Woman Escapes After Allegedly Being Held Captive for 5 Years by Couple Who Forced Her to Drink Detergent By Samira Asma-Sadeque

Authorities in France have arrested a couple after a woman escaped what she alleged was torturous captivity over a five-year-long period.

The 40-year-old woman was rescued after she escaped to a neighbor’s home in the commune of Saint-Molf in western France on the evening of Oct. 14, France Bleu, BFM TV and Ouest-France reported.

Police arrested a woman in her sixties and her 82-year-old boyfriend on charges of kidnapping with torture in connection with the incident, according to the Nantes public prosecutor’s office, France Bleu and BFM TV reported.

Authorities have not released the names of either the suspects or the alleged victim.

The victim was initially roommates with the female suspect, a nursing assistant, France Bleu reported, before the female suspect’s boyfriend moved in and the alleged torture began.

Over five years, the couple allegedly tortured her and embezzled her money, per prosecutors.

“She initially shared the accommodation with the woman, then was put in a tent in the garden, before being locked in the garage from the moment the man came to live in the home,” Nantes public prosecutor Antoine Leroy said, per France Bleu.

She was allegedly made to sleep on a deckchair in the garage and had to use a pot and plastic bags as a toilet, Leroy said. The couple is further accused of making her eat porridge with dish soap — all while allegedly emptying out of bank account.

On Oct. 14, the woman escaped while the man was watching television, Leroy said.

The woman, suffering from hypothermia, knocked on the door of a neighbor, who took her in before calling police, per Ouest-France.

Investigators searching the property found a garage door “blocked from the outside by concrete blocks,” substantiating the woman’s claims about the conditions of her alleged captivity.

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The couple are also accused of fraudulent abuse of the weakness of a vulnerable person, per BFM TV.

They reportedly acknowledged the conditions the woman was held in, but are allegedly minimizing the seriousness of the issue, Leroy said, according to BFM TV and France Bleu.

The investigation is ongoing.