A 44-year-old woman reported kidnapped in Evergreen on Tuesday morning was found by sheriff’s deputies more than 13 hours later, held hostage in her longtime house cleaner’s Kittredge apartment.
Joel Michael Herrin, 40, faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, unlawful sexual contact and menacing, all felonies, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman, whose name was not released, told investigators she was leaving for work about 9 a.m. when Herrin, who has cleaned her house for four years, knocked her to the floor, handcuffed her, taped her mouth and forced her into his SUV.
She was taken to his apartment and sexually assaulted while she remained bound, according to investigators.
The woman was reported missing Tuesday evening about 5:40 p.m., after she failed to show for a meeting with her ex-husband earlier that day.
The “initial investigation” led authorities to Herrin, the Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday afternoon.
When deputies walked up to his apartment about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, he “opened the door and surrendered.” The woman was found “distraught” in a front room.
Herrin is being held without bond in the Jefferson County Detention Center.
Public records show Herrin as the “contact” for a business called Frog Hollow Cleaning.
He has no previous Colorado criminal record but was forcibly evicted from a Golden apartment where his business was once located in 2003, records show.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
