Exclusive: Victims Describe Horrific Basement Captivity
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - In an Eyewitness News exclusive, three victims who were held captive inside a Northeast Philadelphia basement described the horrific ordeal.
Tamara Breeden, 29, Herbert Knowles, 40, and Derwin McLemire, 41, were held captive along with another man inside a Tacony basement for at least two weeks.
Breeden showed CBS 3 the injuries from the beating she says she and three other mentally disabled adults endured inside a dark sub-basement.
McLemire says he was held captive for so long that he forgot what day it was.
"I got a birthday coming up Friday and I didn't even know it was coming up. I'll be 42-years-old."
For the last year, the victims say life has been tough with Linda Ann Weston. McLemire says he met Weston on an online dating service, and claims that while in another state, one of Weston's pit bulls bit him in the ear.
"She wouldn't let me go to the hospital, she wouldn't let me go to the doctor, she wouldn't let me do nothing," says McLemire.
Breeden, who is from the Philadelphia area, has been reunited with some of her relatives.
The four victims are now at a personal care facility contracted by the state.
The facility says they will now be able to have proper meals and proper medical care.
"I want to stay here for good," said Breeden.
They are relieved that they are finally safe, determined never to return.
