A missing Ohio teen has been rescued after approximately one month of captivity, law enforcement has announced. Cleveland resident Alexis Boroviak, aged 15, had disappeared on November 8, after telling her parents that she was going outside the house, for a little while, in order to tie her pet dog.
In fact, she was going to run away from her Brooklyn home, aided by 41-year old Christopher Schroeder, whom she had met using the Kik instant messaging app, just a few weeks before.
Boroviak had shared that she was no longer feeling content living with her family, and Schroeder had said that he would support her in her decision to start a new life chapter on her own.
Instead, as FBI records have revealed, the man coerced her into taking out her phone’s SIM card and battery, so as to impede anyone from identifying their whereabouts.
Afterwards, he drove her to his house, in Marthasville, eastern Missouri, where he held her prisoner, telling her in advance that her sole responsibilities would consist in cleaning his house, and being at his disposal for sex.
Throughout her captivity, Boroviak was raped on several occasions, and, as evidenced by video recordings retrieved by police officers, her kidnapper even filmed her during sexual intercourse, always keeping two video cameras close to the bed.
Moreover, the child predator attempted to make his victim impossible to identify, asking her to respond to a different name, and to alter her appearance, by adopting a different hairstyle and by losing weight.
According to court documents, the captive had no way of reaching out to her parents, since Schroeder had broken her cellphone to pieces, casting it into a river soon after.
Furthermore, given that the man owned several guns, which he had proudly displayed to her, the teenager had been too petrified with fear to attempt to escape from confinement.
Meanwhile, the girl’s family had reported her disappearance, and had been struggling to find her, gradually losing hope that they would be reunited with her.
A “flashlight rally” was held on November 11, and approximately 300 people gathered in an effort to show support, and to emphasize that the search was still going on, no matter how slim the odds had become of finding the girl alive.
Eventually, Boroviak was saved by police officers on December 1, and appeared to be in good condition, despite the trauma she had been subjected to ever since she went missing.
So far, law enforcement representatives have been tight-lipped concerning how the girl’s whereabouts have been discovered, simply declaring that they had been assisted by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children, with a fake Facebook profile being instrumental in the rescue.
It’s also unclear how Boroviak managed to reach that region located west of St. Louis, approximately 600 miles away from her parents’ home, without being seen by any witnesses.
During the course of the rescue mission, Schoeder was apprehended by police and taken into custody. He has been formally accused of producing child pornography, of having engaged in statutory rape, and of having facilitated the transportation of a minor, with the intention of participating in illegal sexual activity.
However, the defendant has rejected these charges, which could amount to 15 years behind bars, claiming that in fact he had thought the girl was 18, and that he wasn’t the one who drove her to Missouri.
On the other hand, the teenager has declared that she had clearly specified to her captor that she was in fact 15, from the early beginning of their relationship, and her statement has been supported by the message archive retrieved from Kik.
Image Source: NewsNet5