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A mixed martial arts fighter who abducted, raped, and choked his ex-girlfriend during a violent 36-hour ordeal will serve just one year in prison after claiming the abuse was "consensual" BDSM activity.
Holly Appell testified that she'd told Ehsan Karam she wanted to end their relationship and he choked her until she blacked out. Over the next two days, she said, he held her captive in her apartment, took her phone, stripped her naked, locked her in a dark closet for hours and forced her to perform sex acts. He told her he planned to kill her and himself, she said.
Appell said she's "fearful for her life should he get out."
Karam's previous girlfriend, Heather Mayer, was found dead and brutally beaten in an "unsolved" case. Mayer was strangled by a chain used for BDSM on July 4, 2019. Her nude and battered body was discovered in the basement of the home she had shared with Karam and her three young sons.
The medical examiner listed the cause of Mayer's death as "undetermined," and South St. Paul police told her mother that her daughter had killed herself.
Holly Appell testified that she'd told Ehsan Karam she wanted to end their relationship and he choked her until she blacked out. Over the next two days, she said, he held her captive in her apartment, took her phone, stripped her naked, locked her in a dark closet for hours and forced her to perform sex acts. He told her he planned to kill her and himself, she said.
Appell said she's "fearful for her life should he get out."
Karam's previous girlfriend, Heather Mayer, was found dead and brutally beaten in an "unsolved" case. Mayer was strangled by a chain used for BDSM on July 4, 2019. Her nude and battered body was discovered in the basement of the home she had shared with Karam and her three young sons.
The medical examiner listed the cause of Mayer's death as "undetermined," and South St. Paul police told her mother that her daughter had killed herself.
Karam's ex-wife, Bella Bree, said she empathized with Appell, and is the fourth known victim of the serial abuser.
Bree described instances when he beat her with a metal rod so hard he bent her wedding ring, or when he held her head underwater for prolonged periods of time or shoved her face into dirty cat litter.
Bree and Appell were both in the house when former girlfriend Mayer died, and both say Karam and Mayer were engaging in a BDSM "scene" the night before they found her body.
According to her statements to police, Bree could hear Mayer being whipped and saying, "I would hang myself for you" that night.
Bree described instances when he beat her with a metal rod so hard he bent her wedding ring, or when he held her head underwater for prolonged periods of time or shoved her face into dirty cat litter.
Bree and Appell were both in the house when former girlfriend Mayer died, and both say Karam and Mayer were engaging in a BDSM "scene" the night before they found her body.
According to her statements to police, Bree could hear Mayer being whipped and saying, "I would hang myself for you" that night.
Excellent reporting on an utterly horrifying situation by @AndrewMannix - we need much more light on cases like these, as there are unfortunately bound to be more.
https://twitter.com/AndrewMannix/status/1692628298596020410
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