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Krystal Gayle Archer 17 years old |
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After being stripped, beaten with rocks and sticks and thrown down a ravine, Krystal begged her three attackers to leave her alone. As she clung desperately to a tree, they set her hair on fire, pushed her down the ravine again and left her to die.
Battered and unable to walk, Krystal survived for four days, at one point dragging herself 15 yards and propping herself up on the bank of the ravine. But her attackers - including her boyfriend - returned again and again, each time hitting her with sticks and rocks.
Finally, they returned to "finish her off," police said, stabbing her several times and slitting her throat.
The suspects were identified as Timothy Curtis Cole, 21, and Michael Christopher Teal, 19, and Danielle Hubbard, 18. They were arrested and were being held in the Morgan County jail in Madison, about 50 miles east of Atlanta.
Morgan County Sheriff Ken Pritchett said that one of the men, whom he would not identify, confessed to stabbing Krystal and slitting her throat.
The three were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault after Krystal's boyfriend, Cole, led authorities to the crime scene.
Michael Pritchett, the sheriff's brother and deputy chief, said Teal and Hubbard were dating and Cole and Krystal were dating. Hubbard thought Krystal was "eyeing her boyfriend," he said.
Pritchett said the four stayed at a motel in Madison and ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant before heading out to the wooded area the next afternoon.
One suspect told officers that the four were looking for hallucinogenic mushrooms, but Pritchett said he believes the other three went to the woods to kill Krystal.
"I believe they were there to do exactly what they did," he said.
Once to the wooded area, the two females began fighting. The fight escalated and the two men became involved. Over the next three or four hours, Krystal was stripped and forced to commit various acts, including sexual acts to her own body, Pritchett said.
She was hit with rocks and sticks. Three times, they threw her about 20 feet down into the ravine, which has about 2 feet of water.
"She was completely unclothed holding a small tree, begging them to leave her alone," Pritchett said. "That's when one of them walked up and lit her hair on fire."
After the third time, Krystal fell unconscious.
"They've told us that they knew she was alive . . . but they thought she was going to die," Pritchett said.
The next day the three returned and found Krystal alive but unconscious.
"They beat her again with sticks and rocks and piled brush on top of her so she wouldn't be found," Pritchett said.
When Krystal's attackers returned on the third day, they threw rocks into the ravine, trying to hit her in the head and "finish her off," Pritchett said.
Before the attackers returned the fourth day, they stole a butcher's knife from Hubbard's parents' house.
"They have admitted that they left Danielle Hubbard's house planning to come down here and finish her off if she was still alive," Pritchett said.
Krystal was still alive -- and awake. She had dragged herself about 15 yards and propped herself up.
"She basically had enough life in her to recover from the unconscious state," Pritchett said. "Her physical condition was such that she could just lie down there in a creek and wait for someone to come to help her. There was a house probably less than a mile away but there was no way anyone could have known where she was."
One of the men stabbed her five or six times in the chest and neck and then slit her throat, Pritchett said.
An autopsy performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime showed that Krystal died from a throat wound and stab wounds to her chest, back and stomach.
The murder weapon was recovered from the Yellow River in Newton County, Pritchett said. The matching knives were found at Hubbard's parents' house.
You've
been listening to:
Tears
in Heaven by Eric Clapton
Would
you know my name
if I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
if I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
'Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven...
Would
you hold my hand
if I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
if I saw you in heaven?
I'll find my way through night and day
'Cause I know I just can't stay here in heaven...
Time
can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please...
Beyond the door there's peace I'm sure
And I know there'll be no more tears in heaven...
Would
you know my name
if I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
if I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
'Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven...
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