[narrator]
Working in a sexual atmosphere,
we both started to look really good to each other.
It was a very unorthodox relationship.
[woman]
They're not in existence anymore. They got burnt.
[narrator]
in the back woods of South Carolina...
[man]
there's probably only 200 people living up there.
[narrator]
[man 2]
You just don't know how people are in their own homes.
-[clock ticking] -[tense music playing]
[narrator]
Lutricia and Rebecca sit down
for a family meal.
[tense music continues]
The Sunday before Easter,
we did family dinner day.
And before they left, I hugged her in my arms
and kissed her on her cheek and told her I loved her
and I loved her more than the moon and stars.
More than chocolate.
Which was one of our things.
She says, "I love you too."
[tense music continues]
[narrator]
She, Lee, and Thad
have been together all evening.
[woman]
picking her up from work that night.
He had definitely had a lot to drink.
[grim music playing]
She was not used to him picking her up drunk,
and would never accept anybody driving drunk either.
She was mad
because he failed to take care of her.
He can't even pick her up from work on time.
And leaving your wife stranded at the strip club
is not a safe place to be.
It was like that broke her trust in that moment.
[narrator]
I could tell he was mad and upset
and she was mad and upset,
and I was like, "Yo,
if y'all wanna talk about this, I'm right here."
[dramatic musical sting]
[narrator]
Early the next morning, Thad is woken up.
It's not quite daylight yet,
and I hear someone beating on the door.
And I'm like, "What in the world?"
I thought the house was on fire or something.
I open the door and I see Rebecca standing there,
and she was beat up bad.
[dramatic musical sting]
I just started crying.
There was bite marks.
You could see teeth imprints.
You can see actual fist indents
that are the outline of bruises.
My first thought was, oh, God,
someone had went up there and robbed 'em.
I was like, "Something bad has happened to their family."
[narrator]
has been badly beaten.
I asked her, "Who did this, man?
Who beat you up like this?
'Cause I'm gonna [bleep] them up."
I couldn't believe it.
She said, "Lee did this."
[dramatic musical sting]
[Allite]
He had hit her in the temple.
I mean, he really went a number on her.
As she was, like, coming back to,
she could hear him saying,
"Oh, man, I think I've killed her."
[Thad]
I was upset with him.
You're supposed to be my friend. That's your wife.
She decided that she had to get the hell out of there.
[dramatic musical sting]
[narrator]
to visit for Easter.
We were gonna take a picnic
up towards Highlands, North Carolina,
and stop at one of the little roadside tables
like we used to do when she was a little girl.
She called me that evening,
she says, "Mom, something happened
and I can't come over."
She told me what had happened.
He had beaten her so badly
he thought he'd killed her.
And she drug herself to the hospital.
[Lutricia]
I said, "Well, it's time we start looking for us
a place to live."
[dramatic music playing]
I said, "I will not let him touch you, Rebecca."
I said, "He will not hurt you no more."
[narrator]
[Allite]
She told the hospital that she fell down the stairs.
She presented her information to them with her maiden name.
They believed her falling-down- the-stairs story though.