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Woman held in chains, raped in north-side basement, police say

Vic Ryckaert, and Justin L. Mack
IndyStar
Maurice Nelson is wanted on a warrant accusing him of rape, criminal confinement and other crimes. Police say he kept a woman prisoner for several days on Indianapolis' north side.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is searching for a man accused of kidnapping, raping and holding a woman in chains for four days in a north-side home.

In court documents, Marion County prosecutors say Maurice Nelson, 28, abducted and tortured a 23-year-old woman and held her prisoner in the basement of a home in the 4500 block of Norwaldo Avenue.

A neighbor heard the woman's screams and called police about 6:20 p.m. July 14, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Marion Superior Court.

Police cut through a padlock, forced open the front door and went to the basement, where they found a nude woman handcuffed, shackled and with a chain around her neck.

There was another chain from her neck restraint to a pole, and yet another attaching the restraints on her ankles to a floor bolt.

The woman said she met Nelson on July 10 after they spoke via a telephone chat line. He picked her up at a hotel where she had been staying, and she agreed to get in his car, go to his home and "chill," prosecutors said.

When they first started speaking, the woman asked Nelson why he didn't just go over to her place, court documents said. Nelson responded by saying that he wasn't comfortable with that. He added that he had some money and that he would give it to the woman.

Nelson sped through the streets to his home after picking up the woman at her hotel, she told police. At one point, Nelson almost caused an accident, she said.

Inside Nelson's house, they started having sex, then Nelson stopped and sprayed her with pepper spray, the woman told investigators.

He overpowered the woman, handcuffed her and forced her into the basement, police said. She told police Nelson claimed to be a police officer and pretended to be talking in a police radio.

When she tried to fight back, Nelson struck her in the head several times with a baton that he called "Timmy Turner," she told police.

Nelson then told the woman that he didn't like her hair, so he pulled it out with his hands and cut it with scissors, court documents said. He then told her that she would never see her family again.

He chained her up, beat her with a baton and raped her at least four times over the next four days.

This is the home where police say Maurice Nelson, 28, kept a woman chained for four days.

Nelson told the woman that she was going to be there for years and that they were going to have children, court documents said. He said that he would kill the boys and raise the girls.

Nelson also told the woman that he had a camera in the basement, court documents said. To drown out her screams, he turned on radios in the basement and upstairs and cranked up the volume.

The radio in the basement was connected to an iPhone, and Nelson threatened to cut off the woman's leg if she got too close to it, court documents said.

At one point, Nelson said that he was going to go out and find more women and chain them down in the basement as well, court documents said.

Sometimes, the woman said, Nelson rewarded her for "good" behavior by removing her handcuffs for a while. Nelson owns two pit bulls. He told the woman that if she tried to escape, he would let his dogs attack her.

The dogs were later removed from the home by animal control officers.

The woman said she was able to remove the duct tape around her mouth on the last two days of her captivity and scream for help, court documents said. She also found a piece of metal and sharpened it into a point to pick her handcuffs or stab Nelson if the opportunity presented itself.

On Thursday morning, the screen door to the home was halfway open, and a gathering of trash sat on the front walkway. Friendly neighbors in the midst of their usual morning routines walked and congregated near the house and greeted each other as they passed.

One neighbor said Nelson had been living in the home for about a month and never made any attempt to get to know other residents.

Their first real knowledge of him came when police were removing the woman from his basement on July 14.

Court documents said the woman could remember a tattoo on Nelson's chest that read "Prince" in red letters. Investigators were able to connect Nelson to the crime when they used that tattoo as an identifier.

Prosecutors charged Nelson with three counts of rape, criminal confinement, three counts of battery and other crimes.

An arrest warrant has been issued, and police have been looking for Nelson for two weeks.

This is the home where police say Maurice Nelson, 28, kept a woman chained for four days.

Call IndyStar reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2701. Follow him on Twitter: @vicryc.

Captive woman beaten, threatened, forced into sex

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