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Details in W.Va. Torture Case 'Out of a Horror Movie'
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
BIG CREEK, W.Va. - For at least a week, authorities say, a young black
woman was held captive in a mobile home, forced to eat animal waste,
stabbed, choked and repeatedly sexually abused - all while being peppered
with a racial slur.
It wasn't until deputies acting on an anonymous tip drove to a ramshackle
trailer deep in West Virginia's rural hills that she was found. Limping
toward the door with her arms outstretched, she uttered, "Help me," the
Logan County sheriff's office said.
Six people, all white, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter,
have been arrested and could face federal hate crime charges in the
suspected attack on 20-year-old Megan Williams, who remained hospitalized
Tuesday with injuries that included four stab wounds in the leg, and black
and blue eyes. Her right arm was in a cast.
"I'm better," Williams told The Associated Press in a voice barely above a
whisper.
"I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did
my daughter," Carmen Williams said Tuesday from the Charleston Area Medical
Center. "I didn't know there were people like that out here."
The AP generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but
Williams and her mother agreed to release her name.
A prosecutor said police are investigating the possibility that the victim
was lured to the house and attacked by a man she had met online, but Carmen
Williams insisted that wasn't the case. "This wasn't from the Internet," she
said.
Authorities were still looking for two people they believe drove the woman
to the house where she was abused, said Logan County Chief Deputy V.K.
Dingess. Deputies also interviewed Williams on Tuesday morning. An FBI
spokesman in Pittsburgh, Bill Crowley, confirmed that the agency is looking
into possible civil rights violations.
The case is "something that would have come out of a horror movie," Logan
County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.
The home is in a forlorn part of Logan County about 50 miles southwest of
Charleston, where the scattered homes are marked by "No Trespassing" signs.
An old shed linked to a mobile home by an extension cord is what authorities
say became a hellish prison for Williams.
Deputies found her when they drove to the home on Saturday after receiving
an anonymous tip from someone who witnessed the abuse, officials said.
The woman was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet,
according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court based on what
the suspects told deputies. She also had been choked with a cord, it
alleges. Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being
sexually assaulted.
One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman's ankle
with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized
because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.
Carmen Williams said doctors told her daughter she may be well enough to
leave the hospital within a few days, although a nurse said the young
woman's condition was listed as "under evaluation."
"I just want my daughter to be well and recover," Carmen Williams said. "I
know the Lord can do anything."
The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Frankie Brewster, the
49-year-old woman who owns the home where the suspected attacks occurred, is
charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false
information during a felony investigation.
Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with
kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the
commission of a felony.
Frankie Brewster was released from prison in September 2000 after serving
five years for voluntary manslaughter and wanton endangerment in the death
of an 84-year-old woman, according to court records.
Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and
assault during the commission of a felony.
Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27,
of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony
and battery.
Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious
wounding.
All six remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bail each, and all
have asked for court-appointed attorneys.
Details in W.Va. Torture Case 'Out of a Horror Movie'
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
BIG CREEK, W.Va. - For at least a week, authorities say, a young black
woman was held captive in a mobile home, forced to eat animal waste,
stabbed, choked and repeatedly sexually abused - all while being peppered
with a racial slur.
It wasn't until deputies acting on an anonymous tip drove to a ramshackle
trailer deep in West Virginia's rural hills that she was found. Limping
toward the door with her arms outstretched, she uttered, "Help me," the
Logan County sheriff's office said.
Six people, all white, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter,
have been arrested and could face federal hate crime charges in the
suspected attack on 20-year-old Megan Williams, who remained hospitalized
Tuesday with injuries that included four stab wounds in the leg, and black
and blue eyes. Her right arm was in a cast.
"I'm better," Williams told The Associated Press in a voice barely above a
whisper.
"I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did
my daughter," Carmen Williams said Tuesday from the Charleston Area Medical
Center. "I didn't know there were people like that out here."
The AP generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but
Williams and her mother agreed to release her name.
A prosecutor said police are investigating the possibility that the victim
was lured to the house and attacked by a man she had met online, but Carmen
Williams insisted that wasn't the case. "This wasn't from the Internet," she
said.
Authorities were still looking for two people they believe drove the woman
to the house where she was abused, said Logan County Chief Deputy V.K.
Dingess. Deputies also interviewed Williams on Tuesday morning. An FBI
spokesman in Pittsburgh, Bill Crowley, confirmed that the agency is looking
into possible civil rights violations.
The case is "something that would have come out of a horror movie," Logan
County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.
The home is in a forlorn part of Logan County about 50 miles southwest of
Charleston, where the scattered homes are marked by "No Trespassing" signs.
An old shed linked to a mobile home by an extension cord is what authorities
say became a hellish prison for Williams.
Deputies found her when they drove to the home on Saturday after receiving
an anonymous tip from someone who witnessed the abuse, officials said.
The woman was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet,
according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court based on what
the suspects told deputies. She also had been choked with a cord, it
alleges. Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being
sexually assaulted.
One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman's ankle
with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized
because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.
Carmen Williams said doctors told her daughter she may be well enough to
leave the hospital within a few days, although a nurse said the young
woman's condition was listed as "under evaluation."
"I just want my daughter to be well and recover," Carmen Williams said. "I
know the Lord can do anything."
The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Frankie Brewster, the
49-year-old woman who owns the home where the suspected attacks occurred, is
charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false
information during a felony investigation.
Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with
kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the
commission of a felony.
Frankie Brewster was released from prison in September 2000 after serving
five years for voluntary manslaughter and wanton endangerment in the death
of an 84-year-old woman, according to court records.
Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and
assault during the commission of a felony.
Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27,
of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony
and battery.
Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious
wounding.
All six remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bail each, and all
have asked for court-appointed attorneys.
