Michelle Knight: Don’t Doubt Abduction Victim

Michelle Knight, a woman who was freed last year with two others after years in captivity, has a message for doubters of another recent abduction case: stop judging what you don’t know.

Knight spoke Friday on CNN’s New Day about a recent case of a California woman who escaped captivity after being held for ten years. The California woman says she had been abducted at age 15 by her mother’s boyfriend, who raped and beat her. She later married and had a child with her captor.

Some neighbors, however, told CNN they were dubious of her story as she never gave a hint of being in trouble. “She had plenty of time to actually escape so it’s hard to believe this is really going on because she had a lot of free time,” said one neighbor.

However, Knight says it’s not the woman’s neighbors’ place to pass judgement. “Unless you were walking in her shoes, you have no reason to talk, none at all,” said Knight.

“You’re making people not want to come out, not want to say anything, you are making people want to sit there and keep it to themselves and go through the abuse when you stay stupid crap like that,” Knight added.

The woman’s alleged captor, Isidro Garcia, was arrested Wednesday and charged on counts of rape and kidnapping.

[CNN]