Decades ago, a Black woman with a seemingly perfect life, husband and children had her entire world flipped upside down by one dangerous man. It took years for her to escape his captivity. Now, she’s ready to spill the grisly details of what happened to her.
Lifetime’s upcoming movie “Girl in the Garage: The Laura Cowan Story” is based on the real events that happened to Miss Laura Cowan. She tells PEOPLE that her story began after she moved to Santa Monica, Calif. from Cleveland, Oh. in 1985. She had gotten married to a preacher, had two children and opened a few businesses, including a bookstore and restaurant.
However, she said one day, the police came to arrest her husband for trafficking illegal firearms and was sent to federal prison.
Meeting Mansa Musa Muhummed
Just like that, Cowan’s finances were depleted and she was suddenly a single mother, struggling to keep her head above water, she told PEOPLE. Then, Mansa Musa Muhummed, who she perceived to be a saving grace stepped in willing to support both her and her family
He was a married man and father to 13 children. According to court documents, when the two met, they agreed to all move in together. Little did Cowan know, Muhummed had a history of abusing his wife and children. Court documents say he was physically abusive and also resorted to cruel punishments such as starving them for days and even forcing the children to stand awake in a corner for hours.
“He was so angry all the time. It was like walking on eggshells around there. You have to be careful about what you say and you don’t want to tick him off,” she told PEOPLE. “He would beat his children for the littlest things. He would beat them for not getting up in the morning for prayer. He would go into their room with a bucket of water and pour it on them.”
Cowan Feels Muhummed’s Wrath
Cowan said at first, the family seemed quiet and “well-behaved,” via PEOPLE. However, slowly, Muhummed’s controlling nature began showing itself. Court documents say he became controlling over her finances and would not allow her to work or go to school, promising to make her his second wife.
Things escalated when the two got into a dispute over his violent discipline of Cowan’s son. Documents say he then turned the violence on Cowan, having choked her, kicked her with steel-toed boots, beat her bloody and even stabbed her in the foot.
Could you believe it got even worse? After Muhummed “married” a third woman, he moved them all into another home in Aguanga, Calif. Documents say he split the home’s three-car garage into two areas where he forced Cowan and his third wife to stay with their kids with no toilet and boarded up windows.
That is where Cowan said she was isolated, being raped and often refused food by Muhummed, per PEOPLE. The women and their children were rarely allowed to leave the garage, let alone make telephone calls without surveillance.
Laura Cowan Finally Rescued
It wasn’t until after four years of captivity she managed to send a signal to a neighbor, scribbling the word “help” on a piece of paper and tossing it over the yard’s fence. That resulted in a useless visit from a social worker who didn’t find anything suspicious, PEOPLE’s report says. Cowan’s next attempt at finding help was around April of 1999, when Muhummed brought Cowan to the post office to pick up her food stamps, documents say.
When Muhummed was preoccupied talking to another customer, she took slim window of opportunity to reach under her dress and pass a 12-page handwritten letter detailing the torture she’d endured to a postal worker.
“I never talked to her. We only made eye contact. And as I was going to the door, I looked back at her and all she did was nod.”
The Aftermath
Days laters, deputies with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office came to the home to their rescue. PEOPLE’s report said she was reunited with her husband upon his release from prison as well as her two children. Her husband unfortunately died of a heart attack soon after their reunion, leading her to move herself and her kids back to Cleveland, the report says.
As for Muhummed, he was convicted on several charges of torture, child abuse, false imprisonment and infliction of corporal injury on a spouse.
Now, after years of freedom, she’s emboldened herself to share the story of what happened to her in film form. Lifetime’s production “Girl in the Garage: The Laura Cowan Story” will premiere Saturday, Jan. 18 at 8/7c.