According to a story in the Associated Press, a woman in Utah and her 17-month old baby were removed from a home where they were being held captive for the past five days after the woman posted a Facebook status update pleading for help. According to an account from the hostage, she ducked into a nearby closet with her laptop and wrote ”Hello…is anyone out there? I am having a serious problem and me and (my son) will be dead by morning,” on her Facebook page on December 24. Friends of the woman were able to determine where she was being held and alerted the authorities of her dire situation.
Upon arriving at the scene, the Salt Lake City police met with the kidnapper and ex-boyfriend, Troy Reed Critchfield, and he eventually allowed the police into the residence. Officers located the woman in the residence and discovered that she had been held in the home for the last five days. Critchfield took her cell phone in addition to hitting and choking her when she approached any door that exited the premises. He also repeatedly sexually abused her during the five days as well as threw the baby and didn’t feed the dog. Critchfield was immediately taken into custody by the police and charged with suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, forcible sodomy, aggravated assault, domestic violence in the presence of a child, damaging a communication device, child abuse and cruelty to animals.
Critchfield had previously been convicted of felony assault on the same victim during 2010 as well as obstruction of justice charges. While the judge sentenced him to a five year prison term, that punishment was suspended for a 120-day jail term and three years probation. Facebook also played a role in the capture of a fugitive earlier this year as well as a standoff with a SWAT team in Utah
Who cares about word choices, note that this is the second time he has been charged with assaulting this woman. How on earth did he get a suspended sentence? Do they need a body before they recognize this man is violently dangerous?
She obviously didn’t learn her lesson from 2010 when she filed charges against him. DUH!
I believe she well learned her lesson…. as to why she wasn’t still WITH him & he had to kidnap her and her child… Just because someone files for a restraining order doesn’t mean the abuser will stay away, to abusers it’s just a piece of paper and the laws in many areas are quite lacking in serious protection to citizens. I am thankful she was able to reach out and obtain the needed help for herself and her child and truly hope this abuser is placed away from society for a good long time.
He didn’t feed the dog!? wtf man… next thing I’ll be reading is that he didn’t take out the trash or do the dishes! what’s the world coming to?
serious note: glad she and her child is safe. This world is getting to be a very scary place.
Really? You don’t know the difference between animal cruelty and household chores?
Really? You don’t know the difference between sarcasm and being serious?
I’m glad she’s OK, but you gotta ask, where’s the “kidnapped” setting on facebook’s status bar?
wow.. scary… thanks to facebook lives were saved!!!
In this case thankfully true….but how many lives has facebook taken?
None. FB is a tool, nothing more. If people misuse it, that’s on them. And if people can’t deal with what’s posted, they probably weren’t very stable to begin with. Cars kill more people than FB, but are you blaming the cars for that, or the people who drive them?
Look at him. These people scare me.
He took her cell phone but not her laptop? Seems weird.
that dumb guy doesnt know anything about facebook hehe or he has no idea what internet can do :D
I overheard this on TV, and yep, here it is in text.
Not only an indication of media outlets simply copying content from each other and it ends up just being outright stupid.
On tv they said that “facebook saves woman”!
That’s like saying “phone saves woman” or “shout” saves woman”
Will now going to look for an equally riveting article describing how someone used the phone to save themselves.. not really (for those who do not understand irony)
E
I’m glad she’s OK, but you gotta ask, where’s the “kidnapped” setting on facebook’s status bar?