Father Charged With Tying Naked Daughter to Chair

Martin Jonassen

The father of a 21-year-old Missouri woman who ran naked and screaming into a liquor store with a portion of rope tied around her ankle has been charged with two counts of Class C felony confinement and one misdemeanor count of battery.
Martin Jonassen, 55, of Elwood, Kan., was arrested Monday and is currently being held without bond in the Porter County (Ind.) Jail.
"This is probably one of the strangest things we've had happen here in the city. Luckily it came to an ending that was peaceful and we were able to save her from who knows whatever torture that would've happened at the hands of her father," said Sgt. Keith Hughes with the Portage Police Department.
The bruised, frightened woman was seen "running for her life" and being chased by a car, driven by Jonassen, in Portage on Monday, police and prosecutors said in documents filed in Porter Superior Court.
"Help! Help! Help! I'm in fear for my life! He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me," is what the liquor store manager Brandon Hatch said the girl was screaming.
"When the father came in, basically what he said was 'my daughter's on drugs do not listen to her,'" Hatch recalled.
A liquor store employee hit the panic button and police arrived within two minutes. Jonassen was taken into custody.
She said Jonassen had her nude and tied to a chair in a motel room. She was able to loosen the ropes and flee when he went to the bathroom.
Federal kidnapping charges are pending against Jonassen. The woman was put on a flight back to Missouri and is now safe with her family.