A Minnesota teen is charged with holding his girlfriend captive in her St. Catherine University dorm room in St. Paul for days while raping and waterboarding her.
Keanu Avery Labatte, 19, launched his attacks on September 7 when the victim refused to have sex with him, according to Law & Crime. They’d been dating for two months, authorities said.
Police said Labatte took the woman’s phone, repeatedly attacking her until Sunday morning, when she persuaded him to let her go get food.
“LABATTE went from giving her hickies, which was consensual, to forcefully removing her clothing and penetrating her vaginally and anally with his penis and fingers after she told him that she did not want to have sex,” the complaint against him said.
Over the weekend, the victim said, Labatte put her in the tub with a washcloth over her face and waterboarded her. He punched her in the stomach, throat, and face, and held her arm while telling her he was “looking for the right vein to cut deep enough so no one could save her.”
He also threatened to kill her family members, the complaint said.
Labatte allegedly gave the victim her phone back Sunday morning, telling her to Snapchat him and send photos so he could track her progress as she retrieved food. Instead, she she called for help.
When police arrived at her dorm room, Labatte reportedly said, “I plead the Fifth.”
Police said they found an “orange/black/silver folding knife in the front pocket of a green backpack” inside the dorm room and found a wet washcloth in the bathroom sink.
Labatte is charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct, threats of violence, and domestic assault by strangulation.
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[Featured image: Keanu Labatte/Ramsey County Jail]