LOUISVILLE, Ky. — WARNING: Some of the details and video in this story may be disturbing to some readers.
Newly released body camera video shows two Louisville police officers rescue a woman who was chained to the floor of a house in the Park Hill neighborhood.
On Aug. 16, 2023, officers with LMPD’s Second Division responded to the 1700 block of Bolling Avenue around 7 p.m. Police had received calls from concerned neighbors about a woman screaming for help.
When officers got to the home, they saw the distressed woman calling out from a second-floor window that had been busted out.
The two officers can be seen trying to enter through the front door but found it was boarded up and locked.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE BELOW: WARNING video may be disturbing for some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
As they made their way around the back of the house, they quickly learned that all of the first-floor doors and windows were also barricaded.
The officers were able to find a ladder and climb up to the woman from the outside.
Once inside the home, police found the woman chained to the floor. The metal chain had been wrapped around her neck and locked using a padlock.
She told police she wasn’t sure where the keys were, but the suspect likely had them.
“I don’t know, he’s got it on his keys,” she said, visibly upset and sobbing. “I tried scissors, I tried everything.”
Body camera video then shows the officers using a hatchet they found inside the cluttered bedroom to break the chain’s anchor on the floor and finally let the woman free.
"Thank you so much," she told the officers.
EMS and Louisville Fire responded to the scene to help treat the woman and remove the lock still tied to her neck.
Police said two days after the woman was rescued, 36-year-old Moises May was arrested. May is facing several charges including kidnapping, wanton endangerment, assault (domestic violence), intimidating a participant in the legal process, terroristic threatening and physical harassment.
He is currently being held on a $100,000 cash bond and is scheduled to be in court on Aug. 28.
'You're gonna get it tonight.'
LMPD said the department's Domestic Violence Unit has been heavily involved in the investigation. According to police, the woman and May share a child together.
According to May's arrest citation, in the days leading up to the woman being chained to the floor, he allegedly abused her multiple times.
The woman told police that on Aug. 14 she and May got into a verbal argument and it quickly turned physical.
She said May grabbed her and held her on the bathroom floor while using a machete to chop off large chunks of her hair. He then "slapped [her] around before [she] was able to leave" the house, according to LMPD.
On Aug. 16, the woman came back to the house to pick up some of her belongings. Once inside, however, the citation said May locked the doors with a deadbolt that only he had a key to.
"[He then] forced the victim to take off some of her clothing, stating 'You're gonna get it tonight,' and 'I told you the next time you leave and don't come home, I'd kill you,' and slapped her causing pain," authorities said.
According to the citation, May then took the woman upstairs and wrapped a large metal chain, which is normally used for dogs, around her neck and tied her down to a steel hook bolted to the floor.
May then allegedly told her that he would kill her. The woman said he then took her phone, so she couldn't call for help, and left.
"By leaving the victim chained up in the house with no way of calling for help or leaving, [May] manifested an extreme indifference to the value of human life," his arrest citation reads in part.
She was able to bust open the second-floor window and scream for help, which eventually led to her rescue.
Authorities said the woman suffered indentions in the skin from the chain and scratches from busting out the window.
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