The Antelope Valley Times

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Torture, false imprisonment charges filed after woman found locked in Lancaster shed

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On Sept. 22, Los Angeles County sheriff deputies investigating reports of screaming sounds discovered a 54-year-old woman locked in a storage shed in the backyard of this house on the 45000 block of East 2nd Street in Lancaster, officials said. [Photo by LUIS MEZA]
On Sept. 22, Los Angeles County sheriff deputies discovered a 54-year-old woman locked in a storage shed in the backyard of this house on the 45000 block of East 2nd Street in Lancaster, officials said. [Photo by LUIS MEZA]
LANCASTER – A 61-year-old man and his 50-year-old girlfriend have been charged with torture and other charges after the man’s sister was found locked in a storage shed in Lancaster.

Elias Abdurahman and Sara Kebede Tadesse face one count each of false imprisonment by violence; torture; assault with a deadly weapon, a cane; and dependent adult abuse with special allegations that they personally inflicted great bodily injury, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Deputies were investigating reports of screaming sounds when they found the victim in the shed. This side view of the shed makes it appear smaller than it is. [LUIS MEZA]
Deputies were investigating reports of screaming sounds when they found the victim in the shed. This side view of the shed [right background] makes it appear smaller than it is. [LUIS MEZA]
Tadesse appeared in an Antelope Valley courtroom Monday, but her arraignment was postponed to Oct. 20, said Ricardo Santiago of the District Attorney’s Office. Tadesse’s bail was set at more than $1.1 million, and a protective order was issued barring her from having any contact with the victim, Santiago added.

Elias Abdurahman is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, according to Santiago.

The case stems from a Sept. 22 incident when sheriff’s deputies investigating reports of screaming found 54-year-old Samia Abdurahman locked in a shed in the backyard of a house on the 45000 block of East 2nd Street, the prosecutor said. The victim was reportedly frail, malnourished and had fresh and old wounds, the prosecutor added.

The couple assaulted Samia with a cane and tortured her “for the purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion and for a sadistic purpose,” the criminal complaint alleges.

A neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous said police had been called twice to the home before the couple’s arrest.

“I kind of had some suspicions that something was going on with the elderly lady that lives there, but I never really did anything about it. My husband just said, ‘mind our own business,’” the neighbor said.

“[The victim] was constantly covered in bruises or bandages and my husband did approach her and ask her if she was OK, if there was anything we could do to help her, and she just said that she’d had a car accident and she was fine – that she didn’t need any help,” the neighbor said.

According to the neighbor, the couple appeared to be well off.

“They have close to 15 cars… from a Porsche, to Hondas to BMWs, and they also have a trucking business down the street where they have a couple of big rigs. And I believe they have a Taxi service that they are running out of one of the other homes in another neighborhood,” the neighbor said.

If convicted as charged, both defendants face a possible maximum sentence of life in state prison. The case remains under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, Lancaster Station.

[City News Service contributed to this report.]

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UPDATED TUESDAY, SEPT. 29: Bail has been set at more than $1.1 million for Elias Abdurahman, and his arraigned has also been postponed to Oct. 20.

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

31 comments for "Torture, false imprisonment charges filed after woman found locked in Lancaster shed"

  1. Actually, Google maps had trouble locating this one. At first it tried to put it in Palmdale, I manually changed it to Lancaster, and it then pointed to the Ag field at Av High. From there I manually found the house, it’s a single entrance small tract off H-8.

    • What does standing in front of a mosque have to do with being peaceful
      ? Obviously this person is not peaceful, but don’t bring religion into it, because if I am not mistaken, people that go to CHRISTIAN CHURCH have been known to commit atrocities equally terrible. Keep your religious intolerance to yourself!

      • there is NOTHING wrong with being Islamophobic- these people are commanded to kill us- as well as each other- and being PHOBIC about someone wanting to murder you is a natural reaction to that- Do your research and stop believing the BS they are feeding you!

        • Ever been to Islamic services? I have. Got any Muslim friends? I do. Feed your BS hate to someone else, I’m not buying.

          • A hateful person calling out another hateful person. It never ends with the spinning wheel of hate. Nothing accomplished but more hate.

          • The Quran preaches hate and murder for the infidels. Anyone who doesn’t convert to Islam is an infidel. There are 109 verses that all call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are very graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill the infidels wherever they may be hiding. Quran (8:12) I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. It’s not a wrong to fear the radicals in the Muslim religion. It’s common sense.

          • It is wise to use reasonable caution when dealing with radicals of any religion. However, equating “has a facebook friend pictured standing in front of a mosque” with “obviously a violent radical” is the definition of absurdity. The US is in much greater danger from radical Christians than radical Muslims.

          • Tim Scott what you say is ridiculous. The US is in more danger from radical Christians than it is from radical Muslims. Do you know what sharia law is? Criticizing or denying any part of the Quran is punishable by death. The same goes for Muhammad. A man may marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage at the age of 9. These are only a few of their religion. They cut off heads, rape and maime all in the name of Allah. They wage war against anyone who is not Muslim. Where do you get the nerve to say Christians are more dangerous. Your liberal left ideals are just plain stupid on this subject. You need to research the Quran and sharia law. You don’t sound like an American at all. Explain how Christians more dangerous.

          • The US is in far more danger from radical Christians because we have so many of them. There is no ballot anywhere in the US that will have a measure on it to force any Muslim belief on the populace with the power of law, and if it somehow got on the ballot it would be put down overwhelmingly. There are Christian faith based initiatives on the ballot regularly, and they do pass often enough to be a serious concern.

        • @ERIN

          Yeah, I recall how Muslims have bombed abortion clinics and killed doctors.

          Oh, wait. My mistake.

          One doctor was aided by fox’s Bill O’Reilly’s campaign against him. Bill O’Reilly is a ‘devout’ catholic. He’s actually said that God, y’know, THE God, spoke to him.

          • No doubt the arsonist in Thousand Oaks who attacked a Planned Parenthood facility this morning will turn out to be a Muslim, encouraged to act by Mullah Fiorino.

          • Wow, William and Tim Scott are both so far gone they are hallucinating. These two liberal socialist men are full of hate and bias. You both seem to hate America enough to like and prefer Muslims over Christians. I’m guessing your both atheist with your hatred. You bash Republicans, Christians and Law Enforcement. If this is what the liberal Democrats are all about everyone should run the other way!

          • Oh, V

            Your Kevin McCarthy(R) really stepped in it by admitting that the Benghazi hearings were just to ‘get’ Hillary.

            The filthy, rotten republicans are running those investigations like opposition research and if you can’t see it, see an optometrist.

            Your filthy, rotten republicans have alienated every minority group in the country but the 1% and they call the President divisive.

            Disgust us some more with your comments and replies.

          • “You both seem to hate America enough to like and prefer Muslims over Christians.”

            It’s tempting to point out how this comment is GROSSLY unamerican, but really, it just speaks for itself so there’s nothing to do but quote it.

          • Hey, V

            You have to admit that many loudmouthed, hypocritical, so-called ‘christians’ have done more damage to the brand than any atheists or Muslims. Think Huckabee.

            That thrice divorced, 2 children out-of-wedlock and 4 times married hypocrite, Kim Davis, has been embraced by the right wing media like they embraced George Zimmerman and Cliven Bundy.

            Just wait till she pulls some stunt that has her ‘supporters’ pull back. Don’t worry. She’ll do it. They all do.

            It seems that hypocrisy and in-your-face Christianity go hand in hand. The actual Christians who live the Christian life, like my father did, don’t yammer about it.

  4. This is sad especially when it happens right in your own neighborhood. In retrospect looking back it’s easy to put the pieces together. This has been going on for years and sadly on the outside they have the appearance of functioning as a somewhat normal family. They always had a smile and a wave and would occasionally give generous gifts from their trucking business. I know the abusers are claiming that she had the mentality of a 5 year old , claiming that some of the abuse was disciplined, not true this poor lady was allowed to leave the house weekly to do all of the household shopping, she had her own car and spoke English. We personally have reached out to her and offered help, but scared and nervous always declined. We are owning our own guilt for not pursuing our gut insticts. We pray that justice will be served and that she makes a full recovery.

    • The elderly lady comment came about because she looked so frail and appeared to look a lot older than she really is. They do have a large number of cars at least 12 parked up and down the streets at any given moment, expensive cars that just show up randomly, there is probably close to $200,000 just in cars, which seems strange living an a neighborhood like this when obviously they could very easily afford to live in a more desirable area. They have also invested a lot of money into converting their garage illegally into another 4 bedrooms to the existing 4 bedrooms they already have. No one seems to work in the house, there is also a teenager living in the house whom over the years never came outside or engaged with any of the other neighborhood kids, to and from school only.

  5. This is so sad…I’m disgusted…this is my neighbor…I had no clue….in fact I one day on my morning run I seen Sara struggling with a few bags of Coals and I helped take them in….!!!! You help those who’d rather harm others!! smh

  6. The mental abuse my family has inflicted on me is hard to deal with – I will never understand the pain this woman had to endure. If something does not sound right, report it! Report it over and over and over again. Family can be so cruel but this is torture :_
    There are more stories like this out there so again if something does not appear to be normal, report it anonymously.

    You may be saving someone’s life.

    You have
    Child Protective Hotline
    Elderly Abuse Hotline
    Graffiti Hotline

    All are anonymous

  7. On the home page of todays Antelope Valley Times there is an article that the circus is coming to town. Look at the contents of the entire home page and you will realize the Antelope Valley is a circus within itself. Good look to the people that are stuck in the good old AV!

  9. this story is horrific ! Was the victim the man’s sister or sister-in-law ? Apparently, they have the same last name.