A man from Utah appeared in his first court appearance today (23 December) for the alleged kidnapping and rape of a 19-year-old student, asking a judge to let him go home for Christmas.
Authorities say that Snow College student Madelyn Allen was found naked and covered in coal in Brent Brown's basement, five days after meeting him.
The student was rescued by authorities on Saturday 18 December after disappearing from her dorm room at Snow College in Ephraim.
According to court documents, the 39-year-old met Allen in an online chatroom.
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Brown then allegedly held Allen captive in his home in Loa, Wayne County – which is around 90 miles away from Snow County – for multiple days.
He is now facing charges of obstruction of justice, aggravated kidnaping, rape and object rape.
Today, Brown was speaking via video link from Sevier County Jail and pleaded with a Sixth District Court Judge to release him on bail.
Brown said: "It would be nice to be home for Christmas. I don't get to see my kids."
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However, Judge Wallace Lee ordered that Brown be held without bail, citing a felony warrant in another county and Brown potentially posing a threat to the community.
He will be due back in court for a combined detention and preliminary hearing on 10 January.
Court documents say Brown took Allen's phone and only allowed her to text her family once on the morning of Tuesday 14 December.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the affidavit alleges he tied Allen up while he was at work, and threw her phone away when he discovered police were searching for her.
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He also took her wallet and ‘threatened her, saying if she left or told anyone about him, he would come after her family and sister’.
Eventually, investigators were able to use mobile phone tower information to track down the missing student.
When Brown answered the door, he said he was alone, but police found Allen in a basement room, naked and covered in coal.
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The teenager's parents, Jonathan and Taunya Allen, said they were overjoyed to be reunited with their daughter after she checked out from hospital.
“We dropped to our knees,” Jonathan Allen said, remembering the moment he received the phone call from police on Saturday.
“We were so grateful, elated. [We] couldn’t describe the feelings that we had as we embraced each other.”
Allen’s uncle, Jacob Allen, said she suffered a ‘dangerous and traumatic ordeal’ - one which the family are only just starting to understand.
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“She is a fighter,” he told reporters. “She is now a survivor. We are grateful she is with us again so she can now recover.”
Featured Image Credit: Snow CollegeTopics: US News