‘You can’t heal from this’: Shock collar used to sexually torture kids in underground Alabama bunker, sheriff says

Three more people – a man and two women – are now charged in the horrific sex trafficking ring uncovered in Alabama.

The allegations against the latest suspects – one of whom is the mother of some of the victims – include them using an animal shock collar on the children’s genitals, both as a form of punishment and for sexual pleasure, according to court documents made public Wednesday.

Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade held a press conference Wednesday to talk about the exhaustive investigation which was led by deputies Chris Poole and Justin Hobbs.

“I’ve been in law enforcement for 33 years and this is absolutely the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen when it comes to the victimization of children,” the sheriff said.

“I know God’s forgiveness is boundless, but if there is a limit, we’ve reached it,” he said.

Rebecca Brewer, 29, Sara Louise Terrell, 41, and Ricky Terrell, 44, are facing multiple charges ranging from sexual torture and abuse to rape and human trafficking.

All three were arrested Tuesday on formal charges. Their cases have not yet gone to a grand jury.

Previously arrested and already indicted are Andres Velazquez-Trejo, 29, William Chase McElroy, 21, Dalton Terrell, also 21, and Timothy St. John, 23.

Trejo and Brewer have three children together, and Brewer has at least one child from another previous relationship.

Wade said all of the Terrells are related but he wasn’t sure of the nature of those relationships.

Brewer is charged with three counts of sexual torture, eight counts of kidnapping and eight counts of human trafficking.

Ricky Terrell is charged with first-degree rape. He is alleged to have raped a 10-year-old girl.

Sara Terrell is charged with sexual torture and abuse. Charging documents state she used an animal training collar with shock capability on a child or children.

Their children are among the 10 victims between the ages of 3 and 15 that were victimized as far back as 2022.

Wade initially announced the indictments over the weekend, saying the abuse took place in an underground bunker.

On Wednesday, he said they tried to keep the investigation quiet because he didn’t want the suspects to “scatter like rats.”

“Now we’re at the point where we’ve got to try to uncover more suspects and more victims,” Wade said.

The sheriff said they are still trying to determine if any suspects traveled from outside of Bibb County or Alabama to abuse the children.

Assistant District Attorney Bryan Jones on Tuesday described the underground bunker as the basement of an old house at or near the home of a family member of McElroy.

The basement had been converted, at some point, to be used as a storm shelter and that’s where the repeated abuse took place.

Jones said the bunker had a concrete floor, an old bed, a couple of chairs and concrete pilings holding up the ceiling.

Wade said that bunker, or storm shelter, from the outside looks simply like a carport on a concrete slab.

Asked about the future of the bunk, the sheriff said, “We will see what can or should be done about that. If i had my way about it, we’d blow it up.”

The investigation began Feb. 4 of this year “following concerns regarding the sexual abuse of children in an underground bunker located in Brent.” The sheriff’s office, Wade said, was alerted by DHR.

Two of the victims were found to be performing sex acts on each other.

When discovered, they reported that McElroy had done to them, or taught them to do, the things they were doing to each other, Jones said.

The accusations alleged the children were forced to endure vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, and oral sex.

Records state one of the suspects “sold” children “to various clientele for sexual pleasure.”

“He would tie one child to the bed, one child to a chair and one to one of the support poles,” Jones said of Velazquez-Trejo.

“Then he would allow people to pay to have sex with the children,” Jones said. “It’s hard to fathom that someone can do this to a child.”

Jones said the children were reportedly drugged by Velazquez-Trejo pouring some type of white powder into their drinks.

“It’s hard to hear their stories and it’s hard to see pictures of this bunker where, according to some of the witnesses, they were drugged,” Jones said.

“As bad as it sounds with (Velazquez-Trejo) drugging them, it may be a blessing in disguise because they don’t remember a lot of things,” Jones said.

“I’m hopeful through that they won’t have near the trauma they would have had if they had not been drugged.”

Wade said the suspects, those that are known and likely many that aren’t known, made appointments to have sex with the children, and the abuse could bring in up to $1,000 a night.

He said the Department of Homeland Security is involved in the probe because of the suspects could have affiliation with the Mexican gang Seranos that uses sex trafficking as a main source of income.

The grand jury on July 11 indicted McElroy on four counts of first-degree rape, six counts of first-degree human trafficking, six counts of first-degree sodomy and four counts of first-degree kidnapping.

He was initially arrested Feb. 11 on multiple counts of child sex abuse.

Charging documents from his initial arrest state he admitted to fondling the male victim and raping at least one of the young girls.

On April 25, investigators identified Dalton Terrell as another suspect and he, too, admitted to sexual intercourse with a minor, according to court records.

The grand jury indicted Dalton Terrell with six counts of first-degree rape, 12 counts of first-degree sodomy and five counts of human trafficking.

Dalton Terrell, records state, paid at least two adults to use the children – who are now ages 8,6, 10 and 3 – for sexual purposes, including rape and sodomy.

After more investigation, Velazquez-Trejo was arrested on April 29. He is charged with six counts of human trafficking.

The criminal complaint states he sold nude images of the victims to multiple people and sold the children themselves.

St. John, arrested this week in Chilton County, is charged with rape, sodomy, human trafficking, kidnapping, bestiality and cruelty to animals. Court documents allege he had sex with a dog.

The indicted suspects, all from Brent, will be arraigned on the indictments in August.

Court records indicate they all lived in mobile homes approximately a mile from each other at the time of their arrests.

Multiple agencies worked with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office on the investigation including Homeland Security Investigations, the Alabama Fusion Center, the Bibb County Department of Human Resources, the Child Advocacy Center Forensic Interview in Centreville and the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The children are now all in DHR custody.

“No child deserves this, the power and control of it, the stealing the innocence of a child and the horrible victimization they went through with these monsters,” the sheriff said.

“They’re getting the medical help they need, the emotional, psychological help we can best provide them,” he said. “For the younger kids, I’m hoping some of this is a blurry memory.”

“Some of the older children will carry this vividly for the rest of their lives,” he said. “You can’t heal from this but you can move on as best you can.”