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Missing DC teen found with the help of Good Samaritan
A D.C.-area family is desperately looking for answers while also warning teenage girls to safeguard themselves. This week, a 16-year-old who went missing was allegedly raped. The family claims this teen was forced against her will. FOX 5’s Stephanie Ramirez has the story.
WASHINGTON - A D.C.-area family is desperately looking for answers after a 16-year-old girl was reported missing earlier this week.
She was found in Southeast D.C. by a Good Samaritan. However, the teen revealed she had been raped. The family believes it happened twice.
FOX 5 immediately asked D.C. police about the allegations. They did open an investigation but would not comment on the matter.
FOX 5 spoke with the alleged victim’s great-uncle, who asked to go by Mr. Davis.
Mr. Davis claims his great-niece was raped by two suspects who are adult brothers.
His account was graphic and may be difficult to read.
"I mean they took her in the back of a building, like this in broad daylight, between 2:30 and three o’clock, and they raped her," Mr. Davis said. "Now can you imagine how she’s screaming and hollering and fighting these two individuals, trying to get away from them, knowing that she couldn’t do anything when she tried? I gave them a name. I call them the tag-team rapists ‘cause that’s what they are. They’re brothers and I call them the tag-team rapists ‘cause after one finished, then the other one did it. And this went on. And then they just dumped her like she was a bag of trash. And that hurts my family right now."
Among other serious claims, Mr. Davis believes his great-niece was also drugged and beaten. A photo FOX 5 is not sharing just yet, showed the teen’s eyes swollen-shut. Mr. Davis said it looked like she got into a fight with Mike Tyson.
He claims the alleged assault happened behind a residential building on Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. Southeast on Tuesday, July 18.
The uncle showed FOX 5 instructions the teen received from the hospital, explaining how to keep an eye out for serious injuries that can still develop after a rape.
The family says the 16-year-old, who had been reported missing out of Virginia that same day, was found walking along Morris Road Southeast by a Good Samaritan — who was out selling snow cones at the time.
Chanda Cooley-Hinton had no idea what had happened but knew something wasn’t right.
Cooley-Hinton described the teen as soft-spoken, in a daze, and with her hair appearing messy.
She offered food and drink to the girl and slowly talked with her until she was able to gain the girl’s trust and get her help. The Good Samaritan said the teen identified herself as missing and revealed she had been raped.
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Cooley-Hinton was able to contact the teen’s mom but told FOX 5 she did not feel comfortable calling the police at the time.
"When I called her mother if you could’ve heard the screams on the phone, ‘Oh my God she’s alive,’ she was so happy! And I was just looking at this child like, ‘I thought you couldn’t go home?" Cooley-Hinton said, crying as she recalled the interaction.
"I said, ‘Your mom, she don’t … That’s not a sound like, ‘I don’t want to see you,’ that’s a sound like, ‘Thank you, Jesus – she’s alive.’ So, I kept talking to her, I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m going to put you on speaker. I think your daughter needs to hear you – but don’t fuss. I’ve got to keep her here until you arrive," the Good Samaritan recalled.
Cooley-Hinton says she immediately connected with the teen as someone who once battled the streets and is in recovery herself.
"Like I told her, ‘You don’t have to stay in the position you in. You can change your life at any moment, sweetie-pie. You’ll be able to do what you want, but you’ll have more guidance and understanding of what’s going on in the world. It’s not as glamorous as you thought," Cooley-Hinton said tearfully.
"Thank God, another one made it home," she added.
She would not release the teen to her uncle until he verified who he was.
FOX 5 checked with the residential building. The leasing office team said they had not heard of the serious allegations before and would now look into the matter.
We also asked police for certain other details but again, police were not willing to comment on the open investigation.