‘He doesn’t stop. He will not stop. That’s why he’s a serial monster’
A woman kidnapped by a man dubbed a “serial monster”, who sharpened his teeth and allegedly threatened to rip her throat out, has detailed her horrific ordeal.
Michael Barajas, 36, is charged with kidnapping a 20-year-old pregnant woman in Flint, Michigan, US, after allegedly trafficking her and keeping her prisoner for three weeks.
Barajas was arrested in December by the Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team (GHOST) and prosecutors allege he was building a human trafficking gang called the ‘Masaad Squad’.
The woman, who has not been identified, told ABC 12 how she was trapped by the man now known as the “Michigan Monster”, tied to a bed with rope, and tried to escape three times before finally getting away.
"I AM A SURVIVOR" — A victim of Michael Barajas shared her courageous story of surviving days of sexual abuse in captivity. https://t.co/TjimYKEiP6
— ABC12WJRT (@ABC12WJRT) January 30, 2023
“I don’t want anyone else to feel the way I felt, so alone,” she told ABC12.
“I was tied to a bed with rope and chained with handcuffs.”
After having an argument with her boyfriend, the woman said she was offered a meal and a place to shower, but then the gang would not let her leave.
“I was terrified and I started begging, pleading with them, let me go,” the woman, who was allegedly confined for more than a week and kept in a drug and alcohol induced state, said.
“There were a lot of men, they were assaulting me. They wouldn’t let me eat or drink anything other than vodka,” she said.
Genesee County Sheriff Christopher Swanson said: “He doesn’t stop. He will not stop. That’s why he’s a serial monster.”
Two other suspects, Alex Schmidt and Juwan Housey, have been arrested.
Swanson said Barajas sent the men out to “do his bidding” by kidnapping the woman.
“It’s the bare needs of an individual,” Swanson said. “It’s the basic hygiene that she so needed. That was the grooming hook that they used.”
The men then brought the woman back to a property on Marmion Avenue, where the “Monster” was waiting.
Once there, Swanson said, the woman was held down and repeatedly raped. The men, he said, would force the woman to put a pacifier in her mouth and call them “daddy”.
Sometimes a gun would be put to her head.
The victim was rescued on December 8 when she had to go to hospital.
The house Barajas was holed up in was raided and he was arrested and charged with kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Since then a second alleged victim has come forward accusing Barajas of targeting her from when she was just four years old.
Charges in the second case include 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carry a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
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