Ogden wife bound, raped and tortured for hours, police say

OGDEN -- A man who police described as "very possessive and jealous" was arrested Monday after officers say he kidnapped, raped and tortured his wife for hours in a horrific case of domestic abuse.

After the woman escaped and ran to a stranger's house for help, the man went after her while wearing a bulletproof vest and caring an SKS assault rifle, police say.

Husband terrorized wife

The incident began about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when the woman returned home, in the 800 block of 22nd Street, from work. Her 28-year-old husband had been forcing her to wear a wireless Bluetooth phone device at work for the past two weeks in order to monitor her, said Ogden Police Lt. Scott Conley.

"She has a Bluetooth device attached to her clothing so he can hear whatever takes place throughout her shift," he said.

Sunday night, the husband confronted her about what he thought was a man singing to her. She told him it was the radio. The two argued and eventually moved their conversation to the upstairs bedroom. There, the man told the woman she had to have intercourse with him to prove she loved him, Conley said.

Instead, the woman was tied with ropes and raped, beaten and tortured until 5 a.m. During that time, the husband continuously replayed the recording he had made of the alleged workplace incident.

Eventually, the woman convinced her husband to release one of her hands, after which he went downstairs, Conley said.

The woman was able to free herself, get dressed and walk downstairs, too. When she saw car keys on the counter, she grabbed them and bolted for the door, Conley said. The man got up and ran after her.

Wife escaped to nearby home

The woman ran to the 2100 block of Monroe and randomly banged on a resident's door. The occupants let the woman inside.

Ambrosio Ramirez and Jose Morales were two of the people in the home.

"She was scared," said Ramirez. "When she was pounding at the door she was screaming."

The woman had bruises on her wrists and cuts on her chest.

"She said that he had grabbed a hot knife and had burned her on her back," Ramirez said.

The neighbors hid the woman downstairs, but her husband showed up a few moments later. He was not allowed inside.

"I was kneeling down like this and I jumped up," Morales said. "I like ran toward him. That's when he got scared and backed up."

"He then turns and leaves. She feels he's going home to get weapons," Conley said. "They get on the phone with emergency dispatch."

A short time later, the husband returned wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying two loaded weapons — an SKS assault rifle and a handgun. The man kicked in the door, pointed a weapon at the four to five adults inside, and demanded to know where his wife was hiding, Conley said.

"He had his finger on the trigger and the clip in," Morales said. "It was cocked and everything, ready to go."

It was about that same time that police officers arrived at the house. Instead of continuing his fight, however, the man complied with the officers' orders and surrendered without further incident.

"We were very fortunate he was non-combative. The uniformed officers did an excellent job," Conley said. "This incident could have been, you know, very detrimental to this community with the firepower he possessed."

Husband arrested and booked

The husband was booked into the Weber County Jail for investigation of rape, object rape, aggravated burglary, five counts of aggravated assault, displaying a weapon during a fight, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of children, kidnapping, possession of drug paraphernalia and two outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

In order to protect the identity of the victim, ksl.com is not releasing the name of the husband.

The two have reportedly been married for six years and have two young children. Neither children were in the house at the time of the incident, Conley said.

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Story written by Pat Reavy with contributions from Sandra Yi.

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