Woman alleges man she met on Whisper app held her against her will for a week

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- A woman is speaking out after she says she was kidnapped and assaulted for more than a week by a man she met online.

According to KTVX-TV, Kiara Holm says she wants to tell people about the incident that happened last summer so other victims know they are not helpless.

Holm says she was just 17 when she met a man on the 'Whisper' app while living in St. George.

According to police, the 20-year-old man told Kiara he would take her out for a date and bring her home before her parents noticed she was gone. Charging documents state Raymond Burk, 37, took Holm to Arizona, tied her up, sexually and physically assaulted her, and told her she was his "little pet" he was going to "keep forever."

"I still think about what happened down in Arizona. I have flashbacks to the moment where I was beaten, to where I was raped," Kiara said. "I learned to just submit, and just do whatever to get through the day, because if I fought, it would get worse."

Holm was allegedly held by Burk for more than a week before she says she was able to find a phone and message a friend for help.

"The moment that I reached out to my friend, that's the moment that I realized I wanted to live," Kiara said.

Now 18, the alleged victim chose to speak about what happened, because she wants other children who have been abused to find hope.

"Don't give up, and if you feel you're at the end of your rope in your life, just tie a knot and hold on," she said. "Don't think that just because somebody's bigger than you, somebody is controlling you, don't think you don't have a voice, because you do, and your voice is 10 times stronger than theirs."

Burk was charged in Utah with aggravated kidnapping and human trafficking. He is being held in Arizona on a $250,000 cash-only bond.

Kiara is "very grateful" her attacker is being charged for what he did to her.

"He could go through ten deaths and it's not going to add up to what he put me through. I forgive him, because I've learned that you can't move on in life if you don't forgive people, no matter what they put you through," she said.