The last beating was the worst. Her trafficker dragged Kelley Marshall by the hair out of the hotel room she shared with her toddler daughter and into his.
Marshall had learned to go still and take it; crying or fighting back only made things worse.
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The beatings were almost daily, but this time was different. She’d broken one of his cardinal rules.
He hit her like she was a man, she said, all the while threatening to kill her. It went on for hours.
First, he held her head under the bathwater. When that didn’t work, he poured alcohol over her body and said he was going to light her on fire.
He changed his mind and choked her instead until she went unconscious.
“I really believe that he thought I was dead,” she said.
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