HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - A woman who, police said, was abducted from a supermarket parking lot in Hialeah and raped at a nearby motel by a newlywed Georgia couple is sharing her side of the story.
The victim, who asked not to be identified or show her face on camera, sat inside her attorney’s Coral Gables office, Monday, as she described the harrowing ordeal in her own words. She said she is speaking out in hopes of saving other women from the trauma she endured.
The 28-year-old woman said she had finished grocery shopping at the Publix located along the first block of East Second Avenue, on July 9, and was backing out of her parking spot when Timothy Lowe and Rashada Horsley pulled up next to her car.
“I thought I was just being robbed,” said the victim. “I could never believe in my life that, on top of being robbed and somebody being inside my car, that they were also going to take me.”
The victim said she rolled down her window when Horsley approached her vehicle. “They asked me for directions. I was telling them I don’t know any directions,” she said. “From there, I got punched, and I don’t remember what happened.”
When she regained consciousness, the woman said, she was a passenger in her own car. “I screamed, and then the gentleman punches me in the face with his hands,” she said. “He punches me with open hand, but obviously it hurt.”
The victim said the duo choked and held her down. “He kept telling me that if I didn’t shut the ‘F’ up, he is going to ‘f-ing’ kill me,” she said.
Investigators said Lowe and Horsley were in town celebrating their honeymoon.
“These people are not well. They are sick and demented,” said Carlos Silva, the woman’s attorney.
Authorities said the victim’s credit card was used shortly after to rent a room at the Motel 6 along the 73rd block of Northwest 36th Street.
“It’s my credit card to do this whole thing, which is terrible, because you would never think you would pay to get raped,” she said as she broke down in tears.
Police said Horsley used her own Georgia license. The victim said she hoped motel employees would notice the discrepancy.
“While the woman is getting the room with my credit card, in my mind I had hope, because how could they possibly use my credit card, without an identification, to do such a horrific thing?” she said.
The victim then described being raped by the couple. “When we went into the room, he did what he did first, and then she did what she did,” she said.
The victim said she was able to run out of the room naked when the couple was distracted. She said this decision likely saved her life.
“I look to the side, I see the door open, I run as fast as I can,” she said. “I never thought I could run so fast in my life”
The woman sprinted into the middle of the street, where a passer-by spotted her, rendered aid and dialed 911.
Lowe and Horsley were arrested on unrelated charges, hours later, for public nudity after, police said, they walked into two stores with no clothes on, including a 7-Eleven where they stole two sodas. Cellphone video captured the nude couple walking down Biscayne Boulevard in Miami.
After their arrest, police connected the couple to the crime at the motel.
“Hell of a honeymoon,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Victoria S. Sigler during Horsley’s bond hearing.
“As a woman, you’re never going to feel the same about yourself,” said the victim, “so this is definitely a life-changing situation where I don’t know how I’m ever going to get over this.”
In an email, Publix spokesperson Nicole Maristany Krauss said they have been working with police on this case. “Our Loss Prevention Department works in tandem with Retail Operations to provide the best shopping experience for our customers and associates, with safety at the forefront.”
Lowe and Horsley were denied bond and remain behind bars.
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