Man accused of holding wife captive, torturing her for days

ATLANTA — An Atlanta man is facing several charges after police say he tied up his wife inside their home and tortured her for days in front of their 2-week-old baby.

Aaron Uchitel is charged with aggravated battery, false imprisonment and cruelty to children. %

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Police say he brutally assaulted and tortured his wife, 23-year-old Prosper Ortega, for two days inside their Atlanta home, until her mother managed to rescue her.

“(I thought) she was gonna die,” Fawn Ortega said. “Everything was just so swollen and her little mouth.”

Fawn Ortega broke down as she talked about her daughter’s horrific injuries. Doctors say Prosper may never see again. She remains at Grady Memorial Hospital, still bruised and unable to see, just days after her mother rescued her.

“It was an evil person in there and he was going to kill her,’ Fawn Ortega said.

Prosper and Uchitel got married less than a year ago and had their child, Ari, on June 17.

Fawn Ortega says she noticed Uchitel had been isolating Prosper from her so she went to their southwest Atlanta home Wednesday to check on them. But she says he wouldn’t let her inside.

“I started to fight him. I was pushing him off and stuff,” she said.

She fought her way into the house, saw her daughter's face and learned what happened. %

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“He was jabbing at her eyes, jabbing at her eyes so she couldn't see the baby, and he cut her hair off and said, ‘I’m going to make it so where nobody will ever want you again,’” Ortega said.

Prosper told police that Uchitel had drugged her, beat her and sexually assaulted her for two days.

At one point, police say, Prosper attempted to flee through a bedroom window, but Uchitel pulled her back into the home,

Police say Uchitel, who is now in jail, confessed to hitting her “a couple of times.”

Prosper's family says she has a long recovery ahead of her but they want the public to know what domestic violence can look like. They say they are sharing her story in hopes of preventing another domestic violence case.

“We are just at a place where it needs to stop,” Fawn Ortega said.

She is now looking after her daughter's little boy.

Prosper's family says she will require extensive medical procedures plus months of both physical and mental therapy to being rebuilding her life.

The family has created a GoFundMe page to help with her medical bills and recovery that has raised more than $50,000 in two days.

Cox Media Group