WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (TCN) — Two men face charges after allegedly abducting a woman and holding her against her will, as well as trafficking her and trying to kill her.
According to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, on the morning of Dec. 31, deputies responded to a report of a possible assault on Hat Walt Lane. The victim was in the hospital with critical injures and said two men, later identified as 34-year-old Dustin Letchworth and 57-year-old Daryl Holden, physically attacked her at a residence and held her hostage. The woman eventually escaped, and someone she knew took her to the hospital.
Per arrest warrants reviewed by WRAL-TV, Letchworth and Holden confined the victim, restrained her, and removed her “from one place to another without the consent of the victim and for the purpose of holding the victim for ransom.” Letchworth and Holden also allegedly held the woman in “involuntary or sexual servitude” and forced her into prostitution.
The suspects allegedly tried to kill the female victim with a metal blunt object and machete.
Officials obtained arrest warrants for Letchworth and Holden on charges of attempted first-degree murder, human trafficking, promoting prostitution for profit, first-degree kidnapping, and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
On Jan. 13, the sheriff’s office said they went to a home to take Letchworth into custody, but he fled. Authorities subsequently searched for the suspect, and he eventually turned himself in at around 11:10 p.m. Deputies also took Holden into custody on Jan. 13 without incident.
Holden and Letchworth remain held in the Wake County Detention Center without bond.
Letchworth reportedly has a criminal past, including several driving infractions.