Woman found hiding in Midlands woods had been drugged and kidnapped, sheriff says
A woman escaped from a home where she was drugged and held captive for a week, and was found hiding in the woods in below-freezing temperatures, the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office said.
The North Carolina woman was found near a home on Wildwood Lane in Elgin, the sheriff’s office said Monday in a news release. The resident told deputies the woman was hiding in her backyard, according to the release.
The woman told deputies she had been dropped off at a home on Smyrna Road by her boyfriend. He owed money to a resident, Demetrius Raynard McIlwain, according to the release.
After being left at the home, the woman told deputies she was drugged and locked inside for more than a week, the sheriff’s office said.
She was able to escape the house Friday, and hid in a wooded area while temperatures were in the mid 20-degree range, before being found, according to the release.
The Smyrna Road home is about three miles from where the woman was spotted.
The woman was taken to a safe house outside of Kershaw County, and deputies turned the investigation to McIlwain and the Smyrna Road residence.
During a search deputies discovered the home had padlocks on all the bedroom doors and all the windows were covered or painted, the sheriff’s office said.
Additionally, two other “victims” were found in the home, telling deputies they “performed sexual acts with multiple people in return for drugs from McIlwain,” according to the release.
Neither accepted help from the sheriff’s office, it said in the release.
The 45-year-old McIlwain was charged with kidnapping on Friday, and is being held in the Kershaw County Detention Center, where he was denied bond, jail records show.
More charges are pending for McIlwain, who has an extensive criminal record, the sheriff’s office said.
He has been convicted of assault and battery with intent to kill, criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and first-degree burglary, among other crimes, according to the release.
He was released from prison in 2018 after serving a 20 year sentence and is currently a registered sex offender in Aiken County, the sheriff’s office said. He was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s sex offender registry.
“As long as Demetrius McIlwain is in custody, the citizens of Kershaw County have no reason to fear him,” the release said.
The FBI and SLED assisted in the investigation.
If convicted on the kidnapping charge, McIlwain would face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, according to South Carolina law.
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This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Woman found hiding in Midlands woods had been drugged and kidnapped, sheriff says."
