ANCHORAGE — A woman told police an abductor raped her up to six times a day while she was held captive over a five-week period in rural Alaska, with the last attack committed as she heard a military evacuation helicopter landing near the man’s remote cabin to take her to a hospital.
The woman said Daniel Selovich, who goes by the nickname Pirate, used duct tape to bind the two together at night and placed a rope around her neck so she couldn’t run away, Alaska State Trooper Matthew Iverson wrote in an affidavit.
She said, “it would be better for her to run away from the cabin and possibly be eaten by a bear than continue being physically and sexually assaulted by Daniel,” Iverson wrote.
Selovich was arraigned this week on kidnapping, sexual assault and assault charges in Fairbanks Superior Court. No pleas were entered. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 20. Calls to the Public Defender’s Office in Fairbanks, which is representing Selovich, weren’t immediately returned.
No phone listing could be found for Selovich, and his name did not appear in a database of state prisoners, indicating he may have posted bond.
Iverson’s affidavit and other information from troopers said the woman arrived in Fairbanks on Sept. 26, and Selovich met her at the airport with a U-Haul. It wasn’t immediately clear how they knew each other or where she came from.
She claimed the first rape occurred in the vehicle within hours of being picked up. They spent a few days at a Fairbanks motel, where they engaged in consensual sex, authorities said.
On Oct. 1, they flew to his cabin about 16 miles south of Manley Hot Springs, a tiny village at the end of Elliott Highway, the only road link to Fairbanks. They lived in a tent for a week while repairs were being made to the cabin, and that’s when the beatings and rapes began, she told Iverson.
She said Selovich beat her with his fists and belts, kicked her and bit her, and that the sex was not consensual.
She also said, “Daniel tied a rope around her neck which was also tied to a roof support beam, and he also tied her hands together so she could not move,” according to the affidavit.
Iverson said troopers who searched the cabin with a warrant found a knife, several pieces of duct-tape and a roll of the tape. Troopers also found a rope tied to the roof beam.
The woman contacted a friend through Facebook Messenger, requesting a medical evacuation because of chest pains and possible pneumonia. Troopers did not return messages to determine how the woman got access to a computer.
Troopers say the military helicopter from Fort Wainwright couldn’t make the trip Saturday because of poor weather but picked up both Selovich and the woman Sunday and delivered them to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for treatment. It wasn’t immediately clear if or why Selovich needed treatment.
Iverson wrote that he saw bruising on the woman’s arms and head and a laceration on the right side of her neck when interviewing her.
Selovich had no visible injuries and confirmed the two people had flown to the cabin and slept in a tent while they insulated the cabin, the trooper said. He then ended the interview and asked for a lawyer before being arrested.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes.
