Woman Abused, Held Hostage by Husband

Woman Abused, Held Hostage by Husband


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KSL Newsradio's Marc Giauque and Sandra Yi ReportingVoice of Victim's Cousin: "He had knives on him and told them if they moved, they ran, they screamed, he was going to kill them."

A woman is held captive in her own home and abused in front of her four young children. Police say the abuser is the woman's husband, and he told officers that he was on drugs for the past two weeks.

Woman Abused, Held Hostage by Husband

Relatives say the victim's parents left for Mexico two weeks ago. They say that's when, the horrifying ordeal began inside that house.

Relatives spent the afternoon, cleaning.

Voice of Victim's Cousin: "Yeah, it was pretty dirty because he wouldn't let her clean, cook, nothing."

The woman we spoke with didn't want to be identified but said for two weeks the was a house of horrors for her cousin, who endured physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband, Olivio Rayas.

Woman Abused, Held Hostage by Husband

The couple's children, ages two to six, weren't hurt, but saw it all.

Voice of Victim's Cousin: "They saw him hitting her, raping her. They're all scared right now. They're really scared."

She says Rayas disconnected all the phones in the house. She showed us peep holes in a closet and bedroom walls.

Voice of Victim's Cousin: "He made a hole from the living room to this bedroom so he could watch her sleep and see who came in the room and see what she was doing. She couldn't move, and if she would move, he would hit her."

The threats were enough to silence the victim, until yesterday. She reached out to Ray Fitzgerald, who was in the backyard checking power meters. He says the woman told him what happened while her husband was in a crawl space.

Ray Fitzgerald, Called Police: "She showed me a pretty good cut on her elbow, so I believed her."

He says Rayas seemed nervous and delusional and kept his wife away from him. Before Fitzgerald left, she pleaded for his help again.

Ray Fitzgerald: "As I walked by, she looked at me and mouthed, 'Help me', and I said, 'I'll call', and I left."

Relatives say his phone call may have saved a life.

Ray Fitzgerald: "He told her by today, one of them had to be dead, either him or her."

Fitzgerald says getting involved was the right thing to do.

Ray Fitzgerald: "Yeah, it's a good thing that I had work out there for the power company."

Police say the suspect was high on meth for the past two weeks. He was arrested and now faces several felony charges, including aggravated sexual assault. His wife and children are safe with family.

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