Shivangi Sinha
When Laura Cowan managed to alert the police about her abduction, she identified Musa Muhummed as her captor. She recounted how, in 1995, he had manipulated her into moving in with him along with her children. This marked the beginning of a five-year ordeal filled with domestic abuse, violence, and exploitation. Eventually, the police rescued Laura and the children from his home, leading to multiple charges against Musa. Lifetime’s ‘Girl in the Garage: The Laura Cowan Story’ brings these events to life, vividly portraying the harrowing experiences Laura endured during those years.
Musa Muhummed Subjected Laura Cowan to the Same Abuse as His First Family
Mansa Musa Muhummed, originally named Richard Boddie Jr., was born near Norfolk, Virginia, and had a relatively typical childhood. After converting to Islam, he changed his name and married Marva Barfield in 1973. Together, they started a family and had 12 children before relocating to Bakersfield, California, in 1985. This is where they welcomed two more children within three years. The family later moved to Riverside, California. Over time, Musa began displaying abusive behavior toward his wife and children, which only intensified as the years went on.
After moving to California, reports indicate that Musa began exerting strict control over his family’s food intake. He often left them hungry for extended periods. He installed padlocks on the refrigerator and cupboards and punished the children if they “stole” food. To avoid raising suspicion with Child Protective Services (CPS), he reportedly kept empty food containers in front of the cupboards. Over time, physical abuse and emotional torment became routine in the household, escalating to the point where he even controlled how often family members could use the bathroom. None of his children attended school, as he claimed to be homeschooling them.
In 1995, Musa met Laura Cowan through the mosque they both attended. Following her husband’s arrest, he offered her a place to stay with his family. When Laura met them at a motel in Riverside, she noticed his wife and children kneeling before him. It was a scene she initially interpreted as a devout religious practice. However, it quickly became apparent that his lifestyle was far from what she imagined. Musa insisted she marry him as his second wife, and along with her two children, Ahmed and Maryam, she moved into his household. Over time, he isolated them from the outside world, seized control of their finances, and subjected them to the same cycle of abuse he inflicted on his first family.
The Police Found a Lot of Evidence Confirming Musa Muhummed’s Criminal Activities
After Laura Cowan had a daughter with Musa, he took the child away and placed her under Marva’s care to prevent her from escaping. He eventually relocated the entire household to Perris, California, where his behavior became increasingly violent. Muhummed confined Laura and her son to a garage, nailing the door shut to ensure they couldn’t leave. In 1998, he married a third woman, Adrienne E., with whom he had two children, Abdullah and Jada. Upon witnessing his abusive tendencies, Adrienne sent her son to live with relatives for safety. By October 1998, Muhummed moved all the children, along with the three women, into a three-bedroom house in Aguanga, California.
He partitioned the garage into two areas, and while Adrienne lived with her daughter in one, Laura stayed in the other with her son. All of them lived on a monthly income of $4000 from welfare money. However, it has been reported that Musa spent most of it on himself and almost starved the rest of them. On April 1, 1999, while at the post office collecting food stamps, Laura managed to slip a note pleading for help to one of the clerks. This led the police to visit Musa’s home on April 6, 1999. Upon arrival, they noticed that all the doors in the house were padlocked, and bags of soiled diapers filled the garbage bin.
Inside the house, they found knives, guns and ammunition. The authorities immediately placed all the minor children into foster care. Gradually, some of the children began to speak out, detailing the years of abuse and suffering they had endured under Musa’s control. By May and June of 1999, medical examinations of all of his children revealed they were severely undernourished and underweight. Each child showed signs of physical abuse, with numerous scars on their bodies consistent with being beaten or punched. It further confirmed the years of mistreatment they had endured.
Musa Muhummed is Serving His Sentence in the California Medical Facility Today
In November 1999, the police filed charges against Musa Muhummed, including seven counts of torture, 11 counts of felony child abuse, five counts of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, and two counts of felony false imprisonment. His trial was delayed for years due to numerous petitions and the complexity of the charges. However, it finally commenced in April 2008. During the trial, audio recordings made by Laura Cowan while living with him, which captured the sounds of beatings in the house, were presented as evidence. This played a pivotal role in the jury convicting him on all charges.
Musa was sentenced to a determinate term of 16 years and 4 months, along with seven consecutive indeterminate life terms with the possibility of parole. He filed many subsequent appeals alleging his denial of constitutional rights and ineffective counsel, but none were taken up by the courts. He is currently 71 years old and is incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Musa Muhummed applied for parole first in March 2022 and has made continuous efforts to argue his case. His most recent parole hearing was in December 2024, where he was denied another hearing for another 5 years. Given his declining health, it seems probable that he will remain in prison for the rest of his life. His next scheduled parole date is set for December 2029.
Read More: Marva Barfield: Where is Musa Muhummed’s First Wife Now?
