SALT LAKE CITY, UT (CBS) - Facebook, it's a way to keep in touch, but for one Sandy woman, the social network may have saved her life.
Police say Troy Critchfield held his girlfriend, their 17-month-old baby, and the woman's disabled adult son inside their Sandy home for five days. Sgt. Jon Arnold with the Sandy Police Dept. says, "Anytime she went to go out a door, he would assault her to the point of choking her."
Police say Critchfield sodomized the woman and beat her repeatedly. Shocked neighbors call the woman friendly despite some family stresses. Neighbor Shawn Robinson says, "She's gone through a lot. She has a 24-year-old son who's disabled from the war."
After days of abuse, police say the woman managed to sneak a laptop computer into a closet and got to her Facebook account. Sgt. Arnold says, "She stated she and her son would be dead by Christmas."
Family members called police, but Critchfield wouldn't let them inside. When investigators finally saw the woman, her bloody and battered face told the story. Sgt. Arnold says, "You could see the dating of the brusing, multiple colors of bruising."
This incident isn't a first. Critchfield went to jail for a similar holding a woman and baby hostage for three days last November. It took a SWAT team to bring him out of the house that time.
This time, Critchfield faces multiple charges including kidnapping, sodomy, and child abuse. Critchfield is booked in the Salt Lake County Jail. The woman is now recovering at home.
Neighbors say they wish they could have done more, but had no idea what was happening right next door. Robinson says, "We didn't and that's the part that is painful."