A promising young teenager endured months of torture before being discovered bound to a blood-stained mattress and stabbed to death, according to police. Isabella Stroupe, 19, was found dead inside a North Carolina apartment by officers responding to a call of an unresponsive woman on May 1, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department reported.
Her boyfriend, Thomaz Kenon Hamilton, 24, has been charged with her murder after investigators determined she had been abused for months prior to her death. Hamilton initially called 911 from a nearby gas station, claiming Stroupe had stopped breathing, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail.
First responders discovered Stroupe in a bedroom with minimal clothing, bound with a tow strap on a blood-stained mattress. Hamilton told police they were having sex when Stroupe suffered a suspected heart attack. However, investigators ruled her death a homicide, citing multiple injuries including broken bones, fractures, and stab wounds.
A search of the residence revealed a knife wrapped in cellophane with suspected blood, a baseball bat, a sword, multiple cell phones (some broken), clothing with suspected blood, and a mattress with suspected blood. Detectives were also informed that Stroupe had been tortured over several months and would have been physically unable to provide consent.
Hamilton has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape, and is being held at the Mecklenburg County jail without bond. His next court hearing is scheduled for June 30.
Stroupe's family described her as an avid reader who loved anime, according to a GoFundMe page. Her brother, Jacob Walker, told WBTV, "She was always talking about fantasy and the book that she was reading." Her sister, Marleigh Bailey, added that the family knew Hamilton but never suspected he was capable of hurting her. "We thought she was okay. We trusted him, we knew him. He was a friend of ours for a long time," Bailey said. "When they told us... It is unbelievable that somebody you trust could do something like that."
