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Abducted woman found naked, bleeding, dragging workout bench

ROSCOE, Ill. (WTVO) – According to court records, a 34-year-old Illinois woman was found naked, bleeding and handcuffed to a workout bench she was dragging behind her after she was abducted from her Rockford home.

Police say 43-year-old Matthew Harkey abducted the woman from her home on Wednesday, March 13, and held her captive in the basement of a home in Roscoe, where he beat and raped her. 

A neighbor in the 5900 block of McDonald Road spotted her in the street after she made her escape, around 1:30 p.m., and called the police.

According to an order of protection filing, the woman told police that she was attacked by Harkey earlier that morning, as he was hiding in her home when she returned home from dropping her children off at school.

According to the victim, Harkey hit her over the head with a bottle. She fought with him until he choked her and she passed out.

She recalled being wrapped in duct tape and put in the trunk of Harkey’s car, and being driven to Roscoe.

There, he dragged her down to the basement and handcuffed her to an exercise bench and strapped her legs to it.

“He undid the straps and took my underwear, shirt and bra off. My pants had already come off,” she wrote in the order of protection filing. “This all lasted about two hours.”

When Harkey allegedly left the house, the woman escaped by dragging the workout bench out of the basement and out of the home.

Police issued a warrant for his arrest on Wednesday. Harkey was spotted by police early Thursday, and was chased through Edgar, Douglas and Coles counties before he lost control and crashed, and was ejected from his vehicle in Piatt county, according to the News-Gazette. Harkey was taken to a hospital in Champaign county for treatment.

Harkey faces charges of Home Invasion, Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault, Unlawful Restraint, and Residential Burglary.

Harkey is a registered sex offender in Illinois. He was charged with Forced Criminal Sexual Abuse of a 15-year-old in McHenry County when he was 21.

He also had an order of protection filed against him by another woman in October 2018.

He has been charged prior in Winnebago County for twice violating the sex offender registry rules.

He is being held on a $1 million bond.