Husband of Woman Beaten on Vacation Says Police Are Lying
Christopher Daley says he wants to know more than anyone who brutally attacked his wife while the couple vacationed in the Dominican Republic in January.
"We were supposed to get a police report in February and we didn't get that," the Wilmington, Delaware, man said Friday in a phone interview with NBC10.
He is now accusing authorities in the Caribbean nation of lying about their investigation after they accused him on Friday of providing "incongruent" statements shortly after the attack at an all-inclusive resort.
Daley and his wife, Tammy Lawrence-Daley, have had a tough time recovering psychologically from the attack as well, he told NBC10. They remain in therapy.
Daley also said he doesn't believe officials' determination at the time that his wife was not sexually assaulted during what she claimed was an eight-hour attack. He says authorities are lying about the filing of a police report at the time. The country's Office of the Attorney General said Friday that Lawrence-Daley refused to file a complaint.
Daley told NBC10 that they did in fact file a complaint, but have not received a copy.
The story of Lawrence-Daley's attack came to light Wednesday in a Facebook post she posted. She wrote that she was beaten by a man for several hours while on vacation at the end of January with her husband and two friends at the all-inclusive Majestic Elegance resort in Punta Cana.
Lawrence-Daily claimed that on her second day at the resort, she was suddenly attacked from behind by an unidentified man who was wearing a uniform with the resort logo on it. Lawrence-Daley said the man forced her into an unlocked maintenance room and beat her for eight hours, strangling her and causing her to lose consciousness multiple times.
"I was kicked in the head, I was beaten with a club. And then strangled again for the kill; at which time he disposed of my body into an area I refer to as the 'hole,'" Lawrence-Daley wrote.
She said her attacker fled the scene and she was eventually found. She spent five days at an off-site hospital and underwent surgery for her injuries.
Lawrence-Daley blamed the resort for its handling of the attack, saying Majestic Elegance claimed no responsibility and that her husband and friends went to the front desk at least three times throughout the night before security at the resort searched for her.
A spokesperson from the hotel said in a statement that the resort is taking the matter seriously.
"We emphasize that, since the occurrence of this regrettable event, we have treated Mrs. Lawrence-Daley's situation with due diligence and attention," the statement read. "We have always implemented security measures in our hotels for our guests and employees."
Immediately after the attack, Daley told NBC10, he contacted the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, but local authorities took two days to get back to them.
Doctors conducted a rape kit on Lawrence-Daley and found that she had not been sexually assaulted during her attack, according to Dominican Republic Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Julieta Tejada.
But Daley said the family has not received rape kit results and knew nothing about them until being informed of them by NBC10. He added that the results might not be accurate since the doctors took two days before they conducted the exam. By then, his wife had already showered and possibly scrubbed away any DNA her attacker left behind.
Punta Cana Tourism Police spokesman Ramón Brito said that while conducting interviews, investigators found "incongruencies" and "discrepancies" in Daley's statements.
That assertion, however, is "crazy" because investigators interviewed him and his wife together, Daley said.
The Dominican Republic Attorney General's Office also said Lawrence-Daley, in the presence of an official with the U.S. Embassy, declined to file a formal complaint and chose to return to the U.S.
That, too, is false, according to Daley. In fact, he told NBC10 that he and his wife filed a complaint at a courthouse in the city of Higuey before leaving the country. But neither they nor their lawyer has received the copy they've been requesting since February, he said.
Daley's wife also said that while there were no bright lights or surveillance cameras where the attack took place, and she wasn't able to identify her attacker, local police did find vital clues that they never followed.
"Police did find evidence of the blood smeared mop handle and a maintenance hat in the area I was found, but this means nothing in these countries," she wrote on Facebook.
Both Dominican Republic police and prosecutors, however, pushed back on that claim.
Investigators collected fingerprints and interviewed people at the hotel on the night of the attack, according to the Dominican Republic Attorney General's Office.
Police and the attorney general's office both said the investigation remains ongoing. NBC10 also checked with the U.S. State Department, which said it is in contact with Dominican Republic authorities and will continue investigating the incident.
The attack on Lawrence-Daley is just one in a recent spate of incidents in which U.S. tourists died in the Dominican Republic.
On Thursday, a Maryland couple was found dead in their room at the Bahia Principe hotel at the resort Playa Nueva Romana.
Months earlier, a couple from New York vanished while on vacation in the island nation; they, too, were later found dead, with officials later saying they may have died in a car accident.
The U.S. State Department in April raised the threat level for the Dominican Republic and warned American travelers to "exercise increased caution." "Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide and sexual assault is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic," the State Department said.
Ana Hernandez, David Chang and Drew Smith contributed to this story.
Photo Credit: NBC News
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