An 18-year-old man was arrested Monday on suspicion of aggravated assault, kidnapping and sexual assault, after his girlfriend alleged that he kept her held captive in a tent near his parents' property for four months.
According to an interim complaint on the case, the victim, 17, told officers that Diego Eduardo Marroquin-Lopez took her to his parents' house, instead of school on Feb. 3.
He told her they were going to camp out, the complaint said. He set up a tent on the property, eventually moving it into the desert and out of sight from the house.
The complaint said Marroquin-Lopez held the victim captive at the tent from Feb. 3 to May 25, where he sexually assaulted her multiple times, both in the tent and in the home without his parents knowing.
Per the complaint, the victim told detectives she tried to leave several times, but Marroquin-Lopez would hit her and drag her back by her hair.
Marroquin-Lopez controlled her phone, the complaint said. The victim told PCSD that he would text her mother, and let her speak to her mother once, but told her what to say.
She said Marroquin-Lopez had a gun. In one incident, he pointed it at her and told her the different ways he would kill her and dispose of her body, the complaint said. In another incident, he put the barrel of the hand gun into her mouth. The victim said she experienced several assaults involving the gun several days apart from each other.
The victim said Marroquin-Lopez put her in a chokehold until she passed out on three separate occasions.
The victim managed to to escape on May 25, after Marroquin-Lopez began hitting her and dragging her around by her hair, following a sexual assault, the complaint said.
She ran to a neighbor's house, who called 911, the complaint said.
"Air assets" were used to locate Marroquin-Lopez in the rural area, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. He was taken into custody without incident.
When questioned, Marroquin-Lopez denied anything happened and said the victim was never there, the complaint said. The victim described to PCSD items in the tent that belonged to her. The items were located in the tent along with school items with her name on them, the complaint said.
The victim was treated at Banner Hospital for minor injuries. A follow-up sexual assault exam was scheduled.
