http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20140821/NEWS05/140829650
FOWLER — The woman accused of abducting two Heuvelton sisters from a farm stand and sexually abusing them with her boyfriend appeared in Fowler Town Court for a preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon.
Nicole Vaisey, 25, and Stephen M. Howells II, 39, of 1380 County Route 21, Hermon, were arrested Friday and initially both charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping with the intent to inflict physical injury or sexually violate or sexually abuse. Authorities allege the pair kidnapped the two Amish girls, ages 7 and 12, on Aug. 13. The girls were recovered 24 hours later when they were dropped off in the hamlet of Bigelow, near Richville, and asked a resident to take them home.
St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary E. Rain said the charges were amended to second-degree kidnapping for the purposes of the hearing so the two girls would not have to testify. The sole witness at the hearing was Det. Sgt. Brooks Bigwarfe of the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department.
Fowler Town Justice Paul Lamson ruled after listening to testimony from Mr. Bigwarfe that enough evidence had been presented to hold the felony count over for superior court action. Ms. Vaisey was sent back to the St. Lawrence County Jail without bail pending further court action.
Ms. Vaisey’s attorney, Bradford Riendeau, has asked the court to release his client from custody. He said she is a lifelong county resident and contended that she could be at risk of harm from fellow inmates if she remains incarcerated. He said she would stay with family members.
Mr. Howells’s attorney St. Lawrence County Public Defender Amy Dona, previously waived his right to the hearing. She attended the Fowler courtroom on Thursday afternoon as an observer.
The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine if a felony has been committed and if there is reasonable cause to believe the defendant committed that crime. The standards are much lower than at trial.
During the hearing, Det. Sgt. Bigwarfe said he first spoke to the girls at 8 p.m. last Thursday night, when they were found. He said he first met Ms. Vaisey at approximately 4 p.m. Friday after she drove to the sheriff’s office in a red two-door Pontiac Sunfire.
Mr. Bigwarfe said Ms. Vaisey gave a statement to him and signed it during their interview. According to the statement, she said she and Mr. Howells referred to the incident as a “shopping plan” and said he bought vegetables from the stand before coming up with the plan to kidnap the girls.
She said Mr. Howells tied a puppy, a golden retriever-Doberman mix, to the driver’s side in the back seat of the car so the girls would have to lean into the car to pet the dog. Mr. Howells had dropped his three children off with his ex at 6:30 p.m. the night of the kidnapping, and the pair arrived at the vegetable stand at Route 812 and Mount Alone Road outside Heuvelton a short time later after returning home to get the puppy, according to Ms. Vaisey’s statement.
She said Mr. Howells shoved the two girls in the car and she drove. She said their plan was to make the two girls their slaves.
Mr. Bigwarfe said Ms. Vaisey told him the girls were handcuffed together as in a three-legged race and cuffed to a bed in the couple’s upstairs bedroom for most of the time they were in captivity. She said the girls were allowed to get up to use the bathroom and eat.
Ms. Vaisey told investigators she and Mr. Howells were scared by media reports and opted to release the girls in an isolated area. She said she drove the couple’s white vehicle to check for roadblocks and Mr. Howells followed her a short time later with the two girls.
Mr. Howells had scouted the stand days before the abduction, according to her statement. He told Ms. Vaisey he had seen the girls that day and wanted to go back and get them, according to the statement she provided investigators.
Ms. Vaisey told police that when she approached the vegetable stand she parked under a tree out of sight, and Mr. Howells exited the vehicle and asked the girls if they wanted to get a little closer to the vehicle and pet the puppy.
She said one of the girls was getting nervous as Mr. Howells started forcing them into the vehicle and the girls started yelling. She said she sped away and headed back to their home in Hermon. She told investigators she backed up to the house and was about 30 feet away from their driveway.
Ms. Vaisey declined to testify at the hearing.
Mr. Riendeau, Ms. Vaisey’s attorney, has suggested his client was also a victim of Mr. Howells. He said Ms. Vaisey was involved in a “master-slave” relationship.
“She was the submissive one,” Mr. Riendeau said last week. “I am currently researching on what happens when prisoners of war go through enhanced interrogation.
What torture has done to her personality to determine just how compliant she was? Was it really voluntary? Can you really give consent to be tortured?” he said.
Mr. Riendeau said the master-slave relationship began as soon as the couple met.
He explored that theory briefly at the hearing, and Mr. Bigwarfe indicated Ms. Vaisey had suggested she was Mr. Howells’s slave.
