A 19-year-old woman was tortured for months by her boyfriend before being stabbed to death and found bound to a bloodstained mattress in their shared apartment, police in North Carolina have revealed.
Isabella Stroupe was discovered unresponsive inside a Charlotte apartment on 1 May after officers responded to an emergency call. First responders found her in a bedroom wearing minimal clothing and bound with a tow strap to a blood-soaked mattress. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her boyfriend, Thomaz Kenon Hamilton, initially told Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police that Stroupe had suffered a suspected heart attack while they were having sex. Investigators quickly ruled out his account, determining she had been the victim of a sustained and brutal attack. A post-mortem examination revealed multiple injuries including broken and fractured bones and stab wounds.
A search of the apartment uncovered a knife wrapped in cellophane with suspected blood, a baseball bat, a sword, multiple mobile phones — some smashed apart — and clothing with suspected blood. According to the affidavit, detectives were advised that Stroupe had been tortured over a period of several months and that she would have been physically unable to consent to anything during that time.
Hamilton has since been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape and is being held at Mecklenburg County Jail without bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for 30 June.
Stroupe’s family paid tribute to her through a GoFundMe page, describing her as an avid reader with a love of anime, fan fiction and My Little Pony. “She was a total bookworm, always reading and sharing her favourite stories with me,” the fundraiser read. “Her creativity brought so much joy to our family.”
Her brother Jacob Walker told WBTV: “She was always talking about fantasy and the book that she was reading.” Her sister Marleigh Bailey told WCNC that the family had known Hamilton for years and had no reason to suspect he was capable of such violence. “We thought she was OK. We trusted him, we knew him. He was a friend of ours for a long time,” she said. “It is unbelievable that somebody you trust could do something like that.”
