Megan Williams: A Case of Torture and Captivity in West Virginia

By Lorraine Hayden Published Sep 12, 2007

This week while our country mourns those lost during the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, a young woman lays in the hospital severely traumatized after being tortured and held captive for 6 days in a West Virginia home. This young woman went missing from her home for days, but there was no national coverage of her disappearance. Why it is some cases get more coverage than others?The victim is a 20 year old black woman named Megan Williams. Her captors are no strangers to the Logan County criminal justice system. Frankie Brewster, her son Bobbie R. Brewster, Danny J. Combs, Karen Burton, her daughter Alisha Burton and George A. Messer have all been arrested in connection to the brutality towards Megan Williams. The FBI has been consulted as to whether or not to handle this as a hate crime being that the accused are all white. According to CNN.com an anonymous tip about a young woman being held against her will lead police to 49 year old Frankie Brewster's trailer. There police found Megan Williams with black eyes, stab wounds and part of her hair pulled out. Ms. Williams' tells police her captors forced her to eat dog and rat feces. She was made to drink from a toilet.Here we are fighting enemies across the ocean in a war against terrorism, and right here on our own soil we have Americans torturing other Americans simply because of the color of their skin. This is a sad and sick case to say the least. Well let me say any case of American on American crime is horrible, regardless of race. How can we win a war on radical Islamic terrorism if we can not keep our own home grown "terrorist" in check? Where's the outrage?The Michael Vick dog fighting news gained mass television news coverage, but yet here we have a clear case of brutality against a human and not a peep about it on television news outlets. His brutality towards dogs is indeed horrible, but where is the same outrage for the mistreatment and brutality against a fellow human being? As with the Jena 6 case, Megan Williams' story seems to be ignored by most of those in the mainstream media. What's next?Clearly, if Megan Williams' captors are not charged with a hate crime, expect to hear voices of outrage from the African American community. Ms. Williams tells the police she was called racial slurs while one of her captors cut her on the ankle with a knife. This is a tragedy for all Americans. Here it is 2007 and race relations in this country are still being played out like its 1887. We are no where united together as a country. On September 11, 2001 people of many different races were killed in the attacks against our country. We also have heroes from different races and backgrounds who saved lives that day. Blacks, Whites and Latinos are over in Iraq right now fighting side by side for this country. But yet, there are people who continue to think they are more superior than others. Megan Williams and The Jena 6 prove that today there still remains a great racial divide in this country

American race tragedy....

This happened in West Virginia, USA very recently and yesterday, Wednesday 9/12/2007 Megan Williams was still being treated for this in the hospital.

She was Tortured and Raped for a whole week, by Six White individuals, Three males and Three Females Between the ages of 20 and 49.

CNN normally does not reveal sexual assault victims' names. But Williams, who is hospitalized, and her mother, Carmen Williams, wanted her identity revealed.

Police said Bobby Brewster raped Williams, forced her to lick blood and drink from a toilet, and told his mother to kill Williams if she tried to escape.
Authorities previously said Williams was also forced to eat rat and dog feces.

According to criminal complaints filed in the county, Williams was assaulted, stabbed in the left leg, choked with cords and beaten for at least a week. When she was found, big parts of her hair had also been torn off of her scalp.
Williams says that Alisha Burton 22 cut her ankle with a knife while saying, 'That's what we do to Niggers around here,' Police records show.


'I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter,' Carmen Williams told The Associated Press on Tuesday from her daughter's hospital room. 'I didn't know there were people like that out here.'

Deputies received a tip and Saturday visited a home owned by Frankie Brewster in Big Creek, West Virginia.
As the deputies spoke with a woman on the front porch, 'a female inside the residence limped toward the door with her arms held out, saying 'Help me,' ' according to a news release from the sheriff's department.
'It's something you'd expect to see in a horror movie, not in Logan County,' Abraham said. 'She was subjected to unendurable torture down there.'

The six are charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and battery. If convicted of kidnapping, a suspect could face a sentence of up to life in prison. The penalty for first-degree sexual assault is 15 to 35 years.
Abraham said he is seeking the maximum sentence on the kidnapping charges. In addition to the Brewsters, the suspects are Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, West Virginia; and George A. Messer, 27, Karen Burton, 46, and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, all of Chapmanville, West Virginia.
'They all have previous records and have been arrested numerous times,' Sheriff W.E. Hunter said Tuesday. 'They are familiar to law enforcement.'
Frankie Brewster was charged with first-degree murder in 1994, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the death of an 84-year-old woman. She was released in 2000 after serving five years in prison, according to court records cited by the AP.
All of the six individuals that are involved in this case are accused of 108 different cases of crimes all combined.
All six were being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, and all requested court-appointed attorneys, the AP reported.
Investigators are still looking for two other people suspected of driving Williams to the home, according to the AP.

Carmen Williams had not reported her daughter missing, saying Megan Williams often disappeared for weeks at a time.

Carmen Williams said she is 'horrified' by her daughter's injuries.
'She wakes up crying, and the first thing she hollers is 'Mommy,' ' she said.