Neighbors remain baffled by kidnapping of Ind. woman

POSEY COUNTY, Ind. — Neighbors say they are not strangers to each other on Story Street.
They know everyone and their families. Their children play with each other on sunny afternoons. When someone needs help, neighbors don't hesitate to lend a hand. When something strange or different is happening, they talk to each other about it.
But for two months, no one noticed anything odd happening inside the mobile home in the 9800 block of Story Street in Stewartsville, Ind. Authorities said a 30-year-old woman from Evansville, Ind., had been held captive there since July, beaten, threatened, kept in a wooden cage and forced into sex.
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Monday, sisters Alicia and Angelia Phillips stared in disbelief toward the trailer, shaking their heads as they spoke. They know the man who lived there. They also know of the woman the man allegedly kidnapped. They said her family used to own a business in the area. They said had they known they were so close to where the woman was, they would've done something.
"Any of us would've torn the doors down to get her," said Alicia Phillips as she stood on her patio, looking toward the trailer across the street from her house.
Alicia and Angelia Phillips said generations of families had been raised in Stewartsville, a small Posey County, Ind., community nestled among miles of cornfields. Neighbors cared for and looked after each other. The Phillips sisters said if other people had known, they would've done something, too.
"They would've risked their lives to rescue her," she said. "They would've put up a fight."
But no one suspected. No one thought of looking inside the trailer.

Any of us would've torn the doors down to get her.

Alicia Phillips, resident of Stewartsville, Ind.

The man who lived in the trailer, Ricky R. House Jr., is not a strange face in the neighborhood. Alicia and Angelia Phillips said sometimes they saw him hollering at his dog. Sometimes, they heard him and his girlfriend, Kendra Tooley, arguing. But he usually seemed nice, friendly and upbeat.
Neighbors said he has a history of run-ins with the law. Police officers were frequently seen stopping by the trailer. In 2011, he was convicted of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. He was placed on probation for 17 months, court records show.
House, 37, and Tooley, 44, were arrested early Sunday and are each facing rape, criminal confinement, kidnapping and other charges. Both were being held under $50,000 cash bonds at the Posey County Jail.
Some of the neighbors remain reluctant to talk about the incident. Most were quick to decline interviews. They said they didn't want to speak ill of House or his family, who have been longtime residents of the community.
Curious residents drove by the block, slowing down to look at the mobile home before driving away.
The trailer stands out amid the modest family homes that line the block. Unlike the rest of the houses, some have mini-playgrounds in the front yard, the mobile home appears poorly maintained and unwelcoming.
Visitors and onlookers are met with three "No Trespassing" signs, one on a post and two by the stairs. Shards of glass littered the front of the home. The main door lay in pieces by the stairs. Neighbors said police kicked in the wooden door and broke out all the glass windows when they arrested House and Tooley. One of the windows is covered in plastic and secured by a layer of tape.