Maintenance worker in Fargo apartment building heard cries for help; when he entered, he found a woman who had ‘not been outside for 2 years’

Two people have been arrested after a maintenance worker in an apartment building in Fargo, North Dakota, discovered a woman chained to a bed in one of the apartments. The worker made the discovery after hearing the woman’s cries for help, and authorities later discovered that she had allegedly been held captive in the apartment for two years.

A male, Arturo Calzada-Becerril, 40, and a female, Erendira Amoles, 41, were arrested by the Fargo Police Department on Tuesday, November 3, for kidnapping and assault charges, according to Valley News Live. Court documents said that police were called to the apartment at 4911 44th Ave. S. apartment #306 in Fargo after a maintenance technician who had been working in the building heard the woman screaming.

The man reportedly told officers who arrived on scene that he had found a woman in the apartment who did not speak English and had been chained to the bed. He also said that there was a security camera pointed at her and that the windows had been covered in tin foil.

“I went in #306 and observed (the woman) in a bedroom with a chain and padlock secured around her right ankle, with the other end of the chain secured to the bed.” One officer wrote in court documents.

The woman told police her story

Police said that they freed the woman and interviewed her before she was taken to the hospital. According to the court documents, the woman “said she was brought to Fargo from Mexico in 2024 by her ex-husband, Calzada Becerril and has been chained up in his apartment and has not been outside for 2 years.”

Police also said that the woman told them that she was fed twice a day but that her alleged captors did not let her out of the room to use the bathroom, instead providing a bucket for her to use. After further questioning at the hospital, the woman said that Calzada-Becerril used to let her leave the room but had since stopped allowing her to leave.

She also claimed that Calzada-Becerril and Amoles both beat her and sexually abused her. Investigators noted bruising on her body at the hospital.

Calzada-Becerril told investigators that he, Amoles, and the woman were from Mexico and that he had chained the woman to the bed so “she did not run away.” Amoles said that she was the one who often locked the woman up. Both claimed that they had been assaulted by the woman, saying she once came at them with a knife, which was when they decided to lock her up.