At Econo Lodge in Norwalk, it isn’t uncommon for the general manager, Kabe Khan, to allow a visitor to purchase a room without identification.
“Some people lose their IDs for different reasons, so I try to help them where I can,” said Khan.
So, when a man walked in with no identification in the middle of October and claimed he desperately needed a place to stay for a few days after recently being released from prison, Khan allowed it.
“I said, 'Okay,' and he promised to be good, which I made a mistake by trusting him because he didn’t end up being a good person,” said Khan.
A few days later, while Khan was working in the front office, the motel housekeeper ran over, claiming to have been violently attacked.
“Her hair was all messed up, and it appeared to me that something bad happened to her. So, I immediately called the police,” said Khan.
When police arrived at the motel, they were told by other occupants that they had seen a man flee. The victim told police she was forced into a room by a man staying at the hotel.
“She was able to fight him off and escape, and that's when she ran to hotel management. We later obtained video surveillance footage from a neighboring business that captured the whole incident. The surveillance video showed a man entering a room and moments later screams could be heard,” said Detective Sgt. Scott Hamernik.
Police didn’t know who they were looking for because the motel did not have his identification, but it wasn’t long before they received a break.
"A crash had occurred just south of the city of Norwalk, and the Huron County Sheriff's Office had requested that we go to the address because the occupant of that vehicle had fled. And we went to the registered owner's address and learned that the vehicle had been stolen from the driveway. The keys were left in the car,” said Hamernik.
The same man from the attack had left the stolen vehicle and escaped into a nearby barn, where he was arrested. He was identified as 33-year-old Eric Carroll, who was just released from prison after serving 10 years for involuntary manslaughter.
He was wearing the same clothing he was observed fleeing the hotel in on adjacent business security camera footage.
Carroll is in the Huron County jail and charged with multiple felony charges, including two counts of kidnapping, strangulation, theft of motor vehicle and gross sexual imposition.
“Physically, the victim doesn't have extensive injuries, but mentally, it’s unfathomable what she's going to be going through. But we're very fortunate that he was only limited to this one,” said Hamernik.
Khan said the victim is home, resting, and just happy she’s around to tell the story.
For additional information, please reach out to Det. Sgt. Scott Hamernik (419-357-0399)
