‘The interview was a lie’: Woman says college acquaintance abducted, sexually assaulted her in Detroit home

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit man who authorities said convinced a college acquaintance into interviewing for a job with a church, only to kidnap her and sexually assault her, is on trial as prosecutors pursue kidnapping, strangulation, and rape charges. 

The case against Andrew Scott Payne started on Tuesday in Wayne County courtroom – almost three years after he allegedly terrorized a woman after forcing her into his home and victimizing her for days.

Payne is charged in connection with the 2022 alleged kidnapping and sexual assault.

The victim's harrowing experience ended after escaping through a window in her captor's home. But it would take multiple requests pleading for help from nearby businesses and residents before the horrific ordeal would finally end. 

The woman is a survivor of rape and sexual assault and will not be identifying her. Instead, we will use the pseudonym "Sarah".

Due to the nature of the charges and in an attempt to keep the alleged victim anonymous, we will not be posting video or audio of the victim's testimony.

"The first one who fell for it"

It started as a Facebook message from Payne to Sarah.

She was looking for a job and Payne claimed to be a pastor at Greater Mountain View Baptist Church on Detroit's east side near Gratiot and Mt. Elliot. According to Sarah's testimony during the preliminary hearing in 2022, Payne wanted to interview her for an accounting job at the church and, on Sept. 17, 2022, he ordered her a Lyft with instructions for her to meet him at a house across the street.

Sarah testified that Payne claimed to give her name and number to a pastor for an alleged job interview. The day of the interview, he ended up ordering the Lyft for her.

As soon as she entered the home, she was greeted with a handgun pointed at her as he told her to put her bag and phone down.

"He said the interview was a lie,'" she said.

Disturbing photos inside Detroit home of man accused of abduction, sexual assault

Inside the home, she said it was in complete disarray with holes in the wall and plastic covering the windows.

She was then instructed to go upstairs and then into a bedroom. Awaiting her was a chair with a tripod set up and a bed sitting on top of cinderblocks.

Sarah said she was asked about her height and weight and who she talks to on a daily basis.

"He told me I wasn't the first one that he did this to, I was just the first one who fell for it," she said.

"Red meant death"

On the walls were sheets of construction paper shaded in different colors: red, green, yellow, and orange.

"Green meant that I was listening. Yellow meant I wasn't.. Orange meant that he would break bones and give me to other people. And then red meant death," Sarah testified.

Serving as a reminder of the danger she was in, she told the court she was too scared in that moment to even attempt an escape.

Then she said she was told she wasn't going to be leaving the room anytime soon. 

"He said that I would be his sex slave for a year," Sarah testified.

That's when Sarah said the sexual assaults started. Sarah testified that Payne forced her to take off her clothes as he took pictures of her naked body.

After taking the photos, she said Payne took off his clothes with plans to rape her. She asked him to use a condom.

She then testified that Payne forced her to perform oral sex. She was repeatedly assaulted during the first day of her kidnapping - all of it being recorded by a camera on a tripod, Sarah told the court.

On the second day, Payne's requests turned more depraved, according to her testimony. He forced her to eat food that made her vomit when she performed oral sex and required her to be handcuffed during the assaults. 

Occasionally, Payne would leave the home for 10 minutes at a time, leaving Sarah with a warning not to leave. 

"He always said was looking on the cameras," Sarah said. "He did say he'll be watching and the cameras are on."

The escape

On the morning of Sept 19, Payne assaulted Sarah again before leaving the home to do laundry. She decided that was the best time to make her escape.

As he left the bedroom, Sarah testified that he used tools to close the door, which she could hear from inside the room.

After 20 minutes, Sarah grabbed her bag and put on a pair of his shorts and his shirt and went to the bathroom, where she found a hammer and used it to break the window open.

She climbed through and jumped from the second floor. 

Hoping she would find someone to help her call the police, she saw a KFC behind the house and ran to the business.

"No one was answering," she said. "I see some people in a car and I ask them for their help," she said, adding they refused to help so she had to cross Gratiot. 

"I go across the street to the gas station and I asked the worker could you call the police and he said no. I went outside, standing there, I asked a woman could she call 911 and she did," Sarah said.

Then she waited. After 20 minutes, help had not arrived.

"I'm sitting there for, I believe, about 20 minutes. A woman is there," she told the courtroom. "I told the woman I had been kidnapped and asked her to call the police." 

Finally free of the man who said kidnapped her, Sarah headed to the hospital where a rape kit was performed. 

The ordeal had scarred Sarah. Testifying about the trauma, anxiety grips her when she uses ridesharing services driven by men. Her mental health has deteriorated and she struggles to sleep.

What's next:

The preliminary hearing was in November 2022, two months after Sarah escaped. Over the past three years, there have been a number of delays as Payne has cycled through multiple attorneys.

Payne is charged with nine different counts: five counts of criminal sexual conduct first degree (multiple variables), one count of torture, one count of kidnaping, one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder or by strangulation, and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

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