Man accused of keeping woman in chains gives up meekly

After nearly two months on the run, a man accused of keeping a woman chained in a basement for fours days showed up at the courthouse Thursday morning and surrendered to one of the first law enforcement officers who passed.

That officer happened to be Sgt. Eric Gundle, a supervisor with the Marion County Sheriff's judicial enforcement division. He said he had no idea that Maurice Nelson was one of Marion County's most wanted fugitives.

Gundle, who wasn't on duty yet, parked his vehicle in front of the City-County Building  around 7:30 a.m. and was heading inside to grab some paperwork when a man who appeared to be a pastor approached him.

"He stated he had somebody by his vehicle who was wanted on a warrant and wanted to turn himself in," Gundle said in a telephone interview with IndyStar on Friday.

Gundle followed the pastor and put handcuffs on Nelson. Nelson's face seemed familiar, Gundle said, but the name did not ring a bell.

It wasn't until much later —  the next morning when the arrest was being reported by news media — that Gundle realized just who he had arrested.

Nelson did not say where he had been hiding over the past seven weeks, Gundle said.

"He actually didn't say much of anything," Gundle said.

Marion County prosecutors say Nelson, 28, abducted and tortured a 23-year-old woman and held her prisoner from July 10-14 in the basement of a home in the 4500 block of Norwaldo Avenue.

A neighbor called police on July 14 after hearing the woman's screams for help, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Marion Superior Court.

Officers cut through a padlock, forced open the front door found the woman in the basement. She was nude, handcuffed, shackled and chained around the neck to a pole and around the ankles to a floor bolt.

The woman told police she had met Nelson through a telephone chat line. He picked her up at a hotel and she agreed to go home with him.

They started having sex when, prosecutors said, Nelson stopped and sprayed her with pepper spray. Nelson, according to court documents, overpowered the woman and forced her into the basement, where prosecutors say he repeatedly threatened, beat and raped the victim over the next four days.

Prosecutors charged Nelson with three counts of rape, criminal confinement, three counts of battery and other crimes. An initial hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

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

Man accused of kidnapping, raping woman in basement taken into custody