18-year-old Breana Harmon Talbott of Denison, Texas, ran into a church and told people she had been kidnapped and raped by three masked black men.
Breana was wearing just a bra & T-shirt at the time and was visibly bloodied and battered.
We now know that the entire incident was fabricated.
According to the Denison Police Department Wednesday, she made it up.
JUST IN: Denison Police say sexual assault victim's story unfounded, woman admitted wounds were self-inflicted @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/TLVmBKO0PZ
— Lynnanne Nguyen (@LynnanneNguyen) March 22, 2017
via Dallas News:
The incident caused a whirlwind of speculation in the town near the Oklahoma border after the bloody woman ran into a church wearing only a shirt, bra and underwear and lied about two black men raping her while a third held her down, Denison Police Chief Jay Burch said.
The woman, identified as Breana Harmon Talbott, confessed to the hoax Tuesday, Burch said.
Talbott was arrested Wednesday on a charge of making a false report to a peace officer.
Police still aren’t completely clear on the teen’s motive, Denison police Lt. Mike Eppler later said.
In a searing statement, Burch said Talbott caused fear in the area and wasted the department’s time and resources.
“Breana Harmon Talbott’s hoax was also insulting to our community and especially offensive to the African-American community due to her description of the so-called suspects in her hoax. The anger and hurts caused from such a hoax are difficult and so unnecessary.”
The Denison Police Department also plans to seek restitution for the cost of the investigation.
“It’s unfortunate a person can falsely report such a major incident in our community that wastes the time of law enforcement and needlessly puts some people in fear,” Burch said.
The department believes Talbott staged the crime scene March 8. She also admitted that the cuts on her body were self-inflicted.
Officers initially responded to a call from a man, who described himself as her fiancé and claimed she was missing. He said her vehicle had been found outside an apartment in the 3800 block of Texoma Parkway about 5:30 p.m. with the driver’s door open and her phone, keys and a shoe nearby.
The department mobilized all available resources to look for her, even putting other cases aside to focus on the apparent abduction.
She later walked into New Creation Church, in the 3400 block of South Eisenhower Parkway, where she told witnesses she’d been kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the woods behind the building.
Talbott told detectives she was near her vehicle at the apartment when “three black males” in ski masks kidnapped her in a black SUV before raping her.
She was taken to a hospital, where, Burch said, “it is our understanding that medical personnel who examined Talbott were unable to corroborate that Talbott had been sexually assaulted.”
Within a day or two of the incident, detectives doubted most of her allegations.
“The puzzle pieces just weren’t coming together,” Burch said. “We were unable to corroborate any of Talbott’s allegations that she had been abducted or sexually assaulted.”
Breana was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Grayson County Correctional Facility in Sherman, Texas.
