15-hour rape, beating after Boca man kidnaps therapist, paperwork reveal

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida. – A 20-year-old man kidnapped a mental health worker and held her hostage for about 15 hours at his home in Boca Raton. He raped, beat, and threatened to kill the woman, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Court documents released Thursday reveal harrowing ordeal and confusion over where the woman was based on text messages the suspect sent from her phone to family members.

Tzvi Allswang faces multiple charges and was denied bail as of Thursday morning. He appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a helmet over his head – he was recovering from injuries sustained after being shot in the head by a Palm Beach sergeant while trying to save the woman, who, according to the police, was held at the knife point.

MPs questioned the alleged victim at Wellington Regional Hospital, where she was taken after the incident. She told investigators that she worked as a psychotherapist and had previously met with Allswang several times, but that there were usually other people in the house.

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She showed up for a meeting on Friday, July 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the house on Larkspur Trail.

She said they had met four or five times before and they would go into a cave area and other people would be present. When she pulled up in front of the house that day, she also said she saw other vehicles in the driveway and assumed someone else was in the house.

She said it’s not uncommon not to see other family members during the meetings.

She told investigators that Allswang was seen by therapists and social workers and that her job was “to help him function in society, such as getting a job, creating a resume, and behaving during an interview.” “.

She said people who had previously worked with Allswang “warned” her that he had been exposed to a sexual battery charge as a youth.

The social worker told police the meeting appeared to be the same as previous meetings, but she then noted that he had left several times. She later found that he used the time to cover the windows of the house.

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As the meeting drew to a close, she said he asked her to stay longer and asked her personal questions.

She said he got into her “personal space” and felt uncomfortable, so she tried to leave.

As she walked to the front door, she saw that the door’s window was covered in black material and that she hadn’t seen it when she originally got to the house.

She said Allswang then grabbed her around the chest in a “bear hug” and told her she couldn’t walk.

The two fought but she was overpowered, she told police. Allswang is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds; The woman is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 136 pounds.

The woman said he took her phone and put it on airplane mode. He also wrapped it in aluminum foil and duct tape and, she said, he did the same with his phone.

Text messages sent from her phone were sent to the woman’s partner, which said she had been pulled over by police and was being taken for a breath test.

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Another message said police were taking her to a hotel for the evening.

The partner felt that the messages were inconsistent with the woman’s behavior and that she was unable to respond to the messages.

The Lantana Police Department contacted numerous law enforcement agencies and the Palm Beach County Jail to determine if a woman matching the social worker’s description was in custody. At 4 a.m., Lantana police requested the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in unincorporated Boca Raton to verify the address where the social worker had gone for the meeting. The woman’s mother had also called police at 1am on Saturday July 1 to report a missing person and said that nothing had been heard from the woman since her last appointment the night before.

When they arrived, the woman’s supervisor was at the apartment and said that she should have met her client at the apartment the night before. He said her car was in the driveway. MPs made several attempts to knock on the door and make contact, but there was no answer, they said, nor could they hear anything from inside the house. They left at 5:33 a.m. They returned two hours later after the family contacted them again.

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The woman described the harrowing 15-hour ordeal to investigators after she was released. She said Allzwag tied her hands behind her back and then dragged her to the living room couch.

She said she begged him multiple times throughout the night to let her go. He hit her multiple times. He then raped her multiple times during the time he was holding her hostage. She told police he also strangled her from behind four or five times and tried to choke her. He bit her too. At one point, he had her wear one of his mother’s dresses “as if he wanted to picture himself (her) in it.”

She told police she was dragged around the house by her hair and then either beaten or raped by Allswag. She said she often felt like he was going to kill her. She credited her training as a psychiatrist with saving her life, as she was able to “adapt to his behavioral changes to have a chance of survival.”

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She said the suspect was carrying what she believed might have been a weapon, wrapped in a towel. She later saw that it was a large kitchen knife he was holding to her throat.

PBSO was called again at 6:47am by the woman’s partner who said she was now at the residence. At 7:32 a.m., MPs returned and tried to contact someone inside, but received no reply. As they walked to the west side of the house and knocked on a window, they heard a woman scream.

Meanwhile, the woman’s phone showed it was in Broward County. PBSO contacted the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to use GPS coordinates to locate the phone. They couldn’t find the phone.

Officers checked the doors and found they were secured. At 9:39 the house was broken into and when they were able to get into the master bedroom it was locked. Deputies smashed down the door and found Allswang holding the woman hostage with a knife to her throat in the master bedroom closet. At 9:47 a.m., Sgt. William Nogueras shot once in the head Allswang, who according to the PBSO was assigned to the K-9 unit and has been with the force for 14 years. He is currently on paid administrative leave, which the department says is standard department protocol.

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Allswang was hit in the forehead and taken to the hospital for treatment, surviving his injuries.

Elliot Allswang, the suspect’s father, later told detectives that he and his wife had been in New York since the middle of last week and that the brother was in a camp. Tzvi Allswang was left alone at the residence.

A receipt found at the Boca Raton Party City residence showed the presence of black plastic tablecloths taped to doors and windows that were purchased on June 29, 2022.

He faces six felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder with a weapon, kidnapping and four counts of violent sexual assault.

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