Poplar Bluff woman accused of making false report about kidnapping, assault

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff woman is accused of lying to authorities about an alleged kidnapping and sexual assault that never happened.

At about 3 a.m. Sunday, Tonya K. Massie, 39, went to the emergency room at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center to "gain treatment of injuries she incurred on a reported kidnapping," said Poplar Bluff Police Capt. Mike Elliott. Hospital personnel called the police. The responding officer, patrolman Jim Gerber, requested assistance from the department's Criminal Investigation Bureau.

The alleged kidnapping occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday when a man got into her car while it was stopped at a stop sign in the North Westwood Boulevard area, Elliott said. Massie reported seeing a knife in the man's hand.

"She alleged she was taken over into Carter County and held over there, and she alleged a sexual assault," Elliott said.

The detective division, including officers assigned to narcotics and cyber crimes, began to work on the case, Elliott said. In addition, officers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control and the sheriff's departments in Carter and Howell counties were called in to help, he said.

"During the course of the investigation, there were some discrepancies" found, Elliott said.

Massie, he said, also contacted officers wanting to drop the report, but "due to public safety, we had to complete the investigation," Elliott said.

At about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Massie was reinterviewed, Elliott said.

Elliott said officers were able to prove the time frame and locations she had alleged were not true, at which point "she admitted she had falsified the story."

Massie was arrested on suspicion of making a false police report and booked at the Butler County Jail.