Man kept missing 16-year-old ‘inside a trap door that was hidden under a rug’ in his bedroom: Police

Zackary Keith Jones (Pulaski County Jail)

A 34-year-old man in Kentucky is facing a slew of felonies after authorities say they found a 16-year-old girl from North Carolina — who had been reported missing nearly a month ago — hidden inside a trap door in his bedroom that had been covered with a rug.

Zackary Keith Jones was taken into custody on Christmas Day and charged with third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy, assault, strangulation, domestic assault of a minor, sex with a minor, and false imprisonment, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Charlotte, North Carolina, NBC affiliate WCNC, deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 25 responded to a domestic violence call at a home in the 1400 block of Robertstown Road. The caller, identified as Jones’ mother, told the dispatcher that her son and his “girlfriend” had been in an altercation.

Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they encountered Jones, who told them his girlfriend was no longer home. However, Jones’ mother told deputies that the girl had never left the property, Raleigh, North Carolina NBC affiliate WRAL reported.

Deputies said they then saw Jones attempting to destroy drugs and drug paraphernalia by tossing everything into a wood stove in his bedroom, according to Lexington, Kentucky, NBC affiliate WLEX. Jones was then taken into custody and placed in the back of a sheriff’s cruiser while deputies searched the home for the female.