A Detroit man is accused of holding a teen girl hostage for 10 days, as it’s revealed he only released the minor after he saw social media posts about her disappearance, officials have said.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office told The Independent that the horror unfolded between March 3 and 10, with the 14-year-old victim being sexually assaulted multiple times inside the suspect’s home.
The man in custody, 37-year-old Ronnell Agee, allegedly kept knives near his bed and threatened to hurt the girl’s family, Fox 2 reported.
“She couldn’t leave because the windows were boarded up and there were no doorknobs on the door,” Lisa Coyle from the prosecutor’s office told the station. “The defendant finally let her leave when he saw that she was posted as a missing person on social media.”
The teenager reportedly left her home on her own prior to meeting Agee. Police have yet to reveal the events that led to the girl being taken to his home.
However, investigators have confirmed that the pair did not know each other, according to a Fox 2 reporter.
Agee was recently released on bond after he was accused of pointing a gun at his wife and threatening to “blow her head off” in a separate incident.
The suspect also has previous convictions and a diagnosed mental illness, although he denied this in court, according to the Fox affiliate.
In relation to the kidnapping, Agee has been charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of kidnapping and four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
He has also been hit with one count of delivery of a controlled substance – marijuana to a minor, and one count of harboring a runaway.
“You see these stories in the media and momentarily think thankfully this doesn’t happen here,” prosecutor Kym Worthy said. “Then reality smacks you in the face.
“I am so very saddened by what happened to our young survivor in this case,” Worthy continued. “And no doubt about it – she is a survivor.”
Commander Rebecca McKay from the Detroit Police Major Crimes Division, who is leading the investigation, warned against taking in teenagers who have run away from home, saying that missing children’s cases are examined thoroughly.
“I would warn anybody out there who decides they want to take in one of these young runaways that we are probably going to figure out who you are,” she told Fox 2.
The Independent has contacted the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the Detroit Police Department for comment.
