19-Year-Old Minnesota Man Raped, Tortured, Held Girlfriend Hostage in Her Dorm Room for Days, Police Say

A 19-year-old is accused of choking, beating and torturing his girlfriend of two months while he imprisoned her for days inside her Minnesota dorm room at an all-female Catholic college, police said.

Keanu Labatte has been charged with three felony counts of criminal sexual conduct, making violent threats and domestic assault by strangulation, according to authorities.

He was being held at the Ramsey County Jail in lieu of $81,000 bail, according to jail records. He remained behind bars on Friday.

He has not entered a plea, according to online court records.

Labatte allegedly held his girlfriend prisoner in her dorm room at St. Catherine's University for three days after becoming enraged by photos and texts he found on her cellphone, authorities said.

The woman told police Labatte threatened to kill her and her family, punched her repeatedly, raped her and forced her into a bathtub where he placed a washcloth over her faced and poured water on her, according to a criminal complaint.

Labatte also allegedly threatened her with a knife, saying he knew how to cut her so that she would die, authorities said.

The woman told police she was so “terrified” she “would just lay next to Labatte and not move for fear of what he would do to her,” according to the complaint.

The unidentified woman was able to escape last Sunday after convincing Labatte she needed to get food, police said. Instead, she went for help at the campus security office, where staff called St. Paul police, the complaint said.

Officers who arrived at the campus found Labatte in the woman's room, according to authorities.

The university said in a statement said school policy prohibits "any comment that would affect student confidentiality or potentially re-traumatize individuals."

Labatte's first court hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 9, according to jail records.

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