by Patrick H. Moore
In a story reminiscent of Ariel Castro and the Cleveland 3 — although without the obvious sexual overtones — on Friday, the Houston police discovered four elderly men being held prisoner — against their will — in a “dungeon” garage in a working-class North Houston neighborhood. The perpetrator, Walter Renard Jones, 31, is charged with two counts of injury to the elderly. Police say Jones was arrested at the scene Friday and jailed without bond Saturday pending a court appearance next week.
Natalie Diblasio of USA Today brings us the story:
The four homeless men were found Friday in “deplorable conditions” and may have been being held so a captor could cash checks the men were receiving, according to police. KTRK-TV quoted police as saying at least one of the four — ages 79, 74, about 65 and 54 — had been held against his will for 10 years.
The men told police they had been lured to the home with promise of cigarettes and food, said Jodi Silva, a Houston Police Department spokeswoman. They were kept in a garage and were fed scraps. They had no access to a bathroom, and there was only one chair in the room, the Beaumont Enterprise reported. They were taken to Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital.
According to Sgt. Steven Murdock, the police received a tip from a neighbor who had called authorities and reported that he was concerned about the men who appeared to be living — in perhaps abnormal conditions — in the North Houston residence. The Sergeant described the living conditions in the garage as like a “dungeon.”
Murdock stated that at least one of the men is a military veteran. His theory of the case is that all four of the men were homeless and that they may have been held prisoner so that the perpetrator(s) could collect their benefit checks. Murdoch stated that “it wasn’t clear whether the men were targeted for their Social Security payments or some other kind of assistance.” The victims were definitely malnourished and were “almost invalids,” according to Murdock. Three of the rescued parties were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Various neighbors made statements. The gist of the information provided was that the neighbors occasionally saw the men sitting outside.
Virginia Rogers, who lives five houses away, said she greeted them with a wave when she drove by. ”I’m shocked,” Rogers said. “I’m baffled. I didn’t have a clue.”
The North Houston neighborhood in which the men had been held captive is unremarkable — a working-class residential neighborhood of one-story, brick homes. The property records show that the home was built in 1969 and is about 1,400 square feet.
Police records revealed that Jones has a substantial rap sheet. Beginning in 2002, he has convictions for theft, marijuana possession and failing to register as a sex offender.
Authorities are also investigating whether the four women found in the house were also being held against their will. Three of the women are believed to have mental disabilities. The police have described them as “witnesses,” Houston’s KPRC-TV reported.
Larry Davis, 52, lives a few streets away. In a statement to the Beaumont Enterprise, he opined:
“It’s sad. You never know what’s going on around you.”
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Although no evidence has yet been provided that the men — or the mentally disabled women in the house — were sexually abused, or that anyone was actually “chained up” a la Ariel Castro’s victim Michelle Knight, the similarities between this and the Cleveland 3 case are striking. A disturbed individual — in this case Walter Renard Jones — holds a group of people prisoner in an ordinary American neighborhood for the purpose of grievously exploiting them. Meanwhile, the neighborhood goes about its business as usual, not realizing that people are being held captive in horrific conditions “right under their noses.” Two things come to mind:
- First, is it possible that the neighbor who tipped off the North Houston police would not have done so were it not for the fact that we Americans — as a result of the Ariel Castro case –are now more aware that this sort of thing really does happen in close proximity to where we live, work and play.
- Second, we now have two cases of multiple captives being held prisoner for long periods of time in the past several months. First, the Cleveland 3, and now the North Houston 4 (8 if you count the disabled women in the house). Based on this, I can’t help but wonder how many more American homes are serving as prisons for unfortunate individuals who have been “spirited away” from the world by sick, exploitative criminals such as Castro and Jones. It is a sobering thought.