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| Jasmine Block found |
Around 10:30 p.m. Aug. 8, Jasmine Block returned home
after a lot of boating with her neighbors. She had a migraine and laid down on
the couch to rest while her mother, Sarah Block, left to tend to a family
emergency.
When Sarah came
home, Jasmine was gone. And she would stay gone for an excruciating 29
days because even with her older sister and boyfriend at home, there's was
virtually no sign of Jasmine.
Shortly after the 15-year-old's disappearance, Sarah went
on Dateline to plead for Jasmine to come home.
“She told me she was going to go to sleep,” Sarah told
Dateline. “I told her I’d be back and to feel better. But when I got home, she
wasn’t there.”
The teen's keys, phone, and purse were left inside the home.
Her PJ top was laying on the floor and a pair of her shoes were gone.
After
interviewing several of Jasmine's friends, police learned she was seen with two
other teenagers and a man in his thirties with balding hair.
They were all riding bikes and from out of town. Police didn't
suspect foul play but considered her case a vulnerable missing case people
of Jasmine's cognitive disability.
“She had been bullied a lot in the past. And her sisters always
were there to stick up for her,” Sarah told Dateline. “They were inseparable.”
After days of calling out to anyone who had information
about Jasmine's whereabouts, police finally found her. She was being held
against her will, escaped and swam across a small lake and went to a neighbor
for help.
Police arrested Thomas Barker, 32, Steven Powers, 20 and
Joshua Holby, 31. According to Alexandria Police Chief Rick Wyffels, Barker is
an acquaintance of Jasmine's family and approached the teen outside her
home around 11 p.m. asking for help with a family situation.
Because she knew
him, she got into the car and rode with him to his house.
“Once inside the home, her nightmare was just beginning,”
Wyffels said. “Barker tied her up with zip-ties and then he, his roommate and a
friend repeatedly assaulted Miss Block and threatened her with weapons.”
Jasmine was physically and sexually assaulted during the
ordeal.
She was taken to several locations by the three men, sometimes
being kept in a closet where she couldn't be seen or heard.
Then the men
decided to go to lunch, and Jasmine made her escape.
She swam across a lake to a neighbor who helped her call the
police and get her back to her family safe and sound. She's being treated
at a hospital with minor injuries.
The men are being charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping,
and assault.
Source: Yahoo News


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