Elderly Michigan Couple Held Captive, Robbed By Son

By James Donahue

My wife and I fled our Hancock home on Dec. 11, 2007 under extreme duress. Our son, Aaron C. Donahue and his two girl friends, Julie Clark and Heather Hansen had taken over the house, taken over our identity, and were holding us captive in a second floor room.

Until that date we had no clear way to escape our situation. We didn't dare tell anyone what was happening because 1.) the story was so incredible, and 2.) we were constantly being watched, and mentally punished whenever we made an improper move not approved by Aaron.

When we were allowed to go to the store, or take care of business matters, we were always followed, usually by Julie Clark. Earlier attempts to flee somehow were always thwarted, either for lack of money or mixed signals. Once, when Doris and I took an "unapproved" walk on a warm spring day, Aaron smashed everything in our room.

Every move appeared to be monitored. One of the girls stood guard outside our door so we could not talk about anything without being overheard.

It was the death of my 100-year-old father that changed everything. Sadly, we were prevented from attending his funeral. But it turned out that he left a small inheritance, and I received a check for my portion. The check was deposited in our account at Wells Fargo Bank in Houghton but we had to wait five days before the money could be spent. December 11 was the fifth day.

At 4 a.m. on that date my wife and I got dressed, took small travel bags packed with only the essential things, and we forced our way out of the house. Doris got out all right but I was too slow. Julie blocked the front door, daring me to push her out of the way. As I struggled at the door, Aaron took a sledge hammer to my computer, yelling that this was my future. I made my escape at the back door, with Heather attempting to pull me back. I pushed her away and we got out of the house, walking in snow to the street. Doris heard the sledge hammer slamming against the computer and thought Aaron shot me.

We made our way by foot to the Hancock Police Department, with Julie at our heels, threatening and yelling at us. Once a squad car pulled up alongside us on the street, she backed off and returned to the house.

The police officer asked us what was wrong. We told him the basics and he offered to return to the house with us. Aaron was armed and is a black belt in various forms of military arts, so I told the officer I thought he would get hurt if he did that. We said he was our son and we did not want him arrested. That was a mistake.

The officer directed us to a local motel were I could get computer access. We talked the motel people into allowing us to get on line, and I succeeded in changing the password to my bank account, thus blocking Aaron and the girls from stealing any more money.

When the bank opened, we were at the door. We met with a bank manager and gave her our story. She helped us close all of our accounts, including the stolen VISA card account, reported the identity theft problem to all of the credit agencies, gave us enough cash to get to California where our daughters lived, and set up new bank accounts with new numbers. She even set up a temporary address for us at the bank until we relocated, and forwarded our mail. That day we booked a flight from Hancock Airport to San Francisco, where we were picked up.

It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement. Our next problem was how to get Aaron to move out of the house in Hancock so we could return and reclaim our home. The decision was made to keep the heat and lights on that winter, to give Aaron and the girls a place to stay until spring, and keep the water lines from freezing.

It wasn’t long before we learned through the bank that Aaron had ordered extensive stock purchases via an Internet service, had made major purchases of items on e-Bay, and had opened a PayPal account in my name. Sometime before Dec. 11, he had purchased over $20,000 in items, all drawing on the checking account that we had closed. When these payments were rejected, the debtors were knocking at my door. I was forced to file an identity theft report with the Federal Trade Commission, which got me out of that mess.

We received threatening e-mails from both Aaron and Julie, and they posted our pictures and accusations on Internet sites, falsely claiming that we sexually molested him, beat and starved him as a child, and molested our daughters. We had to contact the hosts of all of the sites we could find to get those sites removed.

When the Hancock City Assessor sent his spring assessment report, we discovered we no longer had our Michigan homestead exemption, which meant we would be assessed the full amount of school district taxes. When I called the assessor’s office, I learned that someone, posing as me, had signed papers removing my property from exemption status. This, I am told, was a federal crime.

This spring I wrote Aaron and offered to sell him the house on a land contract, telling him that he could simply take over payments and pay the balance due. I also warned him that we planned to stop payments on the utilities, and that he should assume this debt as well. He sent a malicious reply threatening to destroy the house. I will be posting that letter on the “Truth About Aaron” portion of this web site. When we left in December, it was not in the condition described in his letter.

After we were sure the weather had warmed enough, we ordered the water, electric and gas services turned off. The gas company acted promptly, but the electric company and city were slow in turning off these services. In fact, the electric company informed me that by law, they had to give anyone living in the house ten days notice before turning off the juice.

We believe that during those ten days, Aaron, Julie and Heather opened all the water lines, turned the furnace, portable electric heaters and the electric range on full blast. We are now faced with an $1,800 electric bill and an $800 water bill.

Our car, an older Pontiac van, was dismantled by Aaron and the girls so it only ran at night when they wanted to use it. They told us that it was not in running condition. We received a police report that the vehicle was shoved out on the sidewalk and left with all the doors open. I called a junk yard and had it towed away. The guy who towed the car later said Aaron, Julie and Heather came out and smashed the car, even trying to remove the tires before he could tow it away.

What happened next is a story yet to be told.

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