Man arrested after woman held captive, raped and beaten for days

DETROIT (WJBK) - Detroit police say they have made an arrest after a woman was held hostage and raped, stabbed and beaten for multiple days.

Police say they took a 49-year-old man into custody late Sunday night. The 54-year-old woman is still in critical condition Monday morning.

Police say the victim was walking to her SUV on Thursday at about 10 p.m. The suspect went up to her, forced her back into her car and brought her to a vacant house in the 13000 block of Schoolcraft Avenue, which is near Schaefer Highway. 

The woman was held captive for several days before she was able to break out a window, escape and get help. She escaped when the attacker left the house and drove off in her car.

Neighbors can't believe something like this happened so close to home. You can read more about that here.

Police say the victim's 2002 Ford Explorer has been found.

Police have not yet named the suspect.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said they do not believe the victim knew the suspect.

"We believe it was random in the manner in which she was abducted. Certainly he used a weapon," he said.

Residents on the street where the arrest took place say they are cleaning up and making changes to the block to keep crime away

"The crime rate in the City of Detroit will continue to go up if all we do is talk about it.," said Korey Baety, a concerned neighbor. "We couldn't see up our block, so we decided to cut down trees so that we could see up our block."

Police won't say how the suspect is connected to the area where he was arrested but neighbors say they are not aware of him

Craig says investigators continue to gather information.

"We are in a process of putting together a warrant package for review by the Wayne County prosecutor's office," he said.