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Dyersburg kidnapping suspect arrested after 2-day manhunt | Woman says he held her captive for months

Brenton Bell was arrested on Wednesday around 6:45 p.m. He was still in Dyersburg.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man accused of holding a Dyersburg woman captive for more than two months in a closet has been arrested after a two-day manhunt, Dyersburg Police said Wednesday. 

According to Dyersburg Police, Brenton Bell, charged with kidnapping, was arrested in Dyersburg around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday without incident. 

Bell is being held pending Dyersburg City Court action. 

The Dyersburg Police Department said they responded to a possible domestic complaint on March 13. Officers were told that a man working in the area of Schaffer Street was told by a woman that she had been kidnapped and had just escaped.

A woman in Dyersburg told authorities that she had been held captive for about two months by an abusive boyfriend. This victim told police she had limited food and no bathroom facilities.

The woman told police that her relationship with Bell had turned physically abusive and led to her being held captive.

Officers said they arrived to find a 40-year-old woman hiding under a new construction home in the area. Officers said she had facial cuts and weighed under 100 pounds.

This woman told police that she had been forced to stay in a locked closet and was only able to be outside of the closet for an hour each day.

Officers said they were able to locate the empty house on Ayers Street where the victim said she was being held. 

Human waste was found inside the residence as described by the victim, according to the Dyersburg Police Department.

The woman was treated by the West Tennessee Healthcare Dyersburg and a WRAP advocate was contacted to provide additional domestic violence services to the woman, according to the Dyersburg Police Department.

March 13, 2023 Woman held captive locked in a closet for weeks Saturday, March 11, around 1:30 p.m., Dyersburg police...

Posted by Dyersburg Police Department on Monday, March 13, 2023

   

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