An Augusta woman accused of holding a sex slave in a dog cage has died from an apparent suicide at the Richmond County Detention Center.
Shonna Powell, 32, died on Thursday, Dec. 22. A GBI investigation is planned.
Sheriff’s Sgt. William McCarty declined to confirm the name, but he said they were investigating a suicide at the jail of a woman. Coroner Mark Bowen also confirmed a death at the jail.
“Around 1:43 pm, Richmond County Deputies assigned to The Charles B. Webster Detention Center located a female inmate hanged inside her cell,” Sgt. McCarty said. “Deputies and medical staff performed CPR in an effort to revive her but were unsuccessful. She was pronounced deceased by the Coroner’s Office at 2:57 pm.”
Sgt. McCarty said contact has been made with the immediate family, and they have been notified.
At the request of the Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation responded to the scene and will be conducting the investigation. The Internal Affairs Division of the Sheriff’s Office will be conducting an internal investigation into the incident as well, the sergeant said.
Powell was one of five people arrested last month for kidnapping and false imprisonment after a sex slave was rescued at a home on Nellie Drive.
Anjelika Figueroa, DeMichael Dawson, Savannah Piazzi and Dawson Weston were also arrested in the kidnapping, assault and imprisonment of the 20-year-old woman. The victim was badly beaten and taken to the hospital for treatment.
A former roommate of suspect Shonna Powell alerted authorities to the caged victim in a phone call. He said he had recently got out of jail and went to Powell’s home on Nellie Drive to retrieve his belongings.
“Upon entering the room, he observed an unknown light brown-skinned female that was naked, beaten severely, and currently locked in a dog cage,” a sheriff’s report says. “She asked him for help.”
Powell then told her former roommate that the victim was her “whore.”
“She stole a bunch of stuff from me so she is going to be my sex slave, and I am going to pimp her out until she pays it off,” Powell reportedly said.
At the home, officers ordered anyone to come out with their hands up and even attempted to call Shawna Powell by name in case it was her. Demichael Weston soon exited the home and said there were more people inside. Three pit bulls were released by officers. They officers entered the home and observed an empty cage as well as both human and animal feces in different rooms throughout the residence. They found the victim in a bedroom.
“Upon exiting the room into the lighted living room … we could visibly observe that she had multiple injuries to her facial areas, primarily her left eye being severely swollen and bruised,” the report says. “The unknown female was then escorted out of the residence and to safety.”
Shawna Powell finally exited the room and claimed she had been sleeping, the report says.
Greg Rickabaugh is the Jail Report contributor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at greg.rickabaugh@theaugustapress.com
