A woman who was kidnapped by her stepfather at age 11 and held captive in Mexico for 19 years, during which she gave birth to nine of his children, has described how a chance encounter with strangers in a grocery store led to her escape.
Rosalynn McGinnis, now 33, was abducted from her school in Oklahoma in 1997 by Henri Piette, then her mother's partner. He took her to Mexico, forced her into a 'marriage', and subjected her to repeated sexual abuse. The pair lived in a tent, largely undetected by authorities.
In 2016, a couple in a grocery store noticed the age gap between McGinnis and Piette and offered to help. 'They knew something wasn't right,' McGinnis recalled on The Dr Oz Show. The couple paid for their groceries and later, when the family moved, tracked them down. The woman told McGinnis, 'If you can ever get away, I'll help you.'
McGinnis eventually fled with eight of her nine children and contacted the US embassy. Piette was arrested in 2017 and convicted of kidnapping, but still faces rape charges. He denies wrongdoing.
McGinnis said Piette abused the children, telling them they were 'animals' and that they were alive only because of her. She described years of grooming and abuse, starting before the abduction. 'As a child, you don't know those things,' she said.
