Raleigh police: Teen found tied up after home invasion
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- People living in a northeast Raleigh neighborhood are being told there's no immediate threat to their safety after a teenage girl was tied up during a home invasion.
The 17-year-old's mother and stepfather, who did not want to be identified, tell ABC11 she is recovering at home after being sexually assaulted.
Around 3:30 Sunday afternoon, the mom said she got a series of texts from her daughter that read, 'I'm tied up in the closet. Help. Rape. Robbers. Hands tied. Have gun.'
The mom, who had just recently left to take their three younger children to the park, says she raced back home where she said she found her daughter face down in the coat closet, taped to a chair without any clothes.
"It's beyond scary," she said. "It's horrifying. They took her clothes and she's in the closet. Nobody ever wants to walk in on their child like that."
The teen's stepfather said he was out of town at the time. He said his stepdaughter was upstairs when two men came into the house and she tried to hide but they found her, brought her downstairs, and tried to make her unplug the TV. He said the pair sexually assaulted her and threw her in the closet.
"It's a little bit strange," he said. "I mean, it's strange."
The mother said before she got the text messages, her daughter reached out to a friend for help.
"I got a phone call first from her best friend's mom, and the best friend's mom said the same thing, something about she had called her best friend, Facetime, with the duct tape on her mouth," she said.
Raleigh police are investigating the case as a burglary and forcible rape, but have not made any arrests. Jim Sughrue, Raleigh Police Dept. spokesperson, said Monday no one is in any immediate danger because there haven't been any other cases like it in the area.
Records show since the start of 2016, police have been called to Glade Aster Court for two daytime break-ins; the owners were not home at the time.
Police are working off vague descriptions of the suspects. The men have been described as two white men in their mid-20s; one is short, the other tall with curly hair.
"She said she don't know them," said the girl's stepfather. "She says she's fine, but she don't look fine to me."
He said his stepdaughter spent part of Sunday night and Monday morning at WakeMed.
