NC woman arrested, charged after allegedly locking boyfriend in storage unit for 5 days

UNION COUNTY, N.C. (WJZY) – A woman from North Carolina is behind bars after police say she locked her boyfriend in a storage unit for five days before he could be rescued.

Robin Renae Deaton, 52, is accused of locking the victim in a storage unit in the city of Monroe on Thursday, Feb. 20, during an argument, according to Monroe police.

During his fifth day in the storage unit without food or water, the man was able to find his phone among the items in the unit and call for help, police said.

“I’ve been locked in a storage unit for about a week now and I just now found my phone,” the man told a 911 dispatcher on Monday.

“Ok, so you’re locked in a storage unit?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yes, my girlfriend locked me in here. She double-locked my lock, and I don’t know how she put me in here, but she put me in here and I just now found my phone inside this storage unit. I’ve been here since last week,” said the man. “I just need out of here, I can’t breathe. I haven’t had nothing to drink or anything.”

Police described the storage unit as "a hoarder’s paradise type situation," with objects falling out of the unit immediately after they opened the door, Lt. Morgan Malone of the Monroe Police said. Investigators believe Deaton asked the man to crawl toward the back to retrieve an item, then locked him inside.

He was transported to a hospital for treatment of dehydration, but has since been released.

In the days after he was freed, however, the man appeared to have changed his story, telling Nexstar's WJZY that Deaton did not lock him in the unit on purpose.

Monroe Police were skeptical, questioning why Deaton had not checked on her boyfriend for five days. Prior to her arrest, they issued warrants for attempted murder and kidnapping.

“We believe that she truly intended for him to die in that storage unit with no food and no water, no outside source of anything," Lt. Malone said. "She knew she locked him in there and never went back to check on him."

According to jail records, Deaton was arrested by Charlotte Mecklenburg Police early on Thursday, Feb. 27. She faces charges of kidnapping in the first degree and attempted murder in the first degree, according to Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office records.

Deaton is being held without bond at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, awaiting extradition to Union County. She is expected to have a hearing at the Union County Courthouse on the afternoon of March 17.

“It sounds bizarre, it really does sound bizarre to everybody, but I think it’s an important reminder that men are also victims of domestic violence, and it has to be taken seriously,” said Lt. Malone.