Text leads police to kidnapped Tenn. woman in La.
SLIDELL, La. -- Beaten and raped with her cellphone taken away, a woman who was kidnapped in Tennessee was able to finally get access to a phone and send a text message to her sister, giving police an electronic trail to the Louisiana hotel where she was being held.
Lee Meadows, 34, of Clarksville, Tennessee, was arrested Saturday and charged with battery by strangulation, second-degree battery, false imprisonment and forcible rape, multiple news media outlets reported. He is being held at the St. Tammany Parish Jail in Louisiana. Online jail records Wednesday did not indicate whether Meadows had a lawyer.
The victim told police that Meadows had kidnapped her from Tennessee and fled the state because he was facing criminal charges there, police said, reports CBS affiliate WWLTV. He reportedly told the victim he had friends in the New Orleans area.
Meadows allegedly took her to a hotel in Slidell, La., outside New Orleans and more than 500 miles from the northern Tennessee town where she was abducted. Police say he held her captive and continuously beat, strangled, and raped her at the hotel.
The attacker took the woman's cellphone and other belongings, but when he briefly left the room, the woman got hold of a phone and sent a text to her sister indicating she was being held near New Orleans, according to police in Slidell, Louisiana.
The victim reportedly didn't know exactly where she was being held, but police said Tennessee authorities were able to trace the text, leading officers to the hotel.
When police reached the hotel, the man refused to answer the door, at which point they forced their way in, said Slidell police Sgt. Daniel M. Seuzeneau.
"When officers gained access to the room, they found the victim badly beaten and in need of medical attention," Seuzeneau said.
He said she was treated at a hospital for "multiple" injuries, including broken bones.
The Associated Press generally does not identify sexual assault victims.