Marion 'torture chamber' case sees man sentenced to decades in prison

MARION, Ohio (WCMH) – A Marion County man will spend at least the next 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping and torturing a woman last year.

A judge sentenced Shane Edward Hooper, 36, to between 50 and 55 1/2 years in prison, Marion County Prosecutor Ray Grogan said Thursday. Hooper pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges, including:

• Two counts of rape
• Two counts of kidnapping
• Two counts of felonious assault
• One count of strangulation

Grogan described Hooper as setting up a "torture chamber" between May and early June of 2023. Hooper held a woman at her home, nailing the doors and windows closed to stop her from escaping.

Over several days, the woman suffered broken bones, open wounds, and eight fractured ribs, the prosecutor’s office said. Hooper tortured the woman with a baseball bat and a metal chain.

In addition to physical abuse, Hooper threatened to kill both the woman and her family, Grogan said. Eventually, Hooper moved the woman to a location on Silver Street in Marion, where residents saw the woman was in distress and contacted law enforcement.

“The brave woman told us she had been praying for rescue and God answered her prayers,” Grogan wrote in a release.

The investigation was handled by the Marion County Sheriff's Office with help from the Marion Police Department, and the case was handled primarily by assistant prosecutor Charles Hall.