SMS message saves girl from sex maniac

A man pleaded guilty of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and raping her in an underground bunker.

Photo: SMS message saves girl from sex maniac

The girl was rescued after being held captive for more than a week when she talked her abductor into letting her play games on his cell phone and instead sent a text message for help.

Vinson Filyaw, 37, stood in court Tuesday with his arms clasped behind him as he quietly answered "Yes sir" when the judge asked him if he was freely pleading to the charges. The victim sat with family members, her mother's arm around her.

Filyaw could spend the rest of his life in prison. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and all 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct, one for each day prosecutors said he held the girl captive a year ago. Each criminal sexual conduct charge carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

He also pleaded guilty to impersonating a police officer and possession of an incendiary device.

Prosecutors said Filyaw wore a homemade uniform when he led the girl away from a school bus stop by telling the teen she was under arrest. They also said he placed what he claimed to be a necklace of explosives around her neck that he said would detonate if she tried to escape.

Judge G. Thomas Cooper told Filyaw that he faces a possible 421 years in prison. Sentencing was set for Wednesday.

The victim, her family members and friends exchanged hugs after the guilty plea. They declined to speak with reporters.

Opening arguments in the trial had been scheduled for Tuesday morning, but on Monday evening WLTX-TV reported that Filyaw had sent a manuscript that said he stalked the girl and admired her ingenuity in gaining his trust to get his cell phone.

On Tuesday morning, Cooper ruled that the manuscripts could be used during the trial. One of Filyaw's attorneys said that influenced the decision to plead guilty.

"It all cascaded from there," attorney Jack Duncan said. "Vinson did express than he did not want to force the young lady to take the stand. Since he has been receiving his psychotropic medications, he is a new man."

In the writings, Filyaw allegedly said he had watched the girl walk from her bus stop to her Kershaw County home before deciding to kidnap her. "I actually felt guilty for what I knew she was about to endure," he wrote, according to WLTX.

Prosecutors said Filyaw kept the girl in a hidden bunker built into the side of a hill for 10 days. According to the manuscript, he wrote that he felt a bond growing between them and started to trust her enough to let her out of the bunker to help him wash clothes and dishes.

The girl asked Filyaw if she could play games on his cell phone, and he let her, according to the manuscript. The girl sent a text message to her mother which rescuers were able to use to find the bunker, authorities said.

"After a year of careful, meticulous planning I had let her win. I literally gave her the phone to call the police. It was as simple as that," Filyaw allegedly wrote. "I couldn't be mad at her. She had done what any person in her situation would have done and probably better! She had won my trust and defeated me."

Filyaw had left the bunker before police arrived. He made it several miles away before deciding to surrender. "If I gave up, I would have full medical coverage, three meals a day and never have to work again," the manuscript said.