Woman Shares Story of Being Brutalized at Resort, Left for Dead

She warns that when these things happen in other countries, often the investigation goes nowhere
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted May 30, 2019 1:48 PM CDT
Woman Shares Story of Being Brutalized at Resort, Left for Dead
A beach is shown in Punta Cana.   (PRNewsFoto/The Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism)

Tammy Lawrence-Daley, her husband, and another couple traveled from Delaware to the Dominican Republic in January for what was supposed to be a week of "sunshine and beach time" at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. Instead, on the second night of their vacation, Lawrence-Daley, 51, was brutally attacked. Hungry after a night of theater and dancing, she tried to get room service and was told the hotel was no longer delivering it. So she headed down to the lounge for a snack. On her way back to her room, someone who she says was wearing a resort uniform attacked her and left her for dead in a basement crawlspace filled with 2 to 4 inches of wastewater, People reports. The attacker strangled her, kicked her in the head, and beat her with a club. She shared her story, and photos of the damage done, on Facebook Wednesday.

The attacker may have also sexually assaulted her, but she was in and out of consciousness during the attack and a rape kit was not administered until it was too late to make a determination. She says she did, however, have "damage down there" that could indicate a rape. Lawrence-Daley was in the "hole," as she calls it, for eight hours, as her husband and friends searched for her and resort staff insisted she must just be drunk and passed out somewhere. The next morning, someone finally heard her cries for help and she was discovered. Some of her injuries will have a permanent impact on her; she says her smile will be forever changed and she also suffered partial hearing loss. "These attacks are happening too frequently and the criminals are NOT being prosecuted even though evidence is found," she warns on Facebook. "Victims are not being compensated for medical or pain and suffering, and the resorts are not held liable." (Two friends from New York died tragically on their own Dominican Republic vacation.)

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