LEBANON, Ohio — Kidnapped, tortured and kept in a dog cage for several days. The victim of a brutal assault was only able to escape by breaking into an ambulance parked next door and driving off.
The 22-year-old man was too traumatized to go to court Friday and face the father and daughter who attacked him during their sentencing, so a victim's advocate from the Warren County Prosecutor's Office read his statement to Bryan and Lindsey Parker.
“Every time I begin to think of what happened, a familiar pain pinches in my stomach and the hair stands up on the back of my back,” the victim wrote. “I then realize I am making myself small and hiding out of view while hyperventilating.”
The victim used to date Lindsey Parker, prosecutors said. WCPO 9 News is not sharing the victim’s name for his privacy.
Last October, Lindsey Parker lured him to a home in Clearcreek Township, according to investigators. Parker, her father and a friend, Christopher Edwards, then locked him in a dog cage for three to four days.
“I still can't sleep through the night; nor can I leave the house,” the victim wrote.
He had to spend a week in intensive care for injuries and a month in a psychiatric unit.
Nevertheless, the victim said he is trying to find his way to forgive them.
“Forgiveness is hard, but with God's word as my guide, I can learn to forgive you in the deepest places of pain,” the victim wrote.
Both Parkers were sentenced to six to nine years in prison for felonious assault. The time they must serve depends on their behavior.
The Parkers changed their plea to guilty this month to get a better deal with the prosecutor’s office. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the kidnapping charge.
The judge asked the Parkers if they had anything to say after hearing the victim's letter, but they said no.
Attorneys on all sides declined to comment because the case is not over. The victim's mother said the scariest suspect is still to come.
The third suspect, Edwards, has not changed his not guilty plea. Edwards was the one who was heard and seen cursing and making obscene gestures during a court hearing.
In December, he told WCPO 9 from jail that he's ready for questioning.
"Tell them to come down here and talk to me and find out the real truth about this s***,” Edwards said then.
Edwards is expected back in court for a pretrial hearing in May. His jury trial is set for June 1.
