Houston Rapper Viper Arrested For Allegedly Kidnapping & Holding Woman Captive For Years

Houston rapper Viper (real name Leonard “Lee” Carter) was arrested by local police Thursday (January 4) on charges of aggravated kidnapping. According to the Houston Chronicle, Carter allegedly held a woman captive in his south Houston home for years. He’s currently being held at Harris County Jail and expected to see the judge on Monday (January 8).

As explained in the court documents, Houston Police Department officers responded to a complaint at Carter’s home in April 2023. The caller, who reported a kidnapping in progress, turned out to be Carter’s alleged victim, who said she’d been held against her will for at least “four or five years.” The woman and officer continued communicating through a window on the far side of the home where an attached garage stood. She alleged Carter kidnapped her while she was panhandling off of Almeda Genoa Road. The woman told the officer she was struggling at the time and when she was approached by Carter, she willingly got in his car.

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The woman told police Carter kept her locked up in the garage for years, feeding her drugs—including crack cocaine—and chips while sexually assaulting her regularly repeatedly and depriving her of a working bathroom or shower. On occasion, Carter would let her into his home to bathe but then return her to confinement. The woman was able to break through the garage window and crawl out of the structure at one point, but police took her to the hospital and soon released her back to Carter. Following the incident, Carter allegedly boarded up the interior of the garage window and threatened her with physical violence if she did it again.

The woman was allowed to use Carter’s laptop on April 7, 2023 and she used a Text Now app to dispatch police to the home. Officers described the disheveled woman as about 5’2″, roughly 70 pounds and clearly malnourished.

After the garage was pried open by the Houston Fire Department, authorities discovered a mattress covered in “fresh vomit,” bags of chips and Twinkies, a “makeshift toilet” and dripping faucet. The woman’s hair was “crusty” and her clothes were “filthy dirty.” She told officers she begged Carter to release her from captivity every day and subsisted primarily on snacks.

Carter is perhaps best known for his 2008 album, You’ll Cowards Don’t Even Smoke Crack.