CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A Montgomery County woman has been found safe after being kidnapped and taken to Louisiana where she was held in a hotel room for days.
It was a single text message that has being credited with saving the woman's life.
Officials with the Clarksville Police Department said 34-year-old Lee Meadows took the woman to Slidell, Louisiana to try and escape criminal charges he had in Clarksville.
The woman was reportedly held in a hotel room, where the suspect – identified as Lee Meadows – repeatedly attacked her.
On Saturday, the victim was able to use Meadows' phone to text her sister, who called Clarksville police.
Authorities in Montgomery Country were able to track the phone. They called the Slidell Police Department, who went to the unnamed hotel to rescue the woman.
When officers got to the hotel, Meadows refused to let them in. Police then broke down the door and rescued the woman.
Officials said she had serious injuries, including several broken bones. She was rushed to the hospital for treatment, but was expected to recover. She was later released.
Her identity was not released. Police did not specify the nature of her relationship with Meadows.
The woman told police she believed she was taken out-of-state against her will because Meadows was trying to escape criminal charges here in Tennessee.
Meadows had just recently been released from jail on domestic violence and other charges.
He was taken into custody and booked in the Slidell City Jail. Meadows faced charges of battery by strangulation, second-degree battery, false imprisonment and forcible rape.
Meadows was later transferred to St. Tammany Parish Jail 30 miles away.
