FARGO
A Fargo woman is recovering after being scalded with boiling water, stabbed, choked, punched and raped this weekend when her child's father abducted her and fled to the Twin Cities area.
The 25-year-old woman escaped Sunday and gave authorities detailed allegations against Shawntas Turnage, 23, and his wife, Aiesha, 25, who is accused of helping him during the two days, according to felony charges filed Tuesday in Anoka County (Minn.) District Court.
Turnage is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, second-degree assault and terroristic threats. His wife is charged with aiding and abetting the kidnapping and assault amid accusations that she drove Turnage and the woman to a hotel and rented the room where Turnage raped the woman.
The victim told investigators she had finished working about 3 p.m. Friday and was walking to a friend's vehicle when she saw Turnage. He told her, "If you don't get into my car, I'm going to kill you," she told police.
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According to court documents:
After the woman got into the car, Turnage told her they were going to a hotel to have sex. They headed east, but after passing many cities and hotels, he told her they were going to Minneapolis.
The two arrived at Turnage's wife's house in Fridley, Minn., where he called his wife to get cash. They then went to a Lexington, Minn., home.
Turnage hit the woman in the upper right cheek with a closed fist and said he was going to hurt her. He pulled out a steak knife and stabbed her in the left arm and shoulder area.
He then ordered her to lie on her stomach, tied her ankles and wrists behind her back with zip ties and shoved a dirty sock into her mouth with a tie around it to keep it in place.
The woman said she almost passed out, so Turnage cut the tie, telling her not to scream. He then called his wife, Aiesha, who came over to the apartment.
Turnage placed a white pillowcase over the woman's head and began boiling water on the stove. He asked his wife to bring the water over and poured it onto the woman's upper thighs near her buttocks as she was still tied up.
The woman screamed and Turnage kicked her and stomped on her.
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His wife later left, but Turnage told her to return in the morning to get them.
The woman then overheard Turnage tell a man she believed to be his brother over the phone that he was going to kill her and bring her body to Chicago.
Turnage then raped the woman.
The next morning, Turnage's wife picked them up and drove them to a hotel in Roseville, Minn. The woman sat in the front seat, with Turnage sitting behind her holding a knife.
Turnage told his wife to get them a room on a third floor where the woman was then taken.
He initially tied his ankle to her ankle to keep her from fleeing, but told her it hurt him too much so he untied it. While at the hotel, Turnage hit the woman in the face, cutting her lip. He choked her with both hands until she could not breathe, punched her in the back of the head and neck and raped her again.
The next morning, Sunday, Turnage's wife picked them up and drove them to her home in Fridley. The woman was allowed to shower and go outside with Turnage and some children. She told Turnage she was going to get shoes for the youngest child and went back inside. She then grabbed her keys and cell phone and fled.
She ran across a field to a man in his garage. Her cell phone wouldn't work, so she used his phone to call her sister, who came and got her.
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She then called Minneapolis police, reporting the incident and giving them a description of the vehicle Turnage was driving.
Turnage's wife told police that she knows the woman as her husband's "mistress." She acknowledged renting a hotel room for her husband and having the woman at her house on Sunday when she saw her with injuries, including red, peeling skin on her upper thigh and buttocks area.
After examining the woman Sunday, health officials identified multiple burns and cuts, bruising, injuries to her mouth, apparent puncture wounds to her neck area and multiple head injuries.
Authorities found bloody bedding, a bloody mattress and zip ties in the Lexington apartment.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
