He was convicted of kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Shoaf, a 14-year-old girl from Lugoff, South Carolina, in 2006, holding her captive in an underground bunker.
[1] Shoaf's poise and calm while she was held captive was considered remarkable by people involved with missing children cases.
[2] "Not only was she very brave, she was also very smart and did several things that greatly improved her chances of survival," said Captain David Thomley of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department.
[2] After 10 days in captivity,[1] the victim convinced Filyaw to let her borrow his cellular phone to play games, but she had an entirely different use in mind.
The former girlfriend who made the call to Kershaw County's Department of Social Services passed on Filyaw's cell phone number to the police.
Filyaw's interaction with Shoaf was also explored on the "Underground Terror" episode of Investigation Discovery's Surviving Evil series, hosted by fellow crime survivor Charisma Carpenter, on September 9, 2013.