Woman raped and man beaten in home invasion

Posted: 06.16.2010 at 8:04 AM

DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- Police in Des Moines are investigating an early morning home invasion in which a 21-year-old woman was raped several times by three masked men and her 23-year-old fiance was pistol-whipped.

Officers say the couple and their 11-month-old child were asleep in their second-story bedroom north of Union Park about 5:20 Tuesday morning when three men kicked in a box fan in their bedroom window and crawled through.

The woman says the three men demanded money and held the child as a hostage while they raped her and beat her fiance.

Before they left, the three invaders took a laptop computer, a video game system, a 26-inch flat screen television and about $200 in cash.