Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah long-haul trucker obsessed with vampires was sentenced to 20 years in prison as prosecutors outlined a troubling pattern of daily fear, abuse and rape that imprisoned at least six victims.
One of those women spoke in court Wednesday, describing an experience strikingly similar to those of all the women Timothy Jay Vafeades victimized through the years. According to prosecutors, Vafeades, 56, sought to control every aspect of the women's lives, including cutting and dyeing their hair and using a Dremel to file their teeth to resemble fangs.
"I feel fortunate I can actually speak today," she said, addressing U.S. District Judge David Nuffer.
The woman met Vafeades at a truck stop in Texas. They talked, and when he invited her to go to dinner, she accepted. But as his truck started moving, it was heading away from populated areas.
"I quickly began to fear things were not as they seemed," she said, her voice shaking as she read from a letter.
As they continued to drive, the woman demanded to know what was happening.
"He said, 'I've got you now. You are mine,'" she said.
For the next several months, the woman was beaten daily, she said, for not complying with Vafeades' wishes quickly enough or just as he liked. That included his sexual demands as Vafeades raped her over and over. When the bruises were too obvious, he bought her makeup to hide them, she said.
The woman said she thought constantly of escape, often imagining jumping from the truck as Vafeades drove. It wasn't until two alert police officers noticed her bruises at a truck stop in Nebraska and approached her that she felt safe enough to report what was happening.
"I am not sure how much longer I would have lasted if someone hadn't noticed something was wrong in Nebraska," the woman said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Trina Higgins described the experience of the second victim connected to the charges, a 19-year-old woman who sought Vafeades for help during a desperate time in her life.
Vafeades, whom she had met when she was a child, promised to care for her and help her if she came to Utah to work with him, Higgins said.
Before much time had passed, Higgins said Vafeades dyed the woman's hair and drilled her teeth. He kept all of her money and identification, leaving her with nothing should she try to escape. The first time she tried to run, he beat her savagely.
"That's what kept her in line. That's what kept her there on that truck," Higgins said. "The assault guided her decisions the rest of the time she was with him."
After months together, a police officer in North Dakota noticed a black eye and bruises on the woman's face, Higgins said. When police ran her name and discovered Vafeades had a protective order prohibiting him from being around the woman, they arrested him.
Even with Vafeades in custody, it took days before the woman had the courage to tell a victim advocate what he had done.
Of the six victims, Higgins said, four women agreed to marry Vafeades out of fear of what might happen if they said no. One of the two women he didn't marry was brutally beaten when she resisted. Another was a relative.
Vafeades made a brief apology Wednesday, weeping as he called himself "a monster."
"I'm sorry for my life," Vafeades said, his words becoming inaudible. "I'm sorry for not recognizing myself."
He added that he hopes the victims all go on to have happy lives, with marriages and children.
Vafeades pleaded guilty in June to holding two of those six women against their will in 2012 and 2013 as he worked as a trucker in the rig he dubbed the "Twilight Express." He admitted in a plea deal to two counts of transportation for illegal sexually activity while two kidnapping charges were dismissed.
While the resolution does not require Vafeades to admit to charges related to all six victims, prosecutors hope closing the case will finally provide closure to the women.
"For the victims of this case and for all of the other victims, justice also means closure," Higgins said. "A 20-year sentence would bring an end to this case. It would bring an end to their involvement."
As recommended in the plea deal, Nuffer ordered Vafeades to serve 20 years in federal prison, where he will be required to complete sex offender treatment, mental health treatment, vocational training and counseling.
As he handed down the sentence, Nuffer said that simply reviewing the complete details of the case, including those of Vafeades' own abusive upbringing, was "traumatic."
"The tragedy that these victims have suffered are some of the worst things I have ever encountered," Nuffer said. "I didn't have to live it. I just read it."
