Photo of partially nude missing woman in cage leads to arrests, Missouri sheriff say
Photos of a woman locked in a cage proved to be a breakthrough in her mysterious disappearance in Missouri, officials said.
Now two men have been arrested — but Cassidy Rainwater is still missing.
Rainwater, 33, went missing in late July with her last known “associations” to be in Dallas, Laclede and Greene counties in southwest Missouri, officials said.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office released a photo of Rainwater on Sept. 1, seeking help finding her.
About two weeks later, an anonymous tipster provided the FBI in Kansas City with a photo of a woman in a cage in a “partially nude state,” according to court documents.
She was identified as Rainwater.
Before the FBI obtained the photo, Dallas County investigators learned 58-year-old James Phelps was the last person with whom Rainwater had been in contact, court documents say.
Phelps said Rainwater stayed at his home “until she could get back on her feet” and left about a month earlier in the middle of the night in a vehicle that stopped at the end of the driveway. He said she had talked about going to Colorado, according to court documents.
Phelps showed a deputy around his property and a loft area in his home where he said she stayed. The deputy noticed the loft was “somewhat stripped” with none of Rainwater’s personal belongings.
Investigators returned to Phelps’ home after receiving the photo, and he again told them Rainwater left in the middle of the night, according to court documents. This time the sheriff’s office had obtained a search warrant for his phone, and they discovered seven photos of Rainwater locked in a cage at his home while partially nude, the court documents say.
He was taken into custody.
The sheriff’s office also focused its investigation on another man: Timothy Norton. Several days after the FBI received the photo, Norton told investigators he helped Phelps “restrain” Rainwater a day before she went missing in late July, according to court documents. Norton said he knew Rainwater was held in a cage, court documents say.
“Norton then admitted that after arriving at Phelps’ home he did physically confine (Rainwater) by holding her down for a substantial period of time for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a felony or inflicting physical injury on or terrorizing (her),” a sheriff’s lieutenant wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
The affidavit did not include the type of felony or injury inflicted upon Rainwater.
Phelps and Norton are charged with kidnapping. They also face charges facilitating a felony, inflicting injury and terrorizing, according to court records.
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