A North Carolina woman is facing serious charges after allegedly locking her boyfriend in a storage unit for four days without food or water. The only thing that saved him? A phone he miraculously found in the dark.
On February 24, 2025, Monroe police received a desperate 911 call from a man trapped inside a storage unit.
“I’ve been locked in here for about a week,” I just now found my phone. I just need out of here. I just can’t breathe. I haven’t had a drink or anything.”
The caller, later identified as Gary Oxendine, told the dispatcher.
Officers rushed to the Cooper Storage Units on Old Charlotte Highway and found unit number 43 secured with two heavy-duty locks from the outside. Inside, they discovered Oxendine dehydrated, weak, and surrounded by overwhelming clutter. He had been in complete darkness, unable to find his way out.
Oxendine initially told police that his girlfriend, 52-year-old Robin Renae Deaton, locked him in after an argument.
“This is what you get,”
She allegedly said before slamming the unit shut and securing it. But after Deaton’s arrest, Oxendine shockingly changed his story. He later claimed that he had fallen asleep inside the unit, and Deaton, thinking he had left, locked it by mistake.
“It’s all a big misunderstanding,” Oxendine told local reporters. “She didn’t mean to do it.”
Despite his changed testimony, law enforcement took the initial report seriously. Lieutenant Morgan Malone of the Monroe Police Department confirmed that the storage unit was double-locked and filled to the brim with belongings.
“When officers opened the door, things started falling out, The amount of clutter made it almost impossible for him to move or find anything.”
He said.
Medical responders found Oxendine suffering from dehydration but in stable condition. He was taken to a local hospital and released the same day.
Robin Deaton was arrested on February 26 in Charlotte and charged with first-degree kidnapping and attempted murder. While the initial police report classified the incident as false imprisonment, prosecutors later escalated the charges due to the life-threatening conditions inside the unit.
“This is a very serious case,” Lieutenant Malone said. “Without his phone, this could have ended much differently.”
This bizarre case has left many wondering what happened. Did Deaton intentionally lock her boyfriend inside, or was it an accident? And if it was accidental, why didn’t Oxendine call for help sooner? His claim that he couldn’t find his phone for four days raises even more questions.
Local advocacy groups are using the case to raise awareness and provide resources for all victims of domestic abuse. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) has seen an increase in calls following news coverage of the incident.
Deaton remains in custody as she awaits her court hearing. Whether the charges against her will stick depends on further investigation, evidence, and how prosecutors interpret Oxendine’s shifting statements.
Regardless of the legal outcome, this case has sparked discussions about safety, relationships, and the dangers of being trapped—physically and emotionally.
