Being abducted and abused has to be one of the worst things one could encounter in life, something you can’t even wish for a foe. This is the story Ani Okeke, a victim of abduction and abuse.
Who is Ani Okeke Ewo?
Ani Okeke Ewo is a student at The University of Rochester who is believed to be in his early twenties and played as a cornerback for The University of Rochester football team and hometown Romeoville, Illinois.
During his playing time with the Rochester football team, Ani made 31 appearances across 4 years with some impressive tackles
What happened to Ani Okeke?
Ani Okeke Ewo was abducted along with Nicholas Kollias back in 2015 and tortured in a drug-related revenge attack. On December 4, 2015, Ani and Kollias were hanging out with their friends from the football team, when they were approached by a lady Samantha Hughes, who tried to friend the two players on Facebook earlier in the week. She was with her friend and 20-year-old Leah Gigliotti to pick up Kollias and Ani Okeke Ewo.
The pair of ladies were high and drunk, with Hughes having taken weed and Gigliotti snorting cocaine, although they passed some booze back to Ewo and Kollias to get them high before setting off. They drove into a rougher area of town and the guys got a little worried, but they still followed the two women into a house.
On arriving at the location they went inside a house with the ladies but Inside of it was a mess, the two men sat down on the couch and then were shocked when a group of ten men in masks burst into the room wielding bats, knives, and guns reached at them, immediately the lights went off and his friend Kollias decided to make a run for the door, but he was shot in the leg and his femur shattered.
Forty long hours…
The two men were then taken into the bathroom and had their hands and feet taped together and were tortured with hedge clippers and other improvised weapons before being sexually assaulted for the next 40 hours.
The next morning the two football students were reported missing and campus officials started an investigation, being in luck, one of their teammates remembered the girl who tried to friend him on Facebook and let the investigators know.
After pulling Isaac Smith (Ewo’s teammate who also deals with drugs) and the two ladies for interrogation, the ladies were cracked and they gave up the real address where the two players were being held. However, on Sunday evening there was a huge explosion and flash as the SWAT team burst into the house and rescued the two men.
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When the kidnapping turn out to be a mistake of identity and resulted in complex deceit where drug dealer Smith had arranged an earlier fake robbery earlier. This drug heist made it look like Smith and some associates were robbed of a large quantity of weed at Ewo’s apartment while he was away.
It turned out that Smith was in on it and the blame then shifted onto Ewo, who the other dealers just assumed was involved. This then led to gang members plotting revenge and organizing the kidnapping.
“I’m not going to give up without a fight,” he recalled thinking. “I’m not going to close my eyes. I was thinking about my family, parents, and God. I didn’t want to die and give in to these people.”
The Trial
During the trial, Strickland was said to be the mastermind and was given a 155-year sentence, with Rivera being given 35 years. Smith was also charged and was given a 13-year sentence for the robbery that triggered the later events while the two ladies who were used as bait were given over 12 years each for their part in luring the men to the house.
Perhaps, had the campus authorities had not ignored Smith’s drug dealing due to his talent on the football field, then Ewo and his friend wouldn’t have suffered any of the events.
Image source: University of Rochester Athletics
