Fox News Flash top headlines for December 20
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A 39-year-old Utah man is now facing multiple charges after a 19-year-old college student who was missing for five days was found naked and covered in coal inside his home, reports say.
Brent Brown, of Loa, has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, rape, object rape and obstruction of justice following the discovery of Snow College student Madelyn Allen on Saturday, according to Fox 13. He is now being held without bail.
"We are so excited to have our Maddy home. We love her so much, and she has been such a light and a joy in our lives," the student’s mother, Taunya, said during a news conference Sunday. "We are so grateful that we can continue our lives together with her."
Madelyn Allen was found safe over the weekend after being missing for 5 days. (Courtesy Snow College)
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The saga involving Allen began on the night of Dec. 13, when she was last seen leaving her dorm building in Ephraim. The next day, her roommates reported Allen missing when she failed to return, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The newspaper, citing a probable cause affidavit, reported that Allen met Brown in an online "chat group" and arranged to have him pick her up on Dec. 13 – but in the following days the relationship became nonconsensual and violent.
Brown allegedly tied Allen up while he was at work, got rid of her phone when he learned police were looking for her, and "threatened her, saying if she left or told anyone about him, he would come after her family and sister," the Salt Lake Tribune reported, citing the affidavit.
Court documents later stated that police used cellphone tower information to track down Allen at Brown’s home in Loa, about an hour and a half’s drive from where she had last been seen, the newspaper continued.
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Allen was found naked and covered with coal in a basement room after Brown – who answered the door at the home when police knocked – initially told officers that nobody else was inside, the affidavit added.
The affidavit in the investigation also stated that Brown told police he met Allen on a bondage chat group and that he described tying her up as a form of role playing, according to KSL.
The victim told investigators that "Brown raped her several times daily" against her will, but she didn’t leave because she was concerned about the threats allegedly directed against her family and sister, KSL also reported, citing the affidavit.
On Sunday, Snow College Police Chief Derek Walk said that Allen was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation after she was found and then was reunited with her family.
Surveillance footage showed Allen last leaving her dorm building on Dec. 13, before she was found over the weekend. (Courtesy Snow College)
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"We got the phone and [Chief Derek Walk] called as he’s done many times and he said ‘I have her,’ and we dropped to our knees," Allen’s father, Jonathan, said during the Sunday news conference. "We were so grateful. Elated. Couldn’t describe the feelings that we had as we embraced each other and everybody that was with us and working so hard."
As for Brown, "we don’t have a lot of information about him – we met him for the first time last night and we don’t know how extensive his relationship or her knowledge of him is thus far," Walk said.
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