Minnesota Farmer Gives His $7K Reward To Abducted Teen Who Swam To Safety

ALEXANDRIA, MN — Earl Melchert, the Minnesota farmer who rescued a teen who swam across a lake to safety after nearly a month of captivity, has turned over his $7,000 reward to the girl, police in Alexandria, Minnesota, said. The girl was repeatedly raped and abused over 29 days before she escaped, investigators said.

The teen, who disappeared from her home in Alexandria on Aug. 8, escaped a house in Grant County on Sept. 5. She had been moved to various locations in Minnesota, including cornfields, during the nearly month-long ordeal and was raped by at least two of the three captors, who police say now face felony charges.

She ran frantically from door to door in after her escape, but found no one home, according to reports. (For more local news, click here to find your local Minnesota Patch. Also, if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Minnesota Teen Raped, Held For 29 Days Makes Dramatic Swim To Freedom

That’s when she decided to swim across a lake to freedom. Melchert, who had left his job to retrieve something he had left behind at home, saw her coming from the tall grasses behind his house and recognized her from widely distributed reward posters.

“Today we witnessed an incredible example of kindness,” Alexandria Police Chief Rick Wyffels wrote on Facebook of Melchert’s generosity, saying the gesture came “straight from Earl’s heart.”

“He believes the young lady that came running towards him that September day is the real hero and without hesitation, Earl handed the reward over to her, followed by a big hug,” Wyffels continued. “Thank you Earl, it is people like you that make this world a better place.”

After she was rescued, the teen helped investigators track down the three men accused of assaulting her. She saw one of them in a pickup on the highway as Melchert was taking to her the police department, according to reports.

Wyffels previously said a family acquaintance “tricked” the teen into getting into a car on Aug. 8, saying he had a “family situation,” and took her to his home in Carlos, where he “tied her up with zip ties and then he, his roommate and friend over the next several weeks assaulted her with weapons.”

Each of the three men accused in the crime has been charged, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. They are Thomas Jay Barker, 32, and Joshua Lee Holby, 31, both of Carlos, and Steven Michael Samuel Powers, 20, of Benson, Minnesota. All three have been charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment, and Barker and Powers were charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Barker also was charged with an additional count of second-degree assault.

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