A woman who says she was tied up in a closet for 10 days and raped repeatedly said her captor told her he had intended to sell her as a sex slave but decided to keep her as "a pet."
The 22-year-old woman described her alleged captivity to The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Hamilton JournalNews after police on Monday announced the arrest of William Hobert Manis, 44, on 18 rape charges and a kidnapping count.
A mother of two, the woman acknowledged she has been a prostitute and went into Manis' home voluntarily. But she said Manis stuffed a winter hat in her mouth, assaulted her, then kept her bound and gagged in the closet.
"He made me his own little pet," she told the JournalNews. "He would take me out to bathe me, feed me, change my clothes, and rape me."
Jail records didn't list an attorney for Manis.
Manis' friend said he and others had visited the home repeatedly and don't believe the woman's allegations. Mike Hamilton, of Milford, Ohio, said supporters are trying to post his $200,000 bond.
"There is no way he could've held anybody hostage without us knowing," Hamilton told The Enquirer.
The woman said when people were over, she was gagged and under orders not to move in the closet.
"He would hog-tie me, and tell me not to move. When he came back, if he saw I had changed position at all, he would strip me naked and put me in the attic. And it was as cold in there as it was outside," she said. "That was my punishment."
The woman escaped Friday, jumping out a second-story window and getting a neighbor to call 911, when Manis' landlord paid a visit, police said. She had handcuffs on her wrists and ankles, authorities said.