Texas Man Charged in Kidnapping, Torture of Woman May Have Kidnapped Before
Police re-examining two cold cases, one involving suspect's missing wife.
March 15, 2011 — -- The arrest of a man in the kidnapping of a 62-year-old Texas woman has led investigators to re-examine the disappearance of two other women, one of them the suspect's former wife who vanished 19 years ago.
Jeffrey Allan Maxwell, 58, was arrested Saturday after Parker County Police visited his Corsicana, Texas home to follow up on a tip about Maxwell's car. The suspect's car had been spotted at the missing woman's home when it mysteriously burned down March 3. Her car was also burned.
Police discovered the 62-year-old woman in the midst of interviewing Maxwell when she "burst out of the residence yelling, 'I'm here,'" according to a court affidavit.
She told police that Maxwell had "forced his way into her residence, assaulted her, tied her up and got her into his vehicle," according to the affidavit. Two days later, Maxwell allegedly returned to the woman's home and burned it down, she told police.
Maxwell admitted that he had hit the woman several times with his fist and a rolling pin, according to court records. He told police that he bound the woman with handcuffs and "strung her up in a homemade device used for skinning deer," according to court documents.
Police swept the home, finding handcuffs, ankle restraints, sex toys and a leather gag.
"I hope I never see it again," Parker County Sheriff Randy Fowler told ABC Affiliate WFAA. "To me, it was a house of horrors."
The woman was sexually assaulted, Maxwell told police.
Badly beaten, she was taken to the hospital. Her brother had reported her missing after a search of her burned home turned up no human remains.
The woman was described by neighbors as a recluse who typically never left her home, according to court documents.
This is not the first time Maxwell has been accused of assaulting a woman.
The arrest of Maxwell has shed new light on the cold cases of two other missing women. The Parker County Sheriff's Office, with the help of the Texas Rangers, are re-examining the disappearance of Amelia Smith.
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