Torture Victim Recants Story, but Cops Believe It's Still True

Oct. 23, 2009— -- Prosecutors are used to doubting convicted felons who recant their confessions, but it's rare for them to ignore the victim of a crime who says she made up the entire story that sent six people to prison.

Authorities say, despite Megan Williams' new denial, there is overwhelming evidence that she was indeed held captive in the rural West Virginia shed where she originally said she was raped and tortured over the course of several days.

Williams' story made national headlines in 2007, when investigators said the young woman had been beaten, stabbed in the legs, raped and forced to drink urine and eat animal feces. Williams is black; all of her alleged attackers were white.

Seven people, including Williams' then-boyfriend, Bobby Brewster, all confessed to their crimes and pleaded guilty. All but one was sentenced to jail.

Williams' lawyer, Byron Potts, told reporters Wednesday that his client made up the story to get back at her boyfriend for hitting her.

"She is recanting the entire incident. She says it did not happen, and she's scared," Potts said.

Potts said Williams stabbed herself with a straight razor to help embellish her original story.

"She told me the only thing not self-inflicted were the bruises on her face," Potts said.

Authorities, however, do not believe Williams made up the whole story.

"I can't believe what she is saying now," said Brian Abraham, the former Logan County district attorney who prosecuted the case.

"What Williams initially told the told the police is substantiated by overwhelming evidence against them. They confessed to their own crimes and made statements against each other. And everything they said was further substantiated by physical and forensic evidence."

None of the accused ever denied responsibility, maintained their innocence or attempted to appeal their convictions, he said.

"To a person, everyone admitted it," he said.