Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Rape in W.V.
From NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/us/12captive.html?ex=1190260800&en=f20ce746d6e4b5fa&ei=5070
Woman, 20, Was Imprisoned and Tortured, Police Say
By CHRIS STRATTON and IAN URBINA
LOGAN, W.Va., Sept. 11 — A 20-year-old woman was held captive for more than a week in a mobile home, where she was raped, stabbed and tortured by at least a half-dozen people, the police said. Sheriff’s deputies rescued her on Saturday, and she remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for more than 30 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything of this nature,” the Logan County sheriff, Eddie Hunter, said.
Six people, including a mother and her son and a mother and her daughter, have been charged in the case.
The police said the people charged, all of whom are white, yelled racial slurs at the woman, who is black, during some of the attacks. The woman endured horrific torture, according to court documents. She was raped by multiple men, some of whom poured scalding water on her during the assaults, according to the criminal complaints.
She was forced to lick up blood, eat animal feces and drink water from a toilet, the documents said, and she was also stabbed repeatedly in the leg and was told that if she tried to leave, she would be killed.
The police said that more than a week ago, the victim went with Bobby R. Brewster, 24, who she believed was a friend, to the trailer where he lives with his mother, Frankie Lee Brewster, 49, in Big Creek, in the northern end of Logan County.
On Tuesday, the police were interviewing the victim further about two more people she said were involved.
On Saturday, Logan County deputies received a tip about a woman being held against her will at the Brewster residence. A person working in the area had heard disturbing noises coming from the trailer and seen the victim with cuts on her leg through the window, the police said.
“Upon the deputies’ arrival, they found Mrs. Frankie Brewster sitting on the front porch,” a police report says. The deputies asked Mrs. Brewster if anyone else was at the residence and she said she was alone.
As she was talking, the police documents say, Mrs. Brewster got up and stepped toward the door, when a woman inside the residence limped toward the door with her arms held out and said, “Help me.” The woman’s eyes were bruised and she had four large stab wounds on her left leg, the police said.
Police documents say Mrs. Brewster admitted to holding the victim at the trailer against her will and beating her.
The victim was taken to Logan Regional Hospital and then to the General Hospital of Charleston Area Medical Center, where she underwent surgery for her leg wounds.
Mrs. Brewster was charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, malicious wounding and giving false statements to an officer. Mr. Brewster was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.
The Brewster family and their trailer has a history of violent crime, the police said.
Mr. Brewster killed his stepfather there when he was 12, the authorities said, and served time at a juvenile correction facility.
In July 1994, Mrs. Brewster shot and killed an 84-year-old woman she was looking after, also in the trailer, according to court records.
Mrs. Brewster, who was charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served six years at a state correctional facility. She was paroled in 2000.
In 2005, two men got into a fight outside the trailer, the police said, ending with a fatal stabbing.
In January, the police were again called to the trailer, where they found a man who had been slashed across his abdomen; the man survived, according to court documents, and Mr. Brewster was a witness in that case.
Also being held in the case of the young woman were Danny J. Combs, 20, who was charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding; George A. Messer, 27, who was charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery; Karen Burton, 46, who was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony; and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, who was charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. The four were being held in $100,000 bond each.
The Brewsters were being held pending bond hearings.
The authorities said they were still deciding whether to file additional charges, of hate crimes, against the defendants.
“The whole family is shocked,” a sister of the victim said.
Relatives said the victim has mild learning disabilities but graduated from high school. The relatives would not comment on whether the victim was living at home or had a job.
Chris Stratton reported from Logan, W.Va., and Ian Urbina from Washington.
Woman, 20, Was Imprisoned and Tortured, Police Say
By CHRIS STRATTON and IAN URBINA
LOGAN, W.Va., Sept. 11 — A 20-year-old woman was held captive for more than a week in a mobile home, where she was raped, stabbed and tortured by at least a half-dozen people, the police said. Sheriff’s deputies rescued her on Saturday, and she remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for more than 30 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything of this nature,” the Logan County sheriff, Eddie Hunter, said.
Six people, including a mother and her son and a mother and her daughter, have been charged in the case.
The police said the people charged, all of whom are white, yelled racial slurs at the woman, who is black, during some of the attacks. The woman endured horrific torture, according to court documents. She was raped by multiple men, some of whom poured scalding water on her during the assaults, according to the criminal complaints.
She was forced to lick up blood, eat animal feces and drink water from a toilet, the documents said, and she was also stabbed repeatedly in the leg and was told that if she tried to leave, she would be killed.
The police said that more than a week ago, the victim went with Bobby R. Brewster, 24, who she believed was a friend, to the trailer where he lives with his mother, Frankie Lee Brewster, 49, in Big Creek, in the northern end of Logan County.
On Tuesday, the police were interviewing the victim further about two more people she said were involved.
On Saturday, Logan County deputies received a tip about a woman being held against her will at the Brewster residence. A person working in the area had heard disturbing noises coming from the trailer and seen the victim with cuts on her leg through the window, the police said.
“Upon the deputies’ arrival, they found Mrs. Frankie Brewster sitting on the front porch,” a police report says. The deputies asked Mrs. Brewster if anyone else was at the residence and she said she was alone.
As she was talking, the police documents say, Mrs. Brewster got up and stepped toward the door, when a woman inside the residence limped toward the door with her arms held out and said, “Help me.” The woman’s eyes were bruised and she had four large stab wounds on her left leg, the police said.
Police documents say Mrs. Brewster admitted to holding the victim at the trailer against her will and beating her.
The victim was taken to Logan Regional Hospital and then to the General Hospital of Charleston Area Medical Center, where she underwent surgery for her leg wounds.
Mrs. Brewster was charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, malicious wounding and giving false statements to an officer. Mr. Brewster was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.
The Brewster family and their trailer has a history of violent crime, the police said.
Mr. Brewster killed his stepfather there when he was 12, the authorities said, and served time at a juvenile correction facility.
In July 1994, Mrs. Brewster shot and killed an 84-year-old woman she was looking after, also in the trailer, according to court records.
Mrs. Brewster, who was charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served six years at a state correctional facility. She was paroled in 2000.
In 2005, two men got into a fight outside the trailer, the police said, ending with a fatal stabbing.
In January, the police were again called to the trailer, where they found a man who had been slashed across his abdomen; the man survived, according to court documents, and Mr. Brewster was a witness in that case.
Also being held in the case of the young woman were Danny J. Combs, 20, who was charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding; George A. Messer, 27, who was charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery; Karen Burton, 46, who was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony; and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, who was charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. The four were being held in $100,000 bond each.
The Brewsters were being held pending bond hearings.
The authorities said they were still deciding whether to file additional charges, of hate crimes, against the defendants.
“The whole family is shocked,” a sister of the victim said.
Relatives said the victim has mild learning disabilities but graduated from high school. The relatives would not comment on whether the victim was living at home or had a job.
Chris Stratton reported from Logan, W.Va., and Ian Urbina from Washington.
# posted by a black girl @ 9:12 AM 
