A woman held captive in a western Jefferson County home was raped, repeatedly beaten and told she would not make it out of the suspect’s home alive.
New details were released Wednesday in the case against 37-year-old Joseph Ryan Byram, a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal history dating back 21 years who is charged in the crimes. According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, Byram was just released from prison on Feb. 14, 2021.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced Byram’s arrest Monday, a day after the victim was rescued from the basement of the suspect’s home.
“I’ve worked a lot of violent crimes and criminal investigations, and this was probably one of the most troubling based on what the victim went through and the amount of time she went through it,’' said Jefferson County sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Barbin.
“It was shocking.”
“I hate to say anything shocks me anymore just because of what we see every day, but this one was bad,’' Barbin said. “The amount of damage that was done to this woman’s body at the hands of Byram was extremely troubling.”
Byram remains in the Jefferson County Jail. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had obtained a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
Deputies were dispatched shortly after 2:30 p.m. Sunday to the 5000 block of Mud Creek Road in Adger on a report of woman being held against her will.
When they arrived at Byram’s home, he gave deputies permission to search the residence.
That is when they found the 39-year-old victim, who authorities say had been tortured for 24 hours and might not have survived the ordeal had someone not called 911 to anonymously report the kidnapping.
Authorities initially said the woman was held captive for three days, but further investigation showed it was 24 hours.
The victim, who remains hospitalized with serious injuries, was introduced to Byram through a mutual friend and spent the night at his house.
At some point, Barbin said, “a switch was flipped,” and Byram turned violent.
“Byram allegedly became violent towards the female victim, forced her into the basement of his home, and beat her continually with a large stick,’' Barbin said. “Byram placed a gun to the victim’s head and told her that he was going to make her dig her own grave and she would not make it out of his house alive.”
The victim told detectives that each time Byram struck her with the stick, she would scream in pain which caused him to beat her harder, Barbin said.
“The victim was deprived of food and water during the course of being tortured,’' Barbin said.
As deputies search Byram’s home, she found the courage to call out to the lawmen, who found her still in the basement.
Byram was taken into custody, and medics were called to treat the victim.
Barbin said she suffered multiple fractures to her arms, legs, hands and ribs. She also was found to have a collapsed lung due to being repeatedly kicked in the ribs.
Byram has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2000, which includes arrests and convictions for first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, second-degree sexual abuse, drug distribution and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm.
Barbin said Byram is currently on probation and was recently released from prison.
“She’s extremely lucky. It’s my opinion that had the phone call not been placed, I don’t think she would have made it out of there alive,’' Barbin said “That’s my opinion based on all the information I gathered throughout the investigation.”
“I work a lot of shootings and stabbings but when you have someone that is a victim who is small in nature, basically helpless and someone beats them and takes advantage of their weakness and inability to fend for themselves, that makes it a heinous crime,’' he said.
“This case was really bad.”
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‘It was shocking’: Horrific details released after woman held captive, raped, tortured in Jefferson County - AL.com
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