Kidnap Survivor Found|Murdered With Her Son

CLINTON, Mo. (CN) - A woman who escaped from a sex offender who kept her locked in a box for months with a bucket of urine and feces was found murdered Thursday morning.

Sandra Kay Sutton, 46, and her son Zachary Wade Sutton, 17, were found dead of gunshot wounds by their family when they returned from work.

Sutton was staying with relatives in Clinton after escaping two weeks ago from her boyfriend, who is charged with imprisoning her in a box for several months in Sedalia.

Police intensified their hunt for James Horn Jr., 47, who was charged with kidnapping, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Horn is now a suspect in the murders, Clinton police said.

Sutton told police that Horn kept her hostage inside a wooden box when he was not home. He allowed her outside occasionally but forced her to "return to the box on his demand," police said.

Horn even forced Sutton to hand him the boards when he built her wooden box after the two quarreled, she told police. The box was just over 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall. Horn soundproofed it with layers of insulation and padding to muffle cries for help.

The box, which neighbors described as "casketlike," had a single, tiny airhole that allowed Sutton to breathe. Horn allegedly allowed her outside the box once to go fishing, and regularly at night when he forced her to have sex.

When officers found the box in Horn's home, it contained a sleeping bag, reading materials, flashlights and a "bucket full of urine and feces," according to the probable cause statement .

Horn was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and sexual battery for a 1992 incident in which he tied up and sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman.

He also pleaded guilty in 1997 to kidnapping his estranged wife and was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison.

Horn is listed as "compliant" on the Missouri Highway Patrol's sex offender registry and was freed from prison in 2012 under supervised release. He was on probation the entire time that Sutton was held captive.

The Sedalia Police Department, which headed the search for Horn after Sutton's escape, declined to comment.

Clinton Police Chief Kevin Miller asked the Missouri Rural Major Case Squad to investigate.

Clinton and Sedalia are in central Missouri, southeast of Kansas City.

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