St. Louis church condemned after 3 members arrested for allegedly kidnapping woman

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Thursday, February 29, 2024

A Pentecostal church in St. Louis, Missouri, where an unidentified woman told local police she was held captive and beaten by three men during a 30-day fast, has been condemned by city officials.

The Mount of Olives Ministry church, where the woman told police she was held captive, is located in the Patch neighborhood, according to the River Front Times. On Monday, a city inspector declared the church building “unsafe” and it has now been condemned, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Police said that though English was not the woman’s first language, she was able to tell them she had been locked in a room on the property, given only water and no food, beaten, and forced to use a bucket as a makeshift toilet, which police found as described. In a probable cause affidavit, police said the woman was found in the community where the church is located, bound by ropes and bleeding from the head, which she sustained during her confinement.

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When police followed the woman to the church, she identified Pasi Heri, 32, of Dutchtown, Grace Kipendo, 28, of Arnold, and Mmunga Fungamali, 25, from Canada, as her abductors, The Riverfront Times said. All three men have since been charged with one count each of felony kidnapping and assault.

While he doesn’t doubt that the woman was victimized, Kipendo's attorney, Chris Combs, told 5 on Your Side on Tuesday that his client is innocent and the woman’s family supports the men who are members of the church.

"She's the victim of something. Of course, I believe my client had nothing to do with it," Combs said.

He explained that both Kipendo and Fungamali are brothers and the woman, who allegedly struggles mental health issues, had been living at the church along with other men and women in separate rooms. The church was condemned for being used illegally as housing. 

"It's my understanding that yes, she was suffering from several mental health issues, and as far as what happened, no one knows," Combs said.

He explained that the woman’s parents support the three men and told a judge that they moved their daughter to the church a year ago “to get help.”

Combs said when the police showed up at the church on Friday, they interrupted a 30-day fasting service.

"They were looking for her, and the next thing you know, the police are there with her and she (identified) Mr. Kipendo, my client, his brother and another gentleman," Combs said. "... Everyone emphatically denies any involvement in this."

He said his client is a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army who is expecting his first child with his wife.

"I believe in the coming weeks a lot of light will be shed on this,” Combs said. “An entirely different story will come out.”