Kentucky woman found chained in house by neck

August 29, 2023

Shocking police body cam footage was released to the public this week showing a woman chained to the floor of a Louisville residence by the neck.

On the evening of August 16, 2023, police responded to a call pertaining to a home on the 1700 block of Bolling Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky. Neighbors had called in to request police assistance in regard to a woman they could hear screaming for help on the second floor of the building.

Officers first attempted to enter the home through the front door, only to realize that it had been blocked off.

The entire first floor had been sealed off and barricaded, but a woman screaming from the second floor of the house had managed to kick out a window. Police body camera footage shows concerned neighbors gathering across the street, pointing out a ladder at the side of the house.

Officers set up the ladder on the outside of the building to gain access to the second floor. Once eye level with the window, they quickly noticed a woman chained to the floor by her neck, with a large padlock and chain around her throat. The chains were secured to the upper floor of the home at the foot of a bed.

The imprisoned woman was later identified as 37-year-old mother of one, Joanna Wilson, who was understandably in a state of shock and panic with tears streaming down her face. She was removed from the home and sat outside on the porch while police officers and firefighters worked to remove the padlock from her neck with bolt cutters.

Wilson told police that she had been attacked and restrained by Moises May, 36, the father of her child. She said that the two had gotten into a physical altercation following a verbal argument, that resulted in May striking her, restraining her, and chaining her to the floor. Wilson had once shared the home with her now estranged boyfriend but was not residing there at the time of her kidnap.

She elaborated that May had asked her to clean his home and told her that she would be paid for the work, however, he had an ulterior motive.

She had been chained up for five hours before police intervention and would later tell the media that she felt as though she only had minutes left to live before her ex-partner returned.

According to Wilson, May ordered her to strip, before hacking off her previously long hair with a machete.

May allegedly told the victim: "You're gonna get it tonight. I told you the next time you leave and don't come home I'd kill you."

Wilson expressed shock at May’s behavior. The two had a daughter together and she thought she knew him. She could not imagine what the father of her child had in store for her that day.

May allegedly asked Wilson: "Do you want to do this the hard way or the easy way?" To which she said she responded: "The easy way," that’s when, she said, May put a chain around her neck and began choking her. She said he also burned all of her clothing, and that the outfit she was wearing during an interview with the media was the only clothing she had left.

The doors and windows to the residence had been screwed shut, making it extremely difficult for Wilson to exit or anyone else to enter. May had a key so he could come and go as he pleased, she said.

Wilson told officers that May said he had to return some equipment to a hardware store and threatened to kill her on his return. He took her cell phone, so she was unable to call for help. Knowing that she didn’t have long before he came back, she managed to kick out the glass pane from one of the windows and began desperately screaming at the top of her lungs and was luckily heard by neighbors who called the police.

"I said, 'This is my only time, if I don’t get free now, I’m going to be dead’ and so I got close enough to the window to kick it out and call for help,” Wilson told media outlets. She added that if neighbors had not called 911 that she believed she would be dead.

Neighbors were shocked to hear what had happened to Wilson and said that although there was occasional crime here and there, they never imagined something like this would happen in their street.

Moises May was arrested two days later by the police after being dropped off outside the home. He did not resist arrest and force was not used against him.

May was charged with one count of kidnapping, two counts of assault, and one count of terroristic threatening; as well as intimidating a participant in the legal process, wanton endangerment, and harassment. He was transported to the Louisville Metro Police Department Domestic Violence Unit where he was interviewed and processed.

May has entered a not-guilty plea and is expected in court this week (at the time of writing.) He is currently being held on a $100,000 bond.

Wilson expressed that she wants to see May behind bars and that she wants justice and for her daughter to be safe.

Free2Hope, a non-profit for women facing domestic violence in Louisville, Kentucky has been collecting donations for Wilson and have offered their resources to her.

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