This story was on the back page of front section of today’s Virginian Pilot. I haven’t been able to find the exact story online but the case is being covered (1, 2, 3) around the net.
Inside a shed on a remote hillside of this coalfield community, authorities say a young black woman was tortured for days, sexually assaulted, beaten and forced to eat rat droppings.
Her captors, all of them white, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, poured hot water over her and made her drink from a toilet, according to criminal complaints.
Unbelievable. These folks, who also sexually assaulted the 20-year old, are no strangers to committing crimes and are being held in jail in lieu of bond.
I’ll be watching this story as it continues to unfold.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
what a sad, sad thing to happen. throw the keys away.
Saw this as it hit the wires on Monday. Strangely quiet on the national front . . .
This is the worst thing that I have seen since James Byrd was dragged (drug?) to death in Texas a few years ago. This is horrible.
And yet some foolish white folks will still deny that racism exists in America today….the same foolish white folks that continue to refuse to have that long awaited much needed race discussion in this country.
great post vivian….go go gf!! buzz…buzz….
It is a sad time in West Virginia. Seems some people never learn. It is sad that the POOR are THEIR OWN WORST OPPRESSORS. Did we not learn from The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that the Poor know no color or Race? The Poor are poor. How can one treat another human being with such disrespect? We could expect this in one of the Terrorist’s Countries, but please not in the good old U.S.A.
Someone please tell the media to stop sweeping our dirty laundry under the rug !!!!!!!
This isn’t racism. It’s JUST PLAIN EVIL PEOPLE! This family has had more than 100 charges filed against them since 1991. The mother confessed to manslaughter of a 84 year old woman.
This group of sickos would have done all that to a 20 year old white woman. They are just plain sick and evil. Lock them UNDER the jail!
Don’t everyone be so quick to jump on the hate crime bandwagon here. The so-called victim was the girlfriend of the White Man that lived at the house, Bobby Brewster. They were having sex with each other for several months. Sometimes they fought and the cops were called. In fact, Bobby has yet to go to court over a domestic disturbance case with the same woman.
This sounds like a Jerry Springer show topic, NOT a hate crime.
The press was so disappointed with the results of the Duke Lacrosse case they are itching to find a new hate crime. Why not pick on people living in a trailer in West Virginia? They must be racist, right? Except for the who inter-racial dating thing, maybe they are?
I think not.
http://www.belch.com/blog/2007/09/13/megan-williams-stupidity-and-hate-crimes/
Jerry Springer or not, it’s totally understandable why some would react they way they have. We all share the common reaction that this was evil, and that no matter the motivations, it’s another sign of the rampant ability of sick individuals in our society to completely disrespect and disregard their fellow human beings.
We must as a society do a better job of instilling love and respect for one another. Incidentally, those “terrorist’s countries” are probably full of a majority of people who are just as horrified by this kind of teroristic behavior as we are. Please don’t paint all “those people” with that brush—they don’t deserve that.
Three quotes – one from each article Vivian linked:
“One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting Williams’ ankle with a knife and using the N-word in telling Williams she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.”
“Her captors choked her with a cable cord, stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial epithet, poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet and beat her, according to the complaints.”
“Authorities believe Megan Williams was repeatedly stabbed by her accused tormentors, as one of them uttered the “N” word with each and every thrust.”
What makes it not a race thing?