from day one was a red flag.”
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[Feature Photo: Lee Carter/Houston Police Department]
