Woman held captive by stepfather and forced to have his eight kids reveals how she escaped

A woman who was abducted by her stepfather when she was 11 and taken to Mexico where she gave birth to her abuser’s children has described how she fled to safety.

Rosalynn McGinnis was abducted from her school by her stepfather Henri Piette in 1997. The kidnapping, which happened in Oklahoma, was Piette’s retaliation against his wife, McGinnis’s mother.

Ms McGinnis told investigators earlier this year that she met Piette when she was around 10 years old when her mother began a relationship with him.

By the time she was 11, Piette had starting raping her at their home in Wagoner, Oklahoma.

According to The Sun, Piette forced Ms McGinnis to “marry” him and took his stepdaughter to Mexico where she has nine of his children while living in a tent and evading US authorities.

Ms McGinnis was able to flee with eight of her children and go to a US embassy in 2016 thanks to the help of strangers.

Piette was convicted of kidnapping earlier this year, and is still waiting for an answer on rape charges.

To this day he denies any wrongdoing.

The case bears similarities to that of rapist Fritzl, who imprisoned his own daughter in a sex dungeon in Austria and fathered seven kids with her over a 24 year period.

Ms McGinnis recalled the moment she was saved by observant strangers in an interview on The Dr. Oz Show, which will aired in the US on Tuesday.

Ms McGinnis, now 34, said: 

We were in the grocery store, we were in front of them, and we had a bunch of kids, of course, and it was me and Henri Piette.

The age difference and all the children. Actually, we were short on the bill to pay for the groceries and they paid it for us.

They asked … where we lived. It started like that. Henri was the type that always kept people away.

But they knew something wasn’t right. So, they decided to do something about it.

The strangers were couple Lisa and Ian, who met Ms McGinnis and Piette while living Oaxaca, Mexico.

Ms McGinnis introduced herself as Stephanie and Piette as Bill – one of the many aliases they assumed over the years.

Henri Michelle Piette held his step daughter Rosalynn McGinnis captive for 19 years. Picture: Police HandoutSource:Supplied

The couple had made friends with Rosalynn and her eight children, but immediately began to suspect something was wrong when Piette accidentally revealed he was 62.

In June this year, Lisa told KSHB: 

You had eight children living in three cubicles that were little more than walk-in closet size.

(They) were all skinny as rakes. And the children said that he (Piette) said he didn’t love any of them. We went home, and I said, ‘[McGinnis is] 32 years old.

Her oldest kid would be turning — I think at that point he was to be turning 17 — and I said, ‘That’s wrong. You take 17 from 32 that’s 15. He’s 62.

Lisa called ms McGinnis and said: 

We know there’s something wrong. If you can get your husband either in jail or in rehab jail, which is something they do with drug addicts and alcoholics, we’ll help you.

And at that point, Bill came home and we hung up. And that’s all I ever said.

Shortly after, Ms McGinnis showed up to Lisa and Ian’s home with her children. 

Ms McGinnis with six of her eight children she bore to her stepfather. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied

The family was brought back to the US with the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and then were put in touch with the US embassy.

Piette was on the run, but was arrested shortly after September 2017 when he tried to enter the US.

Ms McGinnis revealed to Dr. Oz that she took her children without telling them they were fleeing and detailed the campaign of terror Piette had unleashed on them.

She said: 

They didn’t know. I kept the truth from them until I escaped from Mexico. They were really shocked. ... The reason I didn’t tell them, of course, was because what I knew inside was how much it’s damaged me. I didn’t want them to grow up knowing that.

He would tell them they’re animals. He would treat them like animals.

Ms McGinnis says he threatened to kill the children.

He would hit them and then I would step in and it would just be horrible. Any kind of abuse that you can think of, he did to me.

She said Piette unleashed horrific abuse on her, beating her with an assault rifle, baseball bat and beer bottles.

She said earlier this year: 

He picked up a stainless steel frying pan and tried to hit me in the stomach. I put my arm in front of it and it cut me all the way to the bone.

Ms McGinnis revealed she was sexually abused and first fell pregnant at 13.

The missing child flyer released for Rosalynn McGinnis, who was held captive by her stepfather for 19 years. Picture: National Missing Child CenterSource:Supplied

However, she said she suffered a miscarriage and Piette forced her to flush the foetus down the toilet.

Ms McGinnis waived her anonymity to shed light on her stepfather monster, who was convicted of rape earlier this year.

In 1997 her mum – who has never spoken publicly about the case – split up with Piette because he was hitting her.

Piette then retaliated by kidnapping her daughter from school and going on the run.
Peitte has denied any wrongdoing.

This story first appeared in the The Sun