[Abby] 10 years ago, two brothers from Knoxville escaped horrific abuse
they suffered at the hands of their stepmother and father.
As 10News anchor Robin Wilhoit reports, on the other side of the horrors,
they eventually found hope.
A warning, this story may be disturbing to some.
[Woman] Follow-up message, aren't those awesome?
[Justin] Those are awesome.
[Robin] Whether it's picking out fixtures...
[Woman] So everything is handmade.
[Robin] or coordinating colors...
[Woman] This is actually a new red.
[Robin] Justin McIntosh finds comfort in creating a sense of home.
[Justin] I love anything and everything with a home.
I love making...
your home as beautiful as you can make it.
[Robin] Home is supposed to be a haven,
but growing up, home was full of horrors and abuse
for the 24-year-old and his older brother, Austin.
[Reporter] Now, investigators accuse Cox of handcuffing the two boys
in the kitchen on numerous occasions.
[Robin] The siblings' story topped the headlines in 2013
when the two escaped the torture they endured for years
from their stepmother, Jessica Cox,
and their father, Michael McIntosh.
[Justin] She would just beat us.
It was just horrible,
whether it was with extension cords, hangers, belts, canned goods,
I mean, like, literally just anything.
[Robin] How long would you go without food?
[Justin] Most of the time, it was two to three days.
If she was really angry, it was four to five days.
[Robin] Justin can't escape the memories
of being handcuffed to the oven or kitchen cabinets.
The boys would be forced to stand, sit, or kneel
sometimes for hours that stretched into days.
[Justin] She would have us fill the tub up with ice-cold water
and then take every ice tray out of the freezer and put the ice in the bathtub
and then would have us get in and she...
literally would get on top of us and try to drown us.
[Robin] The breaking point for the boys
finally came in the early morning of May 28, 2013.
The night before, Michael and Jessica arrived home to find Austin uncuffed.
The couple handcuffed the boys together to a lower cabinet.
[Justin] As we were sitting there,
we just kind of both said we had never seen her that angry.
You know what I mean?
This is an opportunity if we really want to get out of here.
I mean, how are we going to do this?
[Robin] They hatched a plan.
Handcuffed on either side of the cabinet,
Justin crawled through the cabinet to Austin's side.
[Justin] I got through
and I remember him just like yanking me
through the end of it.
And he was like, "We gotta go. We gotta go."
"We got to get out of here right away."
[Robin] The brothers quietly and quickly
jumped out of the front window
and started walking.
A challenge for Austin
given his feet were swollen and bruised from a recent beating.
[Justin] I remember him saying his feet were really killing him
because his, you know, his wound.
And he kept saying, "Well, can we stop?"
And I just kept saying, "I don't want to stop."
"You know we can't stop."
[car drives by]
[Robin] Still handcuffed and hungry,
the teens walked nearly three miles here to Kingston Pike.
They then went into a grocery store
and stole food because they had no money,
then walked across the street to a fast food restaurant
where they called their grandparents.
But no one answered.
They then went on to Farragut High School
and ran into a janitor.
Seeing them bound and beaten,
he called authorities.
[Justin] I remember Austin just saying,
"Please don't take us back."
"Please don't take us back again."
I remember one of the detectives
that had literally just pulled up said,
"Buddy, don't you worry."
"There's about 20 sheriffs there with guns drawn."
"You're not going back there."
[Robin] Investigators converged on the family's trailer and removed evidence,
including a cabinet the brothers were regularly handcuffed to.
Four years later, in 2017,
a jury convicted Jessica Cox of aggravated child abuse
and reckless endangerment.
Michael McIntosh pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse.
[Justin] As a...as a kid, I was upset because...
you didn't understand it.
You just wanted to be loved by your parents.
But as time has gone on,
I think I'm more upset that he wouldn't have just...
manned up and said, "You know, this isn't good for my boys."
[Robin] Justin says years of therapy helped him work through the trauma.
Though the anxiety lingers,
he has restored his relationship with his father.
Did he apologize?
[Justin] He has apologized probably 150 times.
He...every single time I talk to him,
the very first thing that comes out of his mouth is,
"I'm so sorry. I should have done better."
[Robin] As for Jessica,
Justin hasn't seen or spoken to her since their escape.
[Justin] I want to have that one sit down...
meeting where I can get, like, the closure, the answers that I want,
even though she probably won't give them.
[Robin] Instead, Justin finds love and support from his grandparents
who took the brothers in after the abuse.
[Justin] And they are the most precious people in my entire life.
I'm so thankful for them.
[Woman] Isn't that pretty?
[Justin] Oh yeah.
[Robin] Making a house a home is now Justin's mission
and hope is his message.
[Justin] If anyone can see this
and know that they can get through this in life
and you don't always have to be stuck where you're at.
Life does go forward and it can get better.
[Abby] Wow, that was Robin Wilhoit reporting.
Jessica Cox is serving a 24-year sentence at the women's prison in Nashville.
Michael McIntosh is set to be released from
the Northwest Correctional Facility in Tiptonville in 2027.
Justin's brother, Austin, works as a flight mechanic in Florida
with the goal of someday becoming a pilot.