Inset: Owen Anderson (Western Virginia Regional Jail). Background: The Milwaukee County Courthouse in Milwaukee, Wis. (Google Maps).
A Virginia man faces charges in Wisconsin after police said he lured a teenage girl from the Midwestern state then held her captive for four years.
Owen Anderson, 37, was taken into custody in Virginia's Montgomery County after a teenage girl called 911 on May 26 during a "domestic dispute" and told police that Anderson had been holding her hostage in his home for the past four years. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, the girl was reported missing on June 23, 2022, when she was 15 years old. Her mother told police at the time that her daughter left their home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that morning and never returned.
After the girl identified herself, investigators determined that she met Anderson online and began communicating when she was 12 years old.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl "expressed her struggles at home" to Anderson during their early communications, claiming that she was being abused. Anderson reportedly told the teen to come stay with him in Virginia, promising her that he would "never hit her" and "never scream at her." Police said Anderson told the girl he "wanted to 'cuddle' when he picked her up and when she lived with him."
An investigation of the girl's online activity determined that she logged out of her Facebook and iPhone accounts on the day she went missing, rendering her mother unable to track her phone.
Police said Anderson instructed the girl to get a burner phone and arranged for a rideshare to bring her to a movie theater in Chicago, Illinois. Once the two met, Anderson allegedly had the girl reset her iPhone to factory settings then dumped both phones in a trash can before they left the city together and traveled out of state.
The girl reportedly told police that once she was with Anderson, he sexually assaulted her, did not let her go to school, and forced her to watch pornography. According to the complaint, the girl said Anderson assaulted her in the rental car that they took out of Chicago.
She said that despite his promise to "never hit her," Anderson "repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted" her. According to the complaint, the girl said "it's always my fault if he hits me," and that Anderson would allegedly beat her with a whip. The alleged abuse went on for four years.
When Anderson was questioned, he denied the sexual assault in the rental car, telling police that "he was sleeping and did not know what he was doing."
Anderson was charged with kidnapping, child enticement, and child abduction. He is still in custody in Virginia, where he is being held without bail. He is expected to be extradited to Milwaukee. A court date was not immediately set.