Maintenance worker entered a North Dakota apartment on a routine call, and police say he found a crying woman chained up inside

A woman was found chained to a bed inside a Fargo, North Dakota, apartment after a maintenance worker heard her crying for help during a routine visit, police say. The worker entered the unit and found her in a bedroom where, according to police, she appeared to have been held against her will for a long time.

The woman later told investigators she had been kept there for about two years, according to court documents reviewed by Valley News Live. Officers said a chain and padlock were secured around her right ankle, with the other end of the chain attached to the bed.

Arturo Calzada-Becerril, 40, and Erendira Amoles, 41, were arrested and initially charged with felonious restraint of an adult. Prosecutors later upgraded the charges to include kidnapping, assault, and domestic violence, and both have pleaded not guilty, per WJW-TV. They are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

She told police she had been chained there for about two years

The woman told police Calzada-Becerril is her ex-husband and that he brought her from Mexico to North Dakota in 2024. She said she had been chained to the bed in his apartment ever since. Investigators said a security camera in the room was pointed at her, and foil covered the bedroom windows.

She told police Calzada-Becerril brought her food twice a day and did not allow her to leave the room to use the bathroom, so she used a bucket kept in the bedroom. She also told investigators she was beaten and sexually assaulted, and investigators noted bruising on her body and face. Police said they freed the woman from captivity, interviewed her through a translation service, and took her to a hospital, with Border Patrol assisting in the case.

Police said Amoles arrived at the apartment shortly afterward, and court documents show she told police she is the one who often locks the woman up. A neighbor in the building told reporters, “It’s usually a little quaint place to live, but Fargo is getting crazy.”

Prosecutors allege the motive involved immigration status. Calzada-Becerril and Amoles are in a relationship and are reportedly from the same town in Mexico as the woman, and prosecutors claim he intended to use her, an American citizen, to help his own immigration status. Calzada-Becerril reportedly told investigators he kept her restrained so she would not run away and to keep her from using drugs again.