Vinson Filyaw

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (September 2006)

This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it.
Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (September 2006)

Vinson Filyaw (b. 1969^[1]) is a former construction worker convicted of kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Shoaf, a 14-year-old girl from Lugoff (South Carolina) in 2006, holding her captive in an underground bunker. This bunker had been constructed in order to elude police who were seeking to arrest Filyaw on an unrelated rape charge. Filyaw's girlfriend was also arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the abduction.

1 Kidnapping
2 Arrest
3 Trial and Sentencing
4 Sources

[edit] Kidnapping

The victim, Elizabeth Shoaf^[2], was kidnapped after she disembarked from her school bus on September 6, 2006. Filyaw gained her trust by posing as a police officer^[3]. He walked his victim around in the woods until she became disoriented and then marched her to a hand-dug 15-foot bunker near his trailer home, located within a mile of her own home. There he stripped her naked, restrained her with chains, and raped her several times a day^[4]. Police initially interpreted her disappearance as a runaway, and did not launch an Amber alert^[5]. Shoaf's behavior during this period has been heralded by people involved with missing children cases. ^[6] "Not only was she very brave, she was also very smart and did several things that greatly improved her chances of survival," said Captain David Thomley of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department.^[7]

While being led into the woods, she dropped her shoes in the hope that it would provide a clue for someone who was searching for her.^[8]
Despite receiving ongoing death threats and having explosives hung around her neck, "[she] would talk with him about things that interested him, which in his eyes, made her a person, not just a captive. She began to gain his trust."^[9]
After continuing to gain his trust, she was allowed out of the bunker, and would "pull out strands of her hair lay them on branches hoping search dogs might pick up her scent."^[10]

After 10 days in captivity^[11], the victim convinced Filyaw to let her borrow his cellular phone to play games, but she had an entirely different use in mind. Once he fell asleep, she text messaged her mother and friends, who contacted the police. The authorities then began to triangulate the bunker's position through the cell phone towers. Filyaw saw that he was under pursuit by watching the news on a battery-powered television in the bunker. He asked Shoaf for advice, and she told him to run away. He did so, allowing her to leave the bunker and yell for help until she was found by a rescue team^[12].

Filyaw had equipped the entrance of the bunker with a booby-trap, according to police.

[edit] Arrest

Elizabeth was by no means an ordinary victim of kidnapping. She closely examined her surroundings and provided valuable information to police officers upon being recovered.^[13]

Filyaw was five miles from his house, carrying a taser, pellet gun, and knife, when he was arrested. He was charged with kidnapping, possession of an incendiary device (a flare gun), and impersonating a police officer, with other charges pending.

[edit] Trial and Sentencing

Filyaw pled guilty to all counts just before the start of the trial. His victim was too emotional to testify, but a prepared statement was read by her attorney and she later made a public statement. Vinson Filyaw was sentenced to 421 years in prison^[14] on September 19, 2007, by Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper. This is the maximum penalty under South Carolina law.

Elizabeth initially was too emotional to appear at the trial, but later made several media appearances. On a 2008 episode of the Today show, Meredith Viera did a profile of Elizabeth Shoaf and her family, commenting on Elizabeth's calmness throughout such a horrific event.^[15] The story aired on Dateline NBC on March 7, 2008.