Escape From Hell: Woman Alleges Stepfather Kept Her As A Sex Slave For 19 Years
Henri Piette reportedly told his other children that Rosalynn McGinnis was their "new mother."
Rosalynn McGinnis [People (screenshot)]
The young woman whose former stepfather allegedly kidnapped her from school and held her captive for 19 years has revealed shocking new details of rape and torture she claims she endured.
Henri Michele Piette, 62, is accused of first raping Rosalynn McGinnis when she was 11 or 12 on a bunk bed in a back room of her home in Wagoner — and “marrying” her in a van when she was around 11 years old, according to court documents.
Investigators said McGinnis was taken from school in Poteau, Oklahoma, in 1997, by Piette’s son after her mother left Piette – allegedly because he abused her. Over the years, McGinnis claims she was repeatedly raped, stabbed, choked unconscious, shot, and beaten with baseball bats while allegedly held captive.
Piette reportedly told his other children that McGinnis was their "new mother." He allegedly moved around the U.S. and Mexico with McGinnis. But to throw investigators off, Piette would allegedly drive the young girl back to her home state to mail letters.
In June 2016, the family was reportedly living in a tent in rural Mexico when McGinnis saw her chance to escape. She alleges that after being put through a primitive surgery to remove her gallbladder, Piette forced her to get up and work around the house. “I knew that if I didn’t get out of there,” she told People magazine “Id either go insane, or I would end up dying and leaving my kids with that man.”
McGinnis reportedly survived by begging for money and food on the streets of Mexico and selling coffee, honey, or homemade ice cream.
She was finally able to get to a U.S. embassy with eight of her nine children, and spent two months in hiding while waiting for her family's emergency passports to come through. Finally, she was able to make the trip back to the U.S. with her kids.
McGinnis told People magazine that when she was finally able to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it felt “so nice to be able to tell somebody the truth.”
One of McGinnis’ sons had previously run away, but has since been reunited with his mother, according to the Oklahoman.
Following an FBI investigation, Piette was arrested earlier this month, and has been sent back to Oklahoma. He has been charged with two counts of lewd molestation and one count each of first-degree rape and child abuse by injury, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Today, according to People magazine, McGinnis is living in the Midwest with her children, who range in age from 2 to 17 years old. The children reportedly receive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
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