A 32-year-old woman, India Ali, who was assaulted during a date with a man she met on Instagram last summer has shared her terrifying tale, hoping it will be a lesson to others.
She says she met James Baker through social media and eventually felt comfortable enough to set up a date with him last July.“
“He didn’t really look like a creep from his pictures. He looked like he had it going on,” Ali said.
The two decided to go out for a night on the town. Baker posted several videos on Instagram of the two out drinking at a restaurant and enjoying themselves.
Ali said she doesn’t remember leaving the restaurant with Baker or their ride back to the area around Los Angeles International Airport, but Baker posted videos of those events as well.
The two ended up in Baker’s hotel room at the Westin hotel near LAX. When Ali woke up the next morning, something was wrong.
“It was horrible. I woke up. I lifted my head up. I was lying in a puddle of throw up. So I look around and I see blood everywhere and my clothes everywhere,” Ali said.
Ali then saw her reflection in a mirror and could see how badly she had been beaten. “Oh my God. I can’t believe that happened. What if they come back and kill me?” Ali thought.
She realised her cellphone and car keys were gone, so she used the hotel phone to call 911.
Surveillance video from the Westin also showed Baker leaving the hotel in Ali’s car at about 2 a.m.
Investigators later found Baker had prior out-of-state convictions and was on bail for allegedly using fake credit cards, Berger said.
Ali is hoping her story will remind others to be cautious about who they meet online.
