Locals: Torture Suspects Were Trouble

Charlotte and Roy Williams tried to avoid their neighbors, a rowdy bunch who blared music for days on end. But the noise may have been the least of their offenses.

Authorities say they held a 20-year-old black woman for about a week at their mobile home, where she was tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to eat rat droppings.

Megan Williams' captors, who were white, choked her with a cable cord, stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet and beat her, according to criminal complaints.

State authorities said Wednesday they would not pursue hate crime charges because the other charges the suspects face carry stiffer penalties. But federal civil rights violations remain an option, U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller said.

"If I knowed that was happening up there, I would have gone up there myself to try and help that girl," said Roy Williams, who is not related to Megan Williams.

The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Megan Williams and her mother, Carmen Williams, agreed to release her name. Carmen Williams said she wanted people to know what her daughter had endured.

It wasn't until an anonymous tip led Logan County sheriff's deputies to the property on Saturday that Megan Williams' ordeal ended. She was not a random target and had had a "social relationship" with one of the suspects, Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said.

Megan Williams remained hospitalized Wednesday in Charleston. The hospital declined to release any information about her condition.

Police tape remained at the scene in Big Creek, and empty beer cans filled a rusting shopping cart next to the mobile home. An empty TV dinner tray collected rainwater near the front door.

Like many in Big Creek, Roy Williams, 61, and his wife, Charlotte, 49, avoided the property.

"We know everyone over here in this area - except them," Charlotte Williams said. "We didn't want to know them."

The mobile home's residents - Bobby Brewster, 24, and his mother, Frankie Brewster, 49 - are among six people charged in the case.

Bobby Brewster is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony. He is scheduled to appear in Logan County Circuit Court on Monday for arraignment on the kidnapping charge, according to court records. No other court dates have been set yet.

Frankie Brewster is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation.

The other suspects are Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, who is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding; Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, who is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony; and Burton's daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, and George A. Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, who are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

Each remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Public defender Dwyane Adkins, appointed to represent Bobby Brewster, and public defender Betty Gregory, appointed to represent Karen Burton, declined comment. The other defendants' lawyers were either in hearings or did not return telephone calls Wednesday.

In West Virginia, kidnapping charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. Sexual assault charges carry a sentence of up to 35 years, while a hate crime charge carries a penalty of 10 years.

Since 1991, police have filed 108 criminal charges against the six.

Frankie Brewster was charged in 1994 with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges of manslaughter and wanton endangerment. She was released from prison in 2000 after serving five years in the death of an 84-year-old woman, court records show.

Bobby Brewster was accused in March of attacking his mother with a machete, according to court records. The outcome of those charges domestic assault, brandishing a deadly weapon and obstructing an officer - was not immediately clear.

He also faces domestic battery and assault charges after a dispute involving Megan Williams in July. A court date has not yet been set.

The Brewsters were constantly fighting, drinking and disrupting the otherwise quiet hollow in southern West Virginia, Roy and Charlotte Williams said.

"Sometimes we'd hear music playing really loud," Charlotte Williams said. "We could tell you what the words to the song was, it was so clear. It would go for three or four days, 24 hours a day sometimes."

Neighbors of Megan Williams in Charleston, about 50 miles north of Big Creek, recalled her as sweet-natured but said her family members kept largely to themselves.

"They were isolated, in a way," said Bishop Norman Jones, pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Gospel Tabernacle, which Carmen Williams attended. "Carmen was very protective of Megan, so it was hard to know her well."

Roy and Charlotte Williams said they were concerned the case would unfairly taint Logan County as racist. They said the county was a place where people go to church together and hold yard sales.

"You never, ever expect this to happen anywhere near you. Never," Charlotte Williams said.

James Nolan, a sociology professor at West Virginia University, said the case will shine a harsh light on the state, according to the Daily Mail.

"It's the stereotype, backwoods kind of story," said Nolan, who specializes in the study of hate crimes. "Even if there's a big story and people are exposed to West Virginia in a positive way, then they see something like this and they remember this."

Residents say that even where racism lurks, it is restrained.

"This goes beyond prejudice," said the Rev. Audie Murphy Sr., president of the Logan County branch of the NAACP. "It's actually evil in its heightened form.

"I feel it's not a direct indication of the community in its entirety," he said, "because there are great people here, such as the one who notified the authorities that the girl was being held captive."