A 12-year-old girl is being hailed as a hero and used her ingenuity to escape what could have been certain death.
Authorities have not yet released the name of the girl who was kidnapped but escaped by chewing through her restraints after being held in captivity for a week in a rural mobile home in central Alabama.
When police arrived on the scene of the mobile home, they found two dead bodies inside.
The man accused of first-degree kidnapping and the murder of the people in the home is José Paulino Pascual-Reyes, according to an interview with Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett.
At this point, the names of the deceased have not been released and there is no known motive or cause of death for the bodies found. There is also no known defense attorney on record at this point to speak on behalf of the defendant who is 37. Additional charges are also pending for Pascual-Reyes.
“Forensics is doing their part today and we’re waiting on results from them,” he said.
The girl was abducted from an undisclosed location around July 24. She was restrained to bedposts for close to a week and was sexually abused, according to a complaint filed in court by the police.
She was kept in a drugged state with alcohol and also had an injury to her head before she chewed her way out of the restraints, according to the court document.
The girl was found on a road outside of the mobile home with her braces damaged from chewing and marks on her wrists from the restraints.
A driver picked up the girl and notified authorities. An investigation ensued and the search led the police officers to the decomposing bodies inside the mobile home where Pascual-Reyes lived.
Sheriff Abbett called the girl a “hero” and urged residents to keep their eyes peeled for someone who might be in need.
