OLEAN, N.Y. — An Olean woman, missing for about a month, turned up at Olean General Hospital with her alleged captor Monday morning.
The accused, Francis O’Donnell, 61, of 132 N. Union St., Apt. 212, left her at the entrance and then “took off,” said Olean Police Capt. Robert Blovsky. O’Donnell is now facing a felony kidnapping charge and perhaps more stemming from physical beatings and sexual assaults that authorities allege occurred as she was held against her will during that time.
How is the 35-year-old woman?
“Bad … not good,” Blovsky said, noting she remained hospitalized Tuesday with numerous injuries. News of the local woman’s mysterious disappearance circulated via social media during the lengthy time authorities believe she was held captive, culminating in a Facebook post by the Olean City Police Department early Monday afternoon, stating, “(The woman) has been found, thank you for everyone that called with information.”
She had last been seen Jan. 13, police said earlier.
“Good police work” quickly resulted in the Olean House resident’s arrest, Blovsky said, not specifying further.
Olean police charged O’Donnell on Monday with second-degree kidnapping, a class B felony. Blovsky said Cattaraugus County District Attorney Lori Rieman’s office may press additional charges. Rieman opted not to comment on the ongoing investigation Tuesday.
“I do know details, but the problem is right now is it’s ongoing. I really can’t release details yet,” Blovsky said. “All I can primarily (say) is this guy did get her in his car and took her to his place. From there, he held her against her will, and he committed other crimes to her. There’s a lot of detail that (the public) probably won’t know for a while.”
He added, “She required a lot of treatment.”
In separate statements to police, the alleged captor and victim both describe him giving her a ride from the Olean Public Library in January. She alleged O’Donnell took her to his residence, beat her up and sexually assaulted her multiple times. O’Donnell wrote, “I did not lay a hand on her” and that she had asked to “stay at my house for a couple of days.”
O’Donnell further stated he knew her “from (Alcoholics Anonymous).”
“He was a stranger to her,” Blovsky said, noting the defendant had no prior criminal record. “She says no.”
Members of the Olean City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit executed a search warrant at O’Donnell’s apartment Monday and of his vehicle Tuesday.
“I can say we’ve had some cases like this. Every case is different,” Blovsky said. “We’re going to handle each with kid gloves.
Our victim needs to recover. Her family is happy that she’s back with them.”
Further evidence — a statement of a physical nature by the woman, which the Times Herald is not publishing to avoid impropriety — may bolster the case for investigators.
“We’ll carry on with it in court,” Blovsky said. “We’re just collecting more evidence and building our case a bit better.”
The alleged victim is a local mother, whom authorities believe was not employed at the time she went missing, he added. O’Donnell was unemployed and on disability insurance.
“We are as shocked as everyone else, naturally, to find out that this was transpiring. We were stunned,” said Anne Kivari, executive director of the Olean Housing Authority, which oversees the Olean House and several other facilities for people with low incomes and disabilities under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). “Not only was she upstairs, but the police station is also next door, so it’s quite sad that she was here all that time, if in fact she was.”
O’Donnell had resided there “without incident” the last six years, she added. Olean Housing Authority residents are subject to state and federal background checks.
He was arraigned Tuesday and remanded to the Cattaraugus County Jail in Little Valley in lieu of $15,000 bail or $30,000 bond.
Anyone with further information is urged to call Olean police at 376-5677.
