MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) —
While her husband returned a rototiller to a West Virginia rental shop, a
limping woman sneaked into another part of the building seeking help.
Soon, she was at a shelter with a horrifying tale: She had been held
hostage for the better part of a decade — beaten, burned and even
shackled during childbirth.
Investigators have 45 photographs
showing burns on her back and breasts from irons and frying pans, and
scars on her wrists and ankles. Now her husband is in jail and
authorities are investigating what Jackson County Chief Sheriff's Deputy
Tony Boggs called one of the most terrible cases he's seen.
"This appears to go beyond abuse to what I would consider torture," he said Wednesday.
Peter Lizon, 37, was in jail on $300,000 bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday on a malicious wounding charge.
The
criminal complaint says 43-year-old Stephanie Lizon told another woman
at a Parkersburg shelter that her husband smashed her foot with a piece
of farm equipment, among other things.
But Shawn Bayliss, Peter
Lizon's attorney, said the allegations are "the fabrication of a fertile
imagination or a feeble mind, one of the two."
"The alleged
victim didn't make these accusations. It was a third party," Bayliss
said. " ... Stephanie would say this story is absolutely untrue, and the
charges levied against her husband are blatantly false."
He
compared it to the childhood game of "telephone," where something
whispered from one person to another ultimately bears no resemblance to
reality.
"This is a situation where a person has taken a nugget of
information, taken an acorn and tried to turn it into a tree," he said.
"And the tree won't support this story." (Shortly after making this argument in court Lizon's attorney was charged with congenital lunacy.)
The details of the
alleged abuse came out after the wife fled July 2. Stephanie Lizon
entered another part of the building while her husband was inside Bosley
Rental & Supply in Parkersburg and told the staff, "I'm trying to
get away from my husband. I just need to hide for a few minutes," one
employee said.
The employee declined to give her name, citing concern for her safety and that of her co-workers.
In an office, the wife "seemed pretty calm but kept looking out the window to see if he was looking for her," the employee said.
Stephanie
Lizon told the staff she didn't want to involve police, but she
accepted the number for the domestic violence shelter and called it. She
also called family to ask for money, and the employees gave her cash
and called a cab to take her to a
Western Union office and the shelter.
The
woman was limping and had appeared to have some sort of injury, the
employee said. And while her clothing was clean, she smelled bad. The
husband did not come inside looking for his wife and police didn't come
until several days later.
At the shelter, however, Stephanie Lizon
told another woman about the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her
husband, a native of the Czech Republic. The wife said her family was
from Alexandria, Va.
Stephanie Lizon's father declined to discuss
the case when contacted by The Associated Press. Relatives of her
husband didn't immediately return messages.
The witness at the
shelter described Stephanie Lizon as "gaunt and filthy," and covered in
scars, bruises and burns. She had "mutilated and swollen" feet, a scar
in the shape of a clothes iron on one breast, and burns on her back that
the victim said came from a hot frying pan.
The witness said the
wife was called a "slave" and ordered to kneel before her husband every
time she entered a room. The wife also said she had delivered a fully
developed, stillborn child while in shackles, and her husband buried the
corpse on their farm.
Another child survived a similar delivery, but Stephanie Lizon said it had never received medical attention.
Boggs
said state child-welfare authorities have been notified, but Peter
Lizon's attorney said the child — a 1-year-old boy — remains with his
mother.
The complaint says investigators confirmed that the wife
was treated in the emergency room of St. Joseph's Hospital in June and
that photographs were taken at the shelter to document her injuries. A
Sunbeam iron was among the items seized during a July 5 search of the
couple's home. Lizon was arrested that day.
Both Peter and Stephanie Lizon were arrested in Maryland in 2004, accused of cutting up Bush-
Cheney campaign signs with a bayonet. The couple was apparently living in Randallstown, Md., at the time.
The
Baltimore Sun reported that Peter Lizon was sentenced to a year of
probation and 32 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $328 in
restitution to the Howard County
Republican Party.
Wayne
Kirwan, a spokesman for the Howard County state's attorney's office,
said Stephanie Lizon entered a plea agreement that resulted in 40 hours
of community service, plus restitution and fines.
Kirwan said
Maryland court records also show that Stephanie Lizon was arrested on
drug charges a few months later in Baltimore County, in December 2004.
She pleaded guilty to a drug manufacturing and distribution charge in
May 2005 and got probation.
The West Virginia Division of
Corrections said it had no history of criminal actions by either spouse,
and Boggs said the sheriff's department had no previous contact with
them, either.
Boggs said he hoped that the wife's escape would give courage to other people who may be trapped in abusive relationships.
"There's all kinds of people out there who are willing to help," he said.
