Suspect Accused Of Kidnapping, Torturing Ex-Girlfriend For Weeks In Stockton Home
STOCKTON (CBS13) — A woman is accused of kidnapping and torturing her ex-girlfriend for weeks in her Stockton home.
Dorothy Bell was charged with 39 counts Wednesday afternoon including kidnapping, torture, false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon. According to the complaint, Bell is accused of using a knife, hammer, golf club and firearm to assault her victim. The complaint explains that she tortured her ex-girlfriend, "with the intent to cause cruel and extreme pain and suffering for the purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion and for a sadistic purpose."
The victim was found naked with her arms bound behind her back last Friday on a front porch in Stockton.
A crisis negotiation team was called to the house in an effort to get Bell out, officials said, but she escaped to a neighboring home with three people inside in the area of River Ridge Avenue and Henry Long Boulevard.
"It's scary because I have kids, I was thinking 'what is going to happen?'" said neighbor Bernice Panihua.
Panihua was trying to leave her Stockton home Saturday when she saw police surround her neighborhood. Officers immediately asked her to go back inside.
"She could've came in my backyard cause I know she was hopping fences and stuff," she explained.
Bell broke into a neighbor's house, confusing the family of four inside. The homeowner who did not want to be identified said at first he thought his grandmother let the woman in.
"'Grandma, why you let this lady come in?' and my grandma was quiet, tried to give me a signal like somebody is behind you. 'Why you let this lady in here?' and I see her (Bell) with the knife," he explained.
The man tells CBS13 that Bell threatened his family and held a knife to his son's neck.
"She said help me, help me, she asked for help," he explained. "If I don't help her she is going to come after my family, kill me."
The homeowner said Bell made a phone call to a friend and told them to come after the man's family if he did not comply. Bell eventually let the man's daughter, son, and grandmother go. The homeowner said he spent an hour with Bell and had to fight to get away from her.
"I tried to protect myself because she grabbed the knife, right. And then I try to grab the knife from her and pull her out," he explained. "She tried to get away from me and then she tried to bite me, bite my hand and start fighting."
The man said she eventually ran back inside the house. She remained in the neighbor's home during a standoff with police until around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Bell's bail is set at $4 million and she is due back in court on December 30.
According to the district attorney's office, Bell was arrested in September on similar charges after police say she abused and held her ex-wife against her will.
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