Joelle Lockwood, Missing Indiana Woman, Found Alive

Joelle Lockwood, a missing Indiana woman, was found alive after two months. Lockwood was reunited with her family and authorities arrested two people in connection with her July disappearance.

The 30-year-old Indiana woman went missing on July 9. Yahoo! News reports that she was apparently held in a residence in Indiana’s Posey County. Lockwood was last seen in Evansville.

She was discovered after a man visiting the suspects found her and got her out of the residence. He brought her to detectives, who interviewed her, then went to the residence and arrested the suspects. Police stated, “Lockwood was reunited with her loved ones on Saturday evening.”

While initial reports did not name the suspects in the Indiana woman’s abduction, The Evansville Courier & Press names them as Rick R. House Jr., 37 and Kendra S. Tooley, 44. The couple was arrested on preliminary charges of rape and criminal confinement.

Lockwood reportedly told police she was confined in a mobile home by restraints and was locked in a “makeshift cage” at times. House and Tooley will have formal charges filed against them Monday morning.

Posey County Sheriff Greg Oeth told the Courier & Press that the two were arrested around 1 a.m. Sunday. The Evansville Police Department SWAT team assisted in the arrest. They used a battering ram attached to the front of the team’s armored truck to break down the door.

Oeth recalled, “I would say their state when they were taken into custody was emotionless.”

Along with the two arrests, police recovered the cage from the mobile home where Joelle Lockwood was held hostage.

House reportedly refused to speak with detectives, but Tooley was interviewed by Evansville Police Department detectives. She reportedly corroborated Lockwood’s story, including saying the missing Indiana woman was not allowed to leave the home. Tooley also admitted the woman was sometimes locked in a cage.

Lockwood was last seen around 6 p.m. on July 9. According to a missing person alert, she was walking in the area of Park and West Florida streets and was “very intoxicated.” Search teams looked in surrounding counties, including a remote, wooded area in Southern White County, Illinois, along the Wabash River.

Police reported over the past two months that there was no evidence of foul play in Lockwood’s disappearance.

Friends and family of Lockwood started an online campaign last week to raise money for a reward leading to the missing woman’s safe return. Police have obtained three search warrants related to Joelle Lockwood’s disappearance, including one issued Sunday afternoon to search homes and vehicles.

[Image: New York Daily News]