The NY Daily news
written by Michael Walsh
Wednesday July 11, 2012
Peter Lizon of Leroy, W.Va. was arrested last Thursday for allegedly enslaving his wife Stephanie and physically abusing her for about 10 years. Jackson County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Tony Boggs told msnbc.com that Lizon will likely be sentenced to between two to 10 years in prison for malicious wounding.
A criminal complaint was filed by a woman Stephanie met at the Family Crisis Intervention Center in Parkersburg, W.Va. shortly after her escape. The complaint documented Stephanie's experience being chained up with metal padlocks for about a decade. She had prominent scars across her body from the metal as well as alleged beatings from a farm tractor's scoop attachment. The police took 45 pictures of her many injuries, ranging from extreme bruises to burn-marks on her breasts.
The woman said that Stephanie's husband caused a miscarriage by striking her in the stomach. The fully formed infant was buried on their farm. While shackled she gave birth to another child. Both Stephanie and her now one-year-old child have not received medical attention.
The torture was physical as well as psychological. Andrew Mach of msnbc.com reports that Lizon called Stephanie "slave" and forced her to kneel before him when he entered the room.
Stephanie escaped while parked in the family's vehicle outside a farm equipment rental store in Parkersburg, W.Va. Lizon entered the store without Stephanie or their child. She left the child behind and fled to a nearby Zumba dance studio to hide. Then she found a ride to the domestic-violence shelter, according to the criminal complaint.
Shawn Bayliss, Peter Lizon's attorney, said that the accusations are fabricated: "The wife had a conversation with someone, and that person has taken that story and turned it into something completely different."
For alleged slavery and torture, Lizon is being held in South Central Regional Jail, with bail set at $300,000.
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