PATERSON, N.J. (MCT) — With tears steaming down her face, a Paterson woman who police say was kept by her boyfriend in a padlocked bedroom for the better part of two years showed up at court Tuesday and defended her alleged captor as a “loving, good man.”

“I want this all to stop!” a sobbing Nancy Rodriguez told reporters in the hallway of Superior Court in Paterson, moments before her boyfriend, Michael Mendez, was led before a judge to answer charges of kidnapping, criminal restraint and drug distribution.