A horrific scene has played out in Los Angeles, as reports indicate that a father and his daughter — Stanley Alfred Lawton, 54, and Shaniya Nicole Poche-Lawton, 22 — have kidnapped a woman from Las Vegas, and brought her to their home where they held her hostage for a week, during which she was repeatedly raped and was forced to withdraw an undisclosed amount of money from an ATM.
In the end, she was left in the desert, with the duo assuming she would just die over time.
However, the woman was eventually discovered by military police from Edwards Air Force Base and was rushed to the hospital in a horrible condition.
She was suffering from adverse weather conditions, and some have described her survival as nothing short of a miracle. It is not known how long she has been in the desert. The victim was taken on October 30.
After the duo was captured, they could not explain their motives for the attack. Reports indicate that they knew the victim beforehand, and may have been planning the attack for a long time.
However, many details of the case remain sketchy and unconfirmed, and authorities have been reluctant to release more information for the time being.
Some have speculated that this might not be the first time the two have done something like this, but this is hard to tell at the moment.
They have not provided any public comments regarding their actions, though not many people expect them to step forward at this point — nor would it be wise of them to do so.
John Henderson, a neighbor, said this about the father: “He’s just one of those family people. He’s got a lot of kids. He’s got a lot of family. He’s got a lot of friends that would never expect this from him.”
Neighbor Kimberly Henderson added: “It’s mind-boggling, especially two doors down, it goes to show that anything can happen.”
People on social media are puzzled by what supposedly happened and want to know what led the duo to something like this. Commenters want justice to be done swiftly if the duo is guilty.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Eddie Hernandez said at a press conference on Friday: “It’s a vicious case. It’s at gunpoint by force that the victim is then transported across state lines, held in a house inside a room for at least a week. At some point, she was sexually assaulted and then left for dead.”
The story will likely develop further once investigators have released more details. Lawton is behind bars on $4.5 million bail, while Poche-Lawton is being held on a $3.5 million bail.
The father and daughter are set to appear in court on November 12. Both suspects have prior felony convictions in California, but that is not the case in Nevada.
