While Tammy Lawrence-Daley was on vacation with her husband and the pair’s best friends she was anticipating being able to relax and enjoy all that their incredible all-inclusive resort had to offer. Instead, she found herself in a fight for her life.
Now, she’s beginning to share some of the details of the attack.
Warning: Some of the photos may be disturbing.
“How do you explain to your kids you were almost killed by some random stranger and that ‘Mommy is coming home, but I don’t look like myself’? How do you look into your parents eyes as they gaze upon your battered face telling them, ‘I’m okay, I’ll be okay,’” Lawrence-Daley wrote in an emotional Facebook post.
At the end of January, the two couples embarked on a shared trip to the Dominican Republic. They were so excited for a week-long vacation, but soon after arriving things took a dark turn.
After a night of fun, the couple went back to their rooms around 10:30 p.m. Lawrence-Daley attempted to order room service, but she had no luck so she went downstairs to grab some food from the resort’s food options.
“I ended up bypassing the lounge in our building, and opted to go to the lounge in the next building, which was on the beach. I thought I could get some pictures of the moon on the water, but I never made it to the beach.”
As the mother of two walked quickly between the buildings she found the hallway was “eerily quiet,” but it didn’t cause her too much alarm.
“I took about 10 or so steps just swinging my wristlet back and forth, not a care in the world,” she wrote. “That’s when I heard it. Heavy footsteps… one, two, three, four, then they sped up, and then before I could react I was plowed into from behind and immediately immobilized.”
Lawrence-Daley was horribly attacked. She spent the following eight hours in what she referred to as the “hole.”
“I call it a hole because that’s what it felt like when I was in it,” she explained to PEOPLE. “I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t stand up and I couldn’t find my way out… I had no clue where I was. All I knew was I was in this hole basically buried alive.”
While Lawrence-Daley was beaten, kicked, strangled, and potentially sexually assaulted, her husband and friends frantically searched the resort for her. Allegedly resort staff were very unhelpful in looking for Lawrence-Daley.
She was found the following morning after she heard voices coming from the floor above her and she was able to scream for help.
Lawrence-Daley ended up with many broken bones and potential hearing loss.
Since the horrible attack, the mother of two wants to warn other women to be aware of dangerous situations.
“This man thought he killed me, but he failed. He is still out there, a predator, waiting for his next victim. Only the next woman may not be so fortunate. Please, please do not walk alone. These attacks are happening too frequently and the criminals are NOT being prosecuted even though evidence is found. Victims are not being compensated for medical or pain and suffering, and the resorts are not held liable.”
