Disabled woman found beaten, dehydrated inside truck in Dallas

From the Dallas Morning News:

At first, officers found it hard to believe anyone was inside the white box truck.

They got no response when they shouted and banged on its side Monday afternoon. Its rear sliding door was padlocked and at least 10 nails were hammered into it, holding it in place.

"I promise you that she is inside," persisted Wilma Henson, who had come with her sister to check on her sister's mentally disabled stepdaughter. They had no proof, just a feeling.

When Dallas police and fire-rescue workers broke inside the truck, they found 21-year-old Latisha Morris drenched in sweat, dehydrated and suffering from exhaustion in the more than 100-degree heat.

Police say 50-year-old Harvey Ray Moss, who has been in a sexual relationship with Morris, beat her, locked her inside the truck, and left her with fresh wounds that appeared to be his initials carved into her flesh.

Moss was being held Tuesday in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. He faces a charge of injury to a disabled person and an assault charge. He did not immediately respond to an interview request.

"You could tell she had been in there for a while, because she was, like, staggering back," Henson said. "She couldn't even stand straight."

Henson and her sister, Barbara Henson Reed, had driven to a home in the 2200 block of Bethurum Avenue in the Rochester Park area of South Dallas, where they knew Morris had stayed in the past. They wanted to alert her to an upcoming court hearing concerning custody of her and Moss' 16-month-old daughter, who has been placed with Reed. And they were concerned for Morris' welfare.

"We've been hearing she's been staying in vans, she's been sleeping at the Flying J [truck stop], and stuff like that," Reed said.

When they arrived, Henson saw Moss unloading a bicycle from inside the truck, which was sitting in front of the home. She said she saw him padlock the truck and drive away in a van.

They called police, feeling certain that Morris was inside. Officers and rescue workers couldn't immediately break inside, and they heard nothing from within.

But then an officer noticed a small hole in the rear door with a black fabric over it. They pulled the fabric back and saw Morris standing inside, dripping with sweat. The officers asked her to move toward the truck's cab.

"I can't," she said, according to a police report. "He'll hurt me if I leave the van."

Finally, officers and rescue workers freed her. An ambulance took her to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, where she was treated and released.

Morris, who can read and write but has the mental capacity of a child, said Tuesday that Moss locked her inside the truck from time to time as punishment.

"He locks me in the van a lot," she said, leaving her water but no food.

She had been inside Monday for about an hour and was relieved to be rescued, she said. "I was thinking that I was happy to see them."

Shortly after the discovery Monday, officers found Moss driving a green van, pulled him over and arrested him. His record includes charges of assault, burglary and possession of a prohibited weapon.

Morris and her family accuse Moss of regularly taking the government money she receives for her disability.

"He hits on me and he takes my money and he gives it to other women," Morris said. Asked what should happen to him, she said he should stay in jail.

"Just keep him in there until he realizes what he did to me," she said.