‘Vampire-fanged’ trucker who held women as sex slaves and drilled down their teeth 'had four more victims'
Timothy Jay Vafeades allegedly beat and raped women and held them in his truck as he travelled the country
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Your support makes all the difference.A ‘vampire-fanged’ Utah truck-driver accused of sexually abusing and beating two women he held captive in his vehicle as he travelled around the country had four more victims, prosecutors have said.
Timothy Jay Vafeades allegedly lured the women to his truck, then forcibly altered their appearances and ground down their teeth while holding them prisoner for months.
Vafeades, who was known for wearing ‘fanged’ dentures, named his truck Twilight Express, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
The 54-year-old was arrested in Minnesota last year when a station officer saw bruises on the face of a 19-year-old girl he was holding hostage and intervened.
Another woman later came forward to say she too was held and abused by him.
Now, four other women have now said they too were repeatedly beaten with a belt, raped and warned not to look or talk to others by Vafeades.
Court documents say he used a small drill to file down to file down at least three of the women's teeth, and on one also used an X-Acto knife so the woman could wear false teeth.
Prosecutors say one of the women, named in court documents as Victim C, met Vafeades in 2008 when he was a patient at a hospice facility. They got married two months later and she joined him on his truck.
"The defendant took all forms of Victim C's identification; cut and dyed Victim C's hair; forced her to shower with him; sexually assaulted her; forced her to sleep naked; refused to allow her to look at other people; used a Dremel to file her teeth down; and hit her with a belt," prosecutors said.
The woman eventually escaped six months later when the truck stopped in California.
Prosecutors say Vafeades first met Victim D in 2000 or 2001 while she was working at a retail store. He contacted her again in 2005, and she agreed to join him on his truck in Illinois for what she expected to be a week and a half.
He soon began beating her every day, prosecutors say, and she escaped after two and a half to three months on the road.
The other new cases date from the 1990s and involve two women he met at college and online, according to the court documents, both of whom he is accused of sexually assaulting almost daily.
Vafeades has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of kidnapping, transporting for illegal sexual activity and possession of child pornography.
No charges have been filed involving the newly disclosed incidents because the statute of limitations has expired, but prosecutors want to introduce the details as evidence in the case filed in March. A hearing for that motion will take place on 17 December.
Additional reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press
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