On this day, Sept. 19, in 1977, a former Miss Wyoming was arrested in England on allegations that she kidnapped a Mormon missionary and raped him. Beauty queen Joyce McKinney, 28, was accused of traveling to London to abduct ex-boyfriend Kirk Anderson and chaining him to a bed to force him into sex as a way of deprogramming him from his religion.
The British tabloids covered the scandal with gusto — dubbing the caper the “Mormon sex in chains case.” McKinney became a celebrity of sorts before jumping bail and fleeing the country.
McKinney was arrested by the FBI in 1979 on charges of making false statements to obtain a passport.
Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris produced a critically acclaimed documentary last year about the bizarre story called “Tabloid.”
-Scott McCabe
