Pair accused of kidnapping, torturing woman wanted by local police

SPRINGFIELD — Two local women are facing charges after being accused of torturing and threatening to kill another woman.

A woman told police she was lured to a home in a Springfield neighborhood by a woman she’d known for “some time” with the offer of cleaning a home for money. Instead, she was jumped, assaulted, and tortured for at least an hour, according to court records.

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As soon as she stepped into the house, “she felt a cord being wrapped around her neck as she was being pulled to the ground,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Clark County Municipal Court.

The woman told police she was punched, kicked, threatened with a knife, hit with a candle, and urine poured on her face. She also claimed to have lost consciousness two times.

The two women, 54-year-old Vickie Rockwell and 36-year-old Shatotya Hawthorne, reportedly told the victim “that they were going to kill her and she would never see her kids again.”

During the attack, the victim was able to escape and run to a nearby market where she was able to call her sister to come get her.

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As News Center 7′s Mike Campbell reported at 5 p.m., he spoke to a man who saw the victim as she was getting away.

“She came running into the road, like ‘Help me, help!’' Gerold Cox said.

Friends called Cox and told him almost a dozen cruisers spent hours at the home.

“It’s totally disgusting and I’m tired of it,” Cox said.

Police wrote in court documents that Rockwell and Hawthorne came to police headquarters to try and report that the victim stole a gun from them. They left when calls came in from the victim’s sister, saying she was at the hospital.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Rockwell and Hawthorne. They’re both wanted for suspicion of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, strangulation, and kidnapping.

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