Photo: facebook
It was the vacation from hell.
By Samantha Maffucci — Written on May 31, 2019
When we go on vacation, we expect to have the time of our lives, try new things, and enjoy the scenery with our families. But for one woman, her vacation to Punta Cana turned into a nightmare straight out of something you’d see on Investigation Discovery.
Who is Tammy Lawrence-Daley? At the end of January, Lawrence-Daley, her husband and their two friends stayed at the Majestic Elegance resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The group spent the night on the beach, and called the hotel late at night to order food.
When she didn’t receive a response, she went downstairs, and as she walked back to her room, she heard footsteps.
“One, two, three, four, then they sped up, and then before I could react I was plowed into from behind and immediately immobilized. His arms wrapped around me and he started pulling me immediately into an unlocked maintenance room,” she recounted.
The attacker was wearing a hotel uniform, and strangled her, kicked her, dragged her down the stairs, and beat her. He believed her to be dead, and threw her in an underground waste water area.
Photo: Facebook
Lawrence-Daley was in and out of consciousness during the attack and suffered through eight hours before waking up in a puddle of water and voices calling her name. Her husband and friends found her and rushed her to the emergency room immediately, where she remained for five days and received surgery for her injuries: a broken nose, fractured hand, partial loss of hearing in her left ear, and the inside of her mouth was “ripped apart.”
A few months after the attack, she eventually wrote a post on Facebook, offering a warning to tourists: “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. 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.”
Police did not investigate or press charges, and the resort didn’t take responsibility for her attack. Instead, Majestic Elegance decided to try and hide the story.
In an interview with People Magazine, she said she wanted to share her story to warn others, especially women.
“I had to take some time to heal before I could put it out there. I’m in a place in my healing that I felt strong enough to be able to share it without breaking down and without worrying [about] what others are going to judge me... I’m at the point where I feel strong enough that I want to get this information out there because women need to understand they can’t walk around by themselves. I hate to say that, but it’s the truth. What I went through, I would never wish on anyone,” she revealed.
Photo: Facebook
While she lay in the puddle, unsure of how she would get help, she said a “calmness” came over her. “I thought, ‘I’m gonna get out of here. I just have to figure out how.'” She attempted to use Siri on her phone, but there was no service.
“There was a point I sat there picking up stones seeing if I could hit something metal like a door, trying to gauge how big the space was [or] if there was a door somewhere nearby I could get out of. It’s a crazy thing when you’re in that mindset. It’s the survival mechanism kicks in and says, ‘I’m not going down without a fight.'”
Despite her recovery, Lawrence-Daley says she still suffers from anxiety and it’s so severe that she now works from home in an effort to prevent having her back to anyone, and so she can “see everyone who walks toward her.”
Most importantly, though, she wants other victims to realize that it isn’t their fault:
“I internalize this. ‘This is my fault, I got myself into this situation.’ I feel horrendous that I put my husband and my friends through this situation. Their lives are changed forever, as well as mine. Because I internalize everything and blame myself for the situation, I want to make sure that others who have gone through similar situations don’t blame themselves. That they realize that we didn’t ask for this, we didn’t cause this. This was somebody else deciding to do this and we have to find ourselves blameless in this whole situation.”
Samantha Maffucci is an editor for YourTango who focuses on writing trending news and entertainment pieces. In her free time, you can find her obsessing about cats, wine, and all things Vanderpump Rules.