12-year-old Idaho girl found in Washington after using dating app; man charged with rape
A former security guard is suspected of hiding and raping a 12-year-old runaway from Idaho in his room in Kennewick, Washington, for five days.
Then a neighbor became suspicious and called the police.
When officers found the girl at Austin Holbrook’s parents’ home, she was also dehydrated and malnourished, according to court documents.
Holbrook, 20, is charged with two counts of second-degree rape of a child, specifically the allegation that she is a runaway.
He is being held in the Benton County Jail without bail set at $500,000.
According to court documents, Holbrook met the underage woman from Nampa, Idaho, through the dating app Hily.
Users of the app must be at least 18 years old according to the service’s community rules.
After speaking with the girl, he allegedly arranged to pick her up. On March 15, he drove from Kennewick to Idaho in his father’s Dodge Durango to pick her up.
According to court documents, Holbrook told investigators he parked around the corner while she sneaked out of her house.
The girl told police that Holbrook said he would protect her if her mother reported her missing.
He is said to have had inappropriate contact with the girl at a gas station in Oregon and then taken her to his home in Kennewick.
He made her hide in his room while his mother was home, and she was not allowed to leave the room to shower and eat until after his mother left. He also allegedly sexually abused her in his room, court documents say.
A neighbor noticed Holbrook’s suspiciously young “girlfriend” and called police, court documents say. Detectives found Holbrook and the girl at the home on East 16th Avenue.
A medical examination revealed that she was malnourished and dehydrated.
She told investigators that Holbrook also spoke to her 13- and 14-year-old friends.
Nampa Police have issued a notice asking anyone who has had contact with Holbrook to contact them.
While court documents do not indicate what Holbrook’s last job was, his LinkedIn profile states that he previously worked as an unarmed security guard in Boardman, Oregon. He has not worked there since November 2023.
