5 chilling details about the Laura Cowan case

Laura Cowan, an award-winning advocate, activist, and counselor for domestic abuse and violence, was once the victim of one of the most abominable domestic abuse cases California has ever seen in the mid-late 90s.

She was manipulated into marrying a notorious child abuser and polygamist, Mansa Musa Muhummed, during her time in need, and her children were physically abused.

Cowan was captured, along with her son, in a garage with only thin mattresses to sleep on and plastic jugs to urinate in. They were starved and beaten up for minor mistakes. By the time she was able to escape the prison-like house of horrors in 1999, Muhummed had three wives and 16 children, all of whom had suffered a great deal of torture and violence at his hands.

On Monday, November 21, ID's No One Can Hear You Scream will take a dive into the horrifying case from over two decades ago and chronicle the events that changed the course of Laura Cowan's life. The synopsis of the upcoming episode, titled Sojourn to Hell, reads:

On that note, let's take a look at a few shocking details from the case.

A house of horrors, multiple victims, and other details from Laura Cowan's case

1) Laura Cowan was broke and alone with two children when she was taken in by her abuser

In 1995, Cowan's first husband Muhammad Shabazz was arrested on allegations of illegal weapons trafficking. The couple had two children at the time - a three-year-old son named Ahmed Ibn Muhammed Mahdi Shabazz and a seven-month-old daughter, Maryam Shabazz. She was broke, had no assistance, and somehow had to take care of her children.

Mansa Musa Muhummed, who was a friend to them and a member of the same mosque, offered them help and expressed his desire to take them in. He said that they could live with him and his family of 13, including his 12 children and wife Marva Barfield at the Riverside motel.

2) Muhummed asked Cowan to marry him to avoid being "looked down on as a lewd woman"

The man who offered them help asked Laura Cowan to marry him within months after their move. While narrating her story, she recalled that Muhummed told her that she "couldn’t just live with him" because she would be considered, with contempt, a "lewd woman."

Moreover, after the marriage, he started isolating her from her children, telling her that her son "Ahmed shouldn’t be sleeping in my room, so he put him in another room." Further elaborating on her son's condition, Laura reportedly said:

3) He abused the children, especially Cowan's son Ahmed, and starved them

According to the revelation made by Laura Cowan, the family moved quite often but only across the Inland Empire in California. She alleged that even the smallest misconducts resulted in beatings and ice water being thrown at their faces for missing the morning prayers. Muhummed yelled at her son, Ahmed, so frequently that he was terrified just by the sound of his voice.

The abuser began to abuse them more frequently and severely and locked the refrigerator. He would only distribute half-hot dogs for meals every day, using food as a weapon.

The children even resorted to hiding pieces of bread and primarily focused on beating Ahmed, ignoring Cowan's pleas to stop. On one occasion, he made the child stand naked in a bucket of water for hours.

4) Laura Cowan and her son were captured inside a dark garage with the door nailed shut

Once the family settled in a remote Aguanga property, Laura and her son Ahmed were captured inside a dark garage. The door was nailed shut and the only things they had access to were thin mattresses and two jugs which they would use for urination purposes.

Since all of Luara's previous attempts to leave were met with violence and death threats, she started to plan an escape.

5) Cowan documented all the happenings in a letter and managed to slip the letter to a post office clerk

Lauran had secretly started audio-taping the beatings and writing a 26-page letter to police. In the letter, she asked them to "send help" and "look in both garages," but she had no means of sending the letter to the authorities.

She soon started helping Muhummed with his business since she was articulate. She used to fill out papers for monthly welfare and Social Security benefits.

When Cowan found a postage-paid envelope addressed to the county welfare department, she slipped her letter into the envelope and during one of her fortunate visits to the Aguanga Post Office, managed to slide the letter to one of the clerks.

A few days later, authorities showed up at their doorstep and put an end to decades of abuse.

Laura Cowan's story as a survivor of domestic abuse airs on No One Can Hear You Scream on ID this Monday.

More from Sportskeeda

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tLzOq6uso5WasaJ6wqikaKifpXqkwcutrKudX2p6pLTIpaOippdisabAwKKjrGWclsKzrYycprCZnmKwor%2FE