When McGinnis was 11, she said she was forced to 'marry' Piette in the back of a van. She is pictured with him on her 13th birthday. Photo / Supplied
When McGinnis was 11, she said she was forced to 'marry' Piette in the back of a van. She is pictured with him on her 13th birthday. Photo / Supplied
A 64-year-old man accused of abducting his stepdaughter and holding her captive for 19 years in Mexico and elsewhere while fathering her nine children has been found guilty of kidnapping and other charges.
A jury found Henri Michelle Piette guilty on federal charges of kidnapping and travel with intent to engage in sexual act with a juvenile, according to federal court records in Muskogee, Oklahoma, about 196km east of Oklahoma City. No sentencing date was set, but Piette faces up to life in prison on the kidnapping conviction.
Piette still faces state charges of first-degree rape of a victim under age 14, child abuse by injury and two counts of lewd molestation, according to Wagoner County court records. A hearing in that case is scheduled August 7.
Henri Michelle Piette is pictured in a booking photo. Photo / AP
A federal grand jury indicted Piette in December 2017 for allegedly kidnapping Rosalynn Michelle McGinnis in 1997 when she was 11 years old and travelling with the intent to have sex with her. Federal prosecutors said she gave birth to the first child in 2000 when she was 15.
The Associated Press generally doesn't identify people who say they have been sexually abused, but McGinnis has discussed her case publicly.
Prosecutors say the victim was kidnapped from her home in eastern Oklahoma where she had been living with her mother, who had been in a relationship with Piette.
She conceived two children with Piette while she was younger than 18 and another seven after she turned 18, officials said.
She managed to escape from Piette with her children in July 2016 and went to the US Consular General's Office in Nogales, Mexico, where she secured passports for herself and the children so they could enter the US.
"The victim endured two decades of horrific abuse by the defendant. Her courage led her to escape and rescue of her children and allowed investigators and prosecutors to seek justice on her behalf," US Attorney Brian J. Kuester said.
"Ultimately, her courage ended the defendant's reign of terror. I know this verdict cannot heal the countless wounds inflicted by the defendant. It should prevent him from ever inflicting more."
Rosalynn Michelle McGinnis talking to 41 Action News last year. Photo / via YouTube
In an interview with KHSB last year, McGinnis waived her anonymity to open up about the decades-long trauma and abuse she suffered.
"I was scared and I was so confused and didn't even know what was happening," McGinnis said.
A missing poster of McGinnis.
"Looking back on what happened to me I don't even know how any human can do that to a child - what he did to me."
McGinnis was just 9 years old when her mother started dating Piette. He began sexually abusing her during their relationship, she said.
In 1997, her mother broke up with Piette because he had been beating her.
He retaliated by snatching McGinnis from school with the help of his son and going on the run with his three children.
McGinnis said that before eventually taking her to Mexico they traveled throughout the US.
The FBI said they traveled throughout Texas, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico over the two decades.
She claims he introduced her to his children as their "new mother".
When she was 11, she said she was forced to "marry" Piette in the back of a van in an illegal ceremony that was performed by one of his own children - a boy who was just 15 at the time.
McGinnis told People TV that she gave birth to her first child aged 15 and went on to have a further eight children with her captor.
During her 19 years in captivity, McGinnis had nine children. She shared this photograph of them during an interview with People in August 2017. Photo / Supplied
McGinnis said she was forced to beg on the streets for food to feed the family because Piette squandered any money they collected on alcohol and drugs.
She said Piette would frequently beat her with an assault rifle, baseball bat, wooden boards and beer bottles.
He also shot her several times and she suffered multiple broken bones, according to McGinnis.
She claims they lived under the radar and that no one in Mexico suspected him of wrongdoing until she confided in a woman who lived near their tent in 2016.
That woman eventually found a missing person's poster from 1997 with McGinnis' name on it.
In June 2016, McGinnis fled their filthy tent with eight of the nine children she had with Piette and used a pay phone in Oaxaca City to contact the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
Where to get help:
• If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111. • If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone call the confidential crisis helpline Safe to Talk on: 0800 044 334 or text 4334. • Alternatively contact your local police station • If you have been abused, remember it's not your fault.
