Horrifying Search Warrant Details Revealed In Case of Woman Kidnapped, Raped Over 5 Months

According to those search warrants, the unidentified 29-year-old woman told police she accepted a ride from 26-year-old Winston Eccleston, after he pulled over in his pickup truck while she was walking and offered. That ride, she said, quickly turned into a kidnapping that would last for five months until she managed to escape.

She additionally told police that when her kidnapper got evicted from one RV campground where she was being held, per The Mountaineer, she was physically transported to a second location inside a trash can strapped to a truck bed. It was from this second RV that she was able to facilitate her escape just a few weeks later.

Earlier this month, Eccleston was indicted on multiple counts, as detailed by Fox affiliate WHNS, including 12 counts of first-degree forcible rape, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, and one count of possession of a firearm with altered serial number.

The Maggie Valley Police Department also charged him with first-degree kidnapping and second-degree forcible rape. According to arrest warrants seen by WHNS, Eccleston allegedly forced the victim into unwanted sexual acts, and during those acts, used a power tool, tubing and a syringe.

After picking her up, Eccleston allegedly took the woman to an RV at Cool Breeze Campground in Maggie Valley, where she was held until he was evicted. It was at this point, according to the woman's statements to police, that she was forced inside of a trash can for relocation to another one at Haven on the Hill in Balam. The RVs she was held in were separate from Eccleston's home. Both were in Waynesville, about 30 miles west of Asheville.

The victim was allegedly kept in chains bolted to the wall at times, per the search warrant, while at other times she might be kept inside a metal or wooden box, which she claimed Eccleston did "to keep her from being able to leave." She told police she was also assaulted sexually and physically, while verbal threats and firearms were used "to keep her from leaving," per ABC affiliate KATV.

She was also able to describe some of the trailers she was kept in, saying that there were confined dogs in cages or wooden boxes. She described the dogs as malnourished and covered with fleas and feces.

According to the victim's statements, she was able to escape when the generator went out one day, killing power in the RV. She made her escape when Eccleston was forced to leave the campground to get gas for the device.

When police executed their search warrant on the second RV -- the one the woman escaped from in May -- they did find five dogs inside as she had described, as well as weapons and tactical gear, including a "tactical style vest, Crossbow, and AR style rifle hanging on the wall above a pull-out couch."

"Trash and animal feces were scattered on the floor," read one warrant reviewed by Law&Crime. "A wooden box to the left rear of the room contained several canines, that had been screwed shut."

They also reported finding multiple firearms: a Radical Firearms "ar-15 style rifle," per the warrant, a "Highpoint pistol with live rounds" and the serial numbers "grinded off" inside a tactical vest, and a Smith & Wesson .22 caliber handgun.

Near this third gun, detectives found a pair of black handcuffs with tape on the chain. All of this was by a door "with several locks on the exterior." Once inside this room, they saw several cameras "pointed towards the room," per the search warrant, as well as the room's door. There were multiple locks on the outside of the door, as well.

The warrant then goes on to describe what was found inside this room, including "multiple ropes and locks," another set of handcuffs, a large silver truck toolbox with a plastic container on top of it holding zip ties, rope, gloves, a face mask, and a whip.

When investigators opened the truck toolbox itself, they "immediately noticed the odor from inside the toolbox was similar to the smell of human [defecation]. Laid inside was several blankets, socks and a chain. The floor of the toolbox was lined with carpet." This led police to believe the woman had been held inside this box.

Police also spoke with James Lunsford, the man who owned the second property where the victim was allegedly held, saying she and Eccleston had been there about three weeks. During that time, he said no one ever noticed anything unusual, per documents seen by ABC7, and they did see the woman.

"He introduced her as his girlfriend. Nice enough: 'Hi, how are you? Nice to meet you.' I saw her two to three times in the car and she'd wave," Lunsford said. "Nobody ever suspected anything like that."

In a previous unrelated case, Winston Eccleston and his then-girlfriend Lacey Matthews pleaded guilty in 2018 to obstruction of justice. This came after the couple was charged with child abuse and homicide in relation to the 2016 death of their 3-month-old daughter, Elizabeth, as covered by WLOS at the time.

The baby was found face down on a pillow, but the medical examiner determined that it was not possible to determine if the parents had put her on her stomach, so prosecutors ultimately dropped both the homicide and abuse charges. The couple was put on supervised probation for one year.

Winston Eccleston was arrested in late May, shortly after the victim arrived at the Waynesville Police Department with her shocking story. He is being held without bond in the Haywood County Detention Center, with his first court appearances scheduled for September 15 as police continue to investigate the case.