Coweta Kidnapping Victim Shares Her Story

<p>A Coweta woman is speaking out after her former boyfriend said she lied about being kidnapped. </p>

Thursday, September 13th 2018, 6:24 pm

By: News On 6

Coweta Kidnapping Victim Shares Her Story

A Coweta woman is speaking out after her former boyfriend said she lied about being kidnapped.

April Rider says she planned every detail of her escape from Lonnie Replogle down to the baseball cap she had on, so he couldn't grab her hair when she tried to run.

April has small cuts on her body, her arms are covered in bruises and marks on her neck.

"The one at the top here, is a knife and then the fingerprints down here," said April. "This here is being whipped with a wet washcloth. I have those all up my arm."

Her old cell phone sits shattered next to her.

"He did that so I was unable to call for help," said April.

These are all reminders from the weeks she says her ex-boyfriend Lonnie Replogle held her against her will inside his home.

"I had bite marks all over me, I had giant bruises here and here. I couldn't take a shower because the bruises, I had such welts everywhere that the water hitting my head hurt," said April.

April says she and Replogle broke up last year after a similar situation. That time, she says Replogle locked her inside their home and threatened to hurt her if she tried to leave, even going so far as to nail the windows shut.

The affidavit says he put duct tape over her mouth and strangled her. He was arrested and charged. April says she went back to him after they’d been separated almost a year.

"I really thought he had changed," said April. "Love is blind."

She says at first, things were great but as the court date for his previous case came closer, he started getting violent. April says she tried to leave, but there was nowhere to run.

Eventually, she did escape when they took a trip to Walgreens and it was all caught on camera.

"He knows what he is. he knows what he has done...he will have to live with that for the rest of his life," said April.

Records show Replogle was charged with kidnapping back in 1998 involving a different woman he pled guilty to assault and battery in that case.

On Thursday prosecutors charged him with kidnapping April and assaulting police officers.