Cops: Woman chained to engine block

Girlfriend escapes and writes 'Call 911' in condensation on a window - a neighbor sees it and summons WVC police

Article Last Updated: 12/13/2007 01:35:22 AM MST

Police found a woman on Friday locked in an apartment... (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune)«12»West Valley City police on Tuesday arrested a man they say kept his girlfriend chained to an engine block inside their home so he could regularly torture and choke her.

Fernando Orozco-Trevizo, 32, was booked into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, assault, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, an immigration detainer, criminal mischief and forgery.

Police found the woman Friday locked in an apartment near 3500 South and 2900 West after a neighbor contacted authorities, according to a booking document. The woman told police the man kept her chained to an engine block inside the apartment and regularly beat and choked her. She had scratches on her lower legs from the chain and injuries from being assaulted, the document said.

Orozco-Trevizo is being held without bail. The woman has since been relocated out of state, police said.

The woman's neighbor, Peter Erkelens, said he called police on her behalf after the woman caught his attention through a back window in the apartment.

Erkelens was returning to his residence at the Granger Trailer Park, 2943 W. Leon Ave. (3560 South), at about 9:30 a.m. Friday when he noticed the woman frantically waving at him through a first-floor window.

The woman wrote "Call 911" in condensation on the window. Erkelens walked from his driveway to her residence to further investigate. He said he spoke with her through the window, which she told him was bolted shut.

"She said that her and boyfriend had been fighting all night and that he'd hit her a couple times," said Erkelens, 32, who was home briefly from work when he discovered the woman. He offered to break the window for the woman so she could leave the home, but she said as long as police were coming she would wait inside the residence.

Police said the woman wrote the window message after escaping from Orozco-Trevizo inside the house and barricading a bedroom door shut with a bureau. Orozco-Trevizo fled the home when he realized police were called.

Erkelens called police and waited with the woman for a few minutes, until authorities arrived. When police later informed Erkelens that the woman had been chained to an engine block, he was shocked.

"I was kind of disgusted by the whole thing. That someone could do that to someone . . ." he said. "It blew my mind that she was chained up and didn't tell me."

Police arrested Orozco-Trevizo at a construction site on Tuesday.

Orozco-Trevizo told authorities chaining his girlfriend was "just a game," but said he was concerned the woman was having an affair with a neighbor, according to the booking document. Police found a 20-foot dog chain and padlocks in the home along with the six-cylinder engine block the woman was allegedly chained to.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement became involved in the case after authorities discovered Orozco-Trevizo is an undocumented immigrant who was working construction jobs in South Jordan, said West Valley City police Capt. Tom McLachlan. Orozco-Trevizo had previously been deported from the United States, he said.

Erkelens said the Dec.7 incident was the first time he had observed people in Orozco-Trevizo's apartment, which is part of West Valley City's Mark IV Court Apartments.

But other neighbors said they often heard Orozco-Trevizo and his girlfriend yelling at each other.

One woman in Unit 18 at the Mark IV Court Apartments said she struggled to sleep because of the noise. The neighbor said she regularly observed Orozco-Trevizo's girlfriend smoking outside. She last saw the woman Thursday, the day before police found her inside the apartment.

Orozco-Trevizo's apartment was quiet Wednesday afternoon as a maintenance person changed the locks on Apartment 19, where he and his girlfriend had lived.

A man who identified himself as the apartment complex's manager said he and the owner of the building weren't aware of any problems with Orozco-Trevizo and his girlfriend as tenants.

The property owner didn't return a phone call seeking comment.

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http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7708225