A man accused of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl who escaped by chewing herself after a week of captivity in a rural mobile home has been charged with killing two people found dead inside the residence, they said Wednesday the authorities
Already accused of kidnapping in the first degree in relation to the abuse of the child, José Paulino Pascual-Reyes was also accused of capital murder in the death of the people who were found inside the mobile home in the center of Alabama, Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett said. interview.
Authorities have not released information about the girl, the homicide victims, the cause of death or a possible motive, but Abbett said additional charges are pending.
“The forensics are doing their part today and we are awaiting the results from them,” he said.
Court records did not list the name of a defense attorney who could speak on behalf of Pascual-Reyes, 37, who was being held in the Tallapoosa County Jail.
Tallapoosa County Jail
Abducted from an undisclosed location around July 24, the girl was held on bedposts for about a week so she could be sexually abused, according to a complaint filed in court by authorities. She was kept in a “drugged state” with alcohol and was assaulted in the head before being chewed out of the restraints, the document said.
With her braces damaged from chewing and marks on her wrists that indicated she had been tied up, the girl was seen Monday morning on the road in front of the mobile home, authorities said.
A driver picked up the girl and notified authorities, prompting an investigation and a manhunt that led police to discover two decomposing bodies inside the mobile home where Pascual-Reyes lived and it is believed that the girl she was in custody, Abbett said. Other people lived at the residence, he said, but no one else was there when police arrived.
The mobile home’s metal base was ripped off, they said CBS affiliate WRBLand it appears that investigators were focusing their attention on the floor beneath the mobile home.
The girl received medical attention and was placed in the custody of child welfare officials, said Abbett, who described her as a “hero.”
“She’s safe now, and so we want to keep her that way,” Abbett said.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were also involved in the investigation, WRBL reports.
