Man charged with kidnapping, assaulting ex in front of her children

HOMEWOOD, Pa. — A Pittsburgh man is charged with kidnapping and assaulting his ex in front of her children.

Channel 11 went through the criminal complaint, which details the woman's alleged ordeal that police say lasted about 48 hours.

The victim claims she and her children were held against their will in a house on California Avenue in Homewood.

She told investigators her ex, Roderick Cook, assaulted her in front of her two small children and when she tried to get away, it only got worse.

TRENDING NOW:

• Health care provider fires 50 employees who refused to get flu shots
• Restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day 2017
• Billions in unclaimed cash, is some of it yours?
• VIDEO: Homeless vet gives stranded woman last $20, she thanks him by raising over $70,000

The woman told police she thought Cook was going to let her go when he drove her to the house in Homewood, but once there, she said the full-on assault began.

She told police Cook "dragged her, punched her in the head, ripped her hair out and bit her arms and back."

Channel 11 looked into his background and found out this isn't the first time Cook has been jailed for violence.

In 2011, when he was 18 years old, he was arrested in Wilkinsburg for a series of street robberies involving a gun.

The woman in this case told police Cook didn't have a gun, but he "choked her until she was unconscious."

She claimed that when she regained consciousness, she was able to escape upstairs with her children, where she stayed until she slipped out in the middle of the night and called for help.

Cox Media Group