Couple charged with holding woman captive, assaulting her

Couple charged with holding woman captive, assaulting her

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SALT LAKE CITY — A man and woman were charged Friday with holding a woman working as a prostitute captive, as well as beating and raping her on multiple occasions.

Michael D. Davidson, 53, of Brigham City, and Claryn Melissa Hamstra, 40, of Colorado, are charged in 3rd District Court with rape and two counts of aggravated sexual assault, first-degree felonies, and exploiting a prostitute, a third-degree felony.

The woman told police she lived with Hamstra and Davidson in Salt Lake County in 2016 between August and October. During that time, Hamstra would organize “dates” for the woman, the charging documents state, and Davidson would then take the money she earned.

Hamstra and Davidson kept the woman “in a room that locked from the outside” and made her work “to pay for their drug addiction,” according to the charges. When she tried to escape several times, police say Davidson caught her and “would hit her with a belt or punch her as a punishment.”

Davidson forcibly raped the woman multiple times, according to the charges. Her minor children were present and witnessed one of the assaults, police said. Hamstra allegedly taped another assault.

After one date that “went bad,” Hamstra watched while Davidson “zip-tied (the woman) to a chair, punched her in the face, whipped her with a wire hanger, whipped her with a belt on her back, and cut her legs with razor blades,” the charges state. Davidson then allegedly forcibly raped the woman.

A $500,000 warrant was issued for Hamstra’s and Davidson’s arrests.

In 2011, Davidson pleaded guilty to attempted endangerment of a child, court records show. Davidson and Hamstra both pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempted unlawful acquisition or possession of a transfer card after police said they used his mother’s credit card to pay for a prescription and then destroyed the card.

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Ashley Imlay is an evening news manager for KSL.com. A lifelong Utahn, Ashley has also worked as a reporter for the Deseret News and is a graduate of Dixie State University.

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