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STEWARTSVILLE, Ind., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- An Indiana woman missing for two months has been reunited with her family Saturday with the help of a good Samaritan. Joelle Lockwood, 30, disappeared on July 6. She is believed to have been held against her will by Rick House Jr., 37, and Kendra Tooley, 44, who were arrested hours after Lockwood's rescue and will be charged with rape and criminal confinement Monday.
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Lockwood owes her freedom to Ronald Higgs, Tooley's ex-husband. Higgs said he stopped by Tooley and House's trailer in Stewartsville Thursday when Tooley mentioned they had Lockwood.
"She slid over on the couch beside me and said 'I've got a girl back here in a cage.' I said 'you got a girl back here in a cage? What are you talking about,'" questioned Higgs. The cage, Higgs said, was two and a half feet tall, hidden away in a corner.
"No food, no water, nowhere to use the bathroom," he said, adding that Lockwood was wearing just a t-shirt and dog collar with a rope tied to it.
"She says 'please don't leave here without me.' I said 'what's the matter?' She says 'I've been here for over 60 days and they put me in that cage.'"
Higgs said he tried to buy Lockwood's freedom, but Tooley and House refused.
"The whole time during it all they was talking about a baby. 'She's not leaving here until she has the baby. I'm not selling her, you're not taking her, you're not doing nothing.'" he said. "She told me Ricky was raping her, making her have oral sex. Kendra can't have more children and Ricky doesn't have any children of his own. I hate to say this to the public or even her even hearing it, but I think they were just going to have a baby and we would never see her again."
On Saturday, Higgs said he was able to convince Tooley he wouldn't go to the police if they let Lockwood leave.
"I actually think they believed I wasn't going to do anything about it," he said.
Despite the horrors they allegedly forced on Lockwood, police said her accused captors were "emotionless" when they were arrested.
