Just days after the girl turned 15, Dana Thompson put her on birth control pills, then repeatedly raped her using chains and dog collars while filming the acts, according to the dozens of charges filed against him.
"Some of the things I had to look up on the Internet when I interviewed her because I didn't know what they meant," said Detective Kim Trujillo of the Anchorage Police Department's crimes against children unit and investigator on the case.
Thompson called the girl his "little slave" until late in the spring of 2008, when the girl left the state and realized that what was going on wasn't normal and turned him in, according to the court documents.
Thompson, 46, was indicted Wednesday on 64 felony counts of sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful exploitation of a minor -- related to producing child pornography -- and possessing child porn.
Back when it all began, according to police, Thompson, who didn't work, was living in his mother's Anchorage trailer and was being paid by the state to care for her. Through his mother, Rita Thompson, he had known the girl, who lived in a remote Alaska community, for years, since she was about 4. Their families were long-time friends.
"He has always been a loner; he doesn't like people," said Rita Thompson, 73. "He has never cared much for people, only the people we bring into our home. That's the only ones he's ever made friends with."
The girl had been home schooled and had led a fairly sheltered life, Trujillo said. As she got older and began visiting town she stayed at Thompson's place because her family trusted the Thompsons, she said.
At first, the abuse started with "friendly kisses" as Thompson took the girl, at the time 14, to bed on short stays, according to court documents. Soon, he began fondling her and forcing the girl to perform oral sex acts, police said.
But it wasn't until she turned 15 that Thompson forced the girl to lie about her name and age to get birth control pills, then began raping her repeatedly -- sometimes as many as six times a day, Trujillo said. The girl's stays at the Thompson home also got longer, progressing from weekends to weeks, and then months, she said.
"By that time, she was thinking that she was in love with this man and that this was normal," Trujillo said.
In the spring of last year, the girl and her mother left the state for a time, she said. An outside perspective crept in: This relationship was anything but normal.
Police arrested Thompson on Dec. 11 on 16 sex abuse counts to get him off the street, Trujillo said. At the time, Thompson was "verbally belligerent," and offered no explanation as to what went on, said Detective Sgt. Ron Tidler, supervisor of APD's cyber crimes unit, which assisted in the case.
Police searching Thompson's trailer found sex toys, bondage equipment, video and photography equipment, as well as numerous digital storage devices, on which detectives later found thousands of child porn images and videos -- both downloaded pictures of other children as young as 6 and of his victim and himself together, Trujillo said.
"He did a lot of our work for us, of documenting his crimes," said Tidler, whose unit forensically examined the hardware.
Thompson's lawyer did not return a message seeking comment Thursday, but Rita Thompson disputes things played out as police claim. She said she didn't know about the sex toys and pornography, but that they weren't anybody's business anyway. She saw some fooling around, she said, but nothing like what police allege.
As far as she is concerned, the girl was a willing participant, she said.
"I was here when all this supposedly happened, and let me tell you something, it didn't all happen," she said. "All she had to do was call out to me and I'd have had the cops here on top of my own son. And she never called out once."
Police, however, maintain Dana Thompson brainwashed the girl into submission.
"Humans in general have a tremendous ability to rationalize and normalize horrific events in their life as a survival mechanism," Tidler said. "Other people, something like this happens to them and they end up committing suicide or they turn to drugs. Just horrible things happen."
Trujillo said Thompson has refused to speak to her about the case. But despite his reluctance to talk, Thompson did hash things over with the girl by phone shortly before his arrest, according to court documents.
Police were listening in, according to the court documents.
In the conversation, he was cautious, saying he wanted to talk in person because phone calls can be recorded. But he also said he missed the victim and their relationship together, the charges say. The victim asked why the abuse started when she was 14. Thompson said it was because she was ready for sex and if it wasn't with him it would have been with someone else.
During the conversation, he generally acknowledged what went on and never denied the victim's claims, according to the documents.
Thompson, who has no previous criminal record, remains jailed with bail set at $150,000.
The victim, now 18, is back living with her mother in a remote village, Trujillo said. She just began getting therapy, she said.
"She's a very strong, intelligent woman," Trujillo said. "She's grown up way too fast."
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.