Trapped in the Darkness: How Laura Cowan Escaped a Monster’s Prison
In 1995, Laura Cowan thought she had hit rock bottom. Her husband was in prison, and she was barely scraping by, trying to provide for her two young children, ages three and seven months. But she had no idea that her nightmare was only beginning.
It all started when she crossed paths with Mansa Musa Muhummed, an acquaintance of her husband from their mosque. Manipulative and persuasive, Muhummed lured her into a polygamous marriage, joining his already growing household. At the time, he had one wife and twelve children. Over the years, he would take on another wife and father even more children. But behind closed doors, Muhummed was a monster.
As the relationship turned increasingly controlling and violent, Cowan found herself trapped in a horrifying reality. By 1998, Muhummed had gone to extreme lengths to imprison her and her children in a dark, unheated garage—sealing the door from the outside, stripping them of running water, a bathroom, and adequate food. For nearly seven months, they slept on thin mattresses and urinated in plastic jugs. Cowan endured unimaginable physical abuse, while also suffering from sexual assault. She had become a prisoner in her own home, with no clear way out.
The Lifetime Original Movie Girl in the Garage: The Laura Cowan Story tells the haunting true story of her captivity and survival. A&E True Crime spoke to Cowan about her terrifying ordeal and the miraculous chain of events that led to her rescue.
A Slow, Sinister Abduction
Most people imagine abductions as sudden, forceful events—a chloroform rag, a van, and a locked basement. But for Cowan, it was a gradual descent into captivity.
“At first, it was more like… not being released,” Cowan recalls. “I’d want to leave, and he wouldn’t let me. He’d try to talk me out of it, calm things down. Then, as time passed, it became impossible to leave. He never let me use the phone, and when he did, he was always on the other end, listening in.”
Desperate to escape, Cowan once left a note in a grocery store bathroom, pleading for help. That would be the last time she attempted to reach out. When Muhummed discovered her efforts, his punishment was brutal—he threw Cowan and her two children into the garage and declared, This is where you’ll stay. Until I say so.
A Living Hell
For over half a year, the garage became their prison. Muhummed allowed Cowan out only to dump the urine-filled buckets they used as makeshift toilets or when he needed her assistance with errands.
“My son’s stomach started swelling from malnutrition,” Cowan remembers. “His skin sagged, and the color of his skin changed. It wasn’t brown anymore—it turned into this sickly, greenish murky shade. We were literally dying in there.”
A Silent Plea for Help
With no way to communicate with the outside world, Cowan turned to the one thing she still had—her words.
“I started looking through boxes in the garage and found an old legal pad and a pen,” she says. “I wrote down everything I could—every detail of what was happening. I filled about 26 pages, front and back. I kept the notes hidden in my underwear, sleeping with them every night. I even told my son that if I died first, he had to make sure someone got them.”
Then came a sliver of hope.
Muhummed took Cowan to town one day to pick up food stamps. Terrified but determined, she carried the folded letter in her underwear, unsure how she would pass it to someone without being caught.
Inside the post office, fate intervened. A stranger struck up a conversation with Muhummed, distracting him just long enough.
“I got up to the counter, handed my slip to the clerk, and as she had me sign, I reached into my underwear and pulled out the letter. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say a word. She grabbed it and quickly hid it under the counter.”
As Cowan and Muhummed left the post office, she looked back. The clerk gave her the smallest but most significant gesture—a nod. A silent promise that help was coming.
Freedom at Last
Two days later, at dawn, the sheriff’s department arrived.
“I was hesitant to tell my kids anything because I didn’t want to give them false hope,” Cowan recalls. “But when the officers knocked on the door, I knew—we were finally free.”
Muhummed was arrested in November 1999. After years of trial delays, he was convicted on 25 counts, including torture, child abuse, and false imprisonment. On February 14, 2009, justice was served—he was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms.
A Survivor’s Legacy
Laura Cowan’s story is one of unbreakable resilience. Despite the horror she endured, she fought to survive, to protect her children, and to expose a predator.
While scars remain, her voice is now one of strength. Her ordeal reminds us all of the power of courage, the importance of speaking up, and the undeniable truth that even in the darkest of places, hope can find a way in.
