Victim rescued and moved to safe house after being sexually exploited

A woman has been rescued from a property where she was repeatedly raped and prevented from leaving.

Adalyn*, a 23-year-old woman from Nashville, Tennessee, had moved into a house with a group of friends prior to the COVID-19 lockdown.

But over the past month, one of the men in the group physically and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions and refused to let her leave the house.

One of Hope for Justice’s investigators said: “Adalyn was incredibly fearful of her abuser because she was being controlled. This exploitation had been ongoing. The man, in his 30s, was taking advantage of her being trapped in this house during lockdown.

“At a point of desperation, she reached out to us. Our team immediately went to the property and located her. We collected Adalyn’s belongings and took her to a rehabilitation center.”

Adalyn had previously received support from the charity in 2018 when the investigations team rescued her from trafficking and secured her long-term help with another anti-trafficking non-profit, where she was enrolled in a rehabilitation program.

On leaving the program, she had been living with her parents in a suburb of Nashville until March this year.

Since being rescued earlier this month, Adalyn has been receiving trauma-informed care and counseling, food and shelter at a residential rehabilitation center for assault victims.

Hope for Justice is continuing to work with Adalyn and alongside local law enforcement to bring the man to justice.

*Name and image changed to protect identity of victim