How Jean-Claude Demars and Charlotte Demars a Texas couple came to hold a 51 year old woman as a slave hostage at their home.
Ovilla, Texas couple, Jean-Claude Demars, 51, and Charlotte Kelly Demars, 48 have been arrested after allegedly kidnapping and enslaving a woman and forcing the shackled woman to clean the couple’s home over the course of two weeks.
The kidnapping told the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office came following the victim having an affair with one of her captors.
The couple’s arrest followed police acting on a tip where they found the 51 year old victim shackled to a bed inside the couple’s Olivia home on Jan. 26, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA.
Officers reported finding chains, collars and leg cuffs at the home.
The woman — who told police she had been involved in an intermittent eight-year affair with the husband— said she woke up to being detained in the home after her former flame gave her a drink at a gas station 12 days earlier.
At one point, Jean-Claude Demars had been paying for the woman to stay at a hotel, before eventually stopping. The victim then moved into a women’s shelter, where Demars picked her up prior to the alleged kidnapping.
Once inside the couple’s home, the victim was told she was going to be ‘Charlotte’s slave,’ she later told police. The victim told of being forced to clean up dog feces inside the home along with being made to use a bucket as a restroom.
Police estimated up to 40 dogs were kept at the home of the couple, who may operate a dog breeding kennel called Tribble’s Nest, CBS Dallas reported.
Jean-Claude Demars and Charlotte Demars claim bounding victim for their own safety:
The victim secured her freedom after using an electronic tablet her captors had given her for entertainment, whereby she sent a message to someone who notified police that she was being held against her will.
Upon retrieving her freedom, the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Upon his arrest, the husband admitted picking up the victim from a shelter in Irving, but told police he only took her back to his home because she started getting ‘loopy’ and having lost consciousness inside his vehicle after getting drinks at a gas station. The couple also claimed they kept the victim bound solely for their own safety, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
‘Mr. and Mrs. Demars told officers that they did apply the chains and shackles to [the victim], but only because [she] requested it to avoid killing them in their sleep,’ the document reads.
Come Wednesday, the Demarses remained held at the Ellis County Jail on $150,000 bail each, jail records show.
Police said they are continuing to investigate the incident.
