Young man kidnapped, chained and sexually assaulted by father of one

A young man who was abducted and sexually assaulted by a paper-mill worker yesterday told how he survived the ordeal.

'I'm just thankful to be alive and glad to be back home with my family and friends,' the unnamed 21-year-old said.

Edward Lanphear, 46, was charged with 12 counts in the abduction, beating and sexual assault of two young men who police say were chained naked inside his home. He is jailed in lieu of $1 million bond.

The 21-year-old was able to escape from Lanphear's garage in rural Wisconsin last Tuesday and ran to a nearby home to seek help.

When Lanphear realised the police were about to raid his home he brought a 23-year-old man he had also kidnapped up from his basement, investigators said.

'I'm glad it turned out the way it did,' the younger man told reporters. 'I'm glad I helped out the 23-year-old's family. I wish there was more that I could do.'

The 21-year-old said his thoughts were close to his family during his captivity.

'Everything that I've gone through - the turmoil I went through the last couple of days - they were closest to me and helped get me through all of it,' he told the newspaper late last week.

His mother said she was proud of her son.

'I'm glad he felt so loved from his family he had something to fight for,' she said.

'We're so proud of his courage and strength and ability to stay focused and do what had to be done.'

The man added: 'I know this will scar me for the rest of my life, but it's not going to change who I am - it's made me stronger.'

According to a criminal complaint, Lanphear picked up the 23-year-old, weary from a night of drinking, as the Wisconsin Rapids man sat at a curb on July 4.

Lanphear hit the man over the head and abducted him. He kidnapped the 21-year-old early on Tuesday, July 4, after the man got drunk at a local bar and passed out in his truck.

Court records show police confiscated more than 20 guns, chains, prescription medications, a computer and pornography from Lanphear's home.

The search-warrant records show chains, cables and padlocks were taken from iron pipes around a mattress on the home's basement floor that was described as the 'captive bed'.

A nylon rope fashioned into a noose was also recovered.

The records said investigators also found a highlighted copy of a newspaper that contained information about the search for the missing men.