Indiana Couple Charged With Holding Woman Captive for Two Months

Prosecutors have charged an Indiana couple on Monday for holding a woman captive in a small cage for two months. The woman was also raped and beaten several times by the couple.

Ricky Roy House Jr., 37, and his girlfriend, Kendra Tooley, 44, were charged during a hearing in Posey Circuit Court in Mount Vernon, reports Associated Press.

While House faces 14 counts of rape, kidnapping, criminal confinement and battery, his girlfriend Tooley was charged with 10 counts of rape, kidnapping and criminal confinement. The Judge also set a bond of $50,000 to House and $150,000 to Tooley. The couple were also allocated public defenders after the court entered not guilty pleas on their behalf, CNN reports.

The couple were arrested early Sunday from their mobile home in rural south-western Indiana.

Tooley's ex husband Ron Higgs of Evansville had freed the woman six hours before the couple was arrested. Higgs took the woman to his apartment from where she called the police and her mother.

The woman's ordeal started on July 9 when House, a man she knew, saw her walking in the street and offered her a ride. She accepted the offer and went to the place he shared with Tooley in Stewartsville, about 25 miles northwest of Evansville.

When she was about to leave, House used chloroform to make her unconscious. When she woke up, she understood that she was bound to a bed and her clothing was cut off.

And from then on, House raped the woman many times. Her captors also treated her like a dog by making her wear a dog collar with a rope. They also built a small wooden cage and kept her there for long hours, reports AP.

Tooley, who is also charged for raping the woman, told the police that House wanted to make the woman pregnant because Tooley was old and not capable of having children of her own.

According to the charges, House sexually assaulted her several times during the woman's 59 days of captivity. He also made her wear a dog collar with a rope and eventually built a small wooden cage where she was kept for long durations.

The woman told the police that House used to rape her after fastening her to an intricate restraint system which included zip ties and bungee cords attached to a bed.

She also said that she was beaten many times with belts and other objects.

During times when she was not locked up in the cage, she was required to cook and clean the house, said Posey County chief deputy sheriff Tom Latham.

"It was pretty much modernized slavery in my eyes," Latham said, reports AP.

It was only after Tooley's ex-husband, Ron Higgs arrived at the house that the woman's ordeal ended. Higgs came to Tooley's house as she contacted him for money.

The woman told Higgs that she was being held captive and asked for his help.

Higgs then returned the next day and offered House money to let him take the woman. At this point the situation turned violent, as House took a shotgun and stuck it under Higgs chin. At that point, Higgs head butted House, who withdrew to another room. Using the opportunity, Higgs escaped with the woman from the house.