A man was arrested after a woman escaped a South Bexar County home and said she was kidnapped and beaten over the course of several days, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
BCSO Sheriff Javier Salazar said the woman, 45, was able to flee the home in the 11200 block of Briggs Road, not far from Interstate 35 and Luckey Road, early Saturday morning and run to a neighbor’s home to call for help.
She told officers that 46-year-old Jason Daniel Steele, whom she used to date several months ago, kidnapped her at a farm she was working at in Pearsall.
Steele put her in an 18-wheeler and drove her to Tempe, Arizona, where he tried to abandon her, Salazar said.
The woman was able to convince Steele to bring her back to Texas, but he locked her in a bedroom for several days, according to Salazar.
There, she was beaten, unfed and threatened with a weapon, he said. She tried to escape at one point but a tussle ensued between her and Steele, and she was unsuccessful.
The second time she tried to escape, she was successful because Steele was on drugs and “apparently let his guard down,” Salazar said.
The woman is safe and recovering, he said.
SWAT officers went to the home to make an arrest and while Steele went outside, three other people inside refused to leave, Salazar said.
At one point, officers used tear gas to get them out and they eventually “gave themselves up,” Salazar said.
It is unclear what charges, if any, those three people will face, but Salazar said they are investigating drug activity and possible human smuggling connected to the home.
“At the very least these three people knew that this lady was being held against her will,” he said, adding that they were checking on her but not feeding her.
Steele is facing charges of kidnapping and assault-family violence, his second offense, Salazar said. He was wanted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Authorities are also investigating if Saturday’s events are connected to a massive human smuggling bust that was made there in February.
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