Held Captive, Drugged, and Trafficked for Sex After Accepting a Freelance Modeling Gig

Frida Farrell was only twenty-one years old when she moved from Sweden to London to train as an actress. She’d not been present in the UK for very long before she found herself in a dreadful predicament.

She was out shopping on the evening of September 2002 when she was approached by a man who introduced himself as “Peter”. He told her he’d love to cast her in a photo shoot he was doing for a £7,000 Harley Davidson campaign. He seemed legitimate and she made plans to attend a test shoot with him. She arrived to find a studio set up in the front room of his apartment and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, when she returned the next day, things took a dark turn.

This time she found herself standing in an apartment where the photo shoot set from the day before had been removed. While she was still absorbing this fact, the man slammed the door, locked it, and put the keys in his pocket. She knew she was in trouble when he pulled a hunting knife out and held it by his side.

Frida was frozen with fear, unable to do anything. According to her account of events, he never made any direct verbal threat against her with the knife. Instead, he just ordered her to change into some lingerie he offered and gave her a glass of milk to drink.

She was certain the milk was drugged, but she drank it anyway. She’d already decided it was better to not know what was about to happen to her. Whether it was a beating, rape, death, or all of the above, she’d rather experience as little of it as possible. After she’d drank the milk, her captor led her to the living room and sexually assaulted her. She eventually passed out and when she came to again, she was in a different flat.

Over the next three days, she was sexually assaulted by at least six men and the man who’d taken her captive. She described the men as well-dressed and said they didn’t speak to her. She believed that they were all well aware that she wasn’t a prostitute because she was barely conscious for most of her ordeal.

“Peter” kept her in a drugged haze, making her drink more milk loaded with drugs periodically. He’d also made sure there was nothing in the small flat he would lock her in that she could use as a weapon against him or any of the men he brought in to abuse her. Frida was so desperate that she even tried to take the door off the hinges to escape while he was absent — but with no tools and in her disoriented state, she was unable to do so.

Her chance finally came when she was just lucid enough to take notice of a mistake “Peter” made when leaving the flat. Frida described him coming in the door in what seemed like a bit of a rush and tossing a pair of underwear at her. He told her to get dressed because someone would be there in two minutes before leaving and slamming the door behind him. Frida’s drugs had worn off enough that she realized there was no click of the lock behind him.

For a moment, she was afraid to even try to leave. Surely it was a trick and she’d be met with some sort of attack if she attempted it. Still, she knew she had to try. Gathering up her clothes, she crept quietly to the door and eased it open. Slipping out and tiptoeing up a flight of stairs, she quickly recognized that she was in the entrance hall of the same building she’d come to for the fake photoshoot three days earlier. She quickly ran out the front doors and kept running until she finally felt safe enough to stop and hail a cab to a friend’s house.

At first, she didn’t go to the police, but her friend finally convinced her she had to report what had happened to her. The officers she spoke with didn’t seem very convinced of her story and made comments about the fact that she’d walked into the man’s apartment on her own and no one had forced her to go. The experience with the authorities left her feeling like her attack was unimportant to them. While the police did make an effort to investigate, the flat where she’d been held and the one where she’d gone for the photoshoot were weekly cash rentals. By the time police began looking into things, “Peter” had vanished into thin air.

After years of living with the memory of her attack, Frida made a movie based loosely on her ordeal. It was her husband, British radio presenter Chris Farrell, who suggested she should make a film about her experiences to help others. She felt it was important to warn of the dangers of freelance work that might lead others into similar peril.

In comments made since Frida has begun speaking out about her experiences, she’s said those who work in situations where they might be entering unfamiliar spaces should let someone know where they are and when they’d return or if working with someone they don’t know, she suggested taking a friend or partner along.

Frida has moved back to her native Sweden in the years since she was taken hostage and raped and finally to Los Angeles, where she is still engaged in acting. No one has ever been caught and held accountable for the sexual assault and trafficking she went through, but she’s put it behind her and moved on with her husband and daughter. Only the emotional scars remain.

Like so many women who have endured similar horrors, she is a survivor.

The 2016 film, loosely based on the true story of the nightmare she endured, features Frida herself in the title role of Isobell. It was originally released to festivals under the title of Selling Isobel. It has since been renamed Apartment 407 and can currently be found on Amazon Prime.