Missouri woman says boyfriend held her captive in wooden box

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Missouri woman says boyfriend held her captive in wooden box

Reuters
May 2, 2015, 12:39 pm

Missouri woman says boyfriend held her captive in wooden box The woman said her boyfriend routinely locked her in a wooden box until she escaped. Photo: AP

Police are looking for a man accused by his girlfriend of keeping her in a wooden box in their home in the city of Sedalia, in the United States, for four months before she managed to escape, authorities said.

The woman, whose identity is not being released, said James Barton Horn Jr., 47, routinely locked her in a wooden box in the small house until she escaped, Detective Sergeant Joshua Howell of the Sedalia police said in a statement.

Officers obtained a search warrant and found a large wooden box in the house, inspected it and determined that it appeared to be built for the purpose of concealing a person, Howell said.

Horn is a registered sex offender for a 1992 crime involving a 22-year-old woman in Tennessee, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol online records.

Sedalia is a city of 21,500 residents about 80 miles east of Kansas City.