Oklahoma Woman Says Boyfriend Drugged, Tortured Her For Days

She says she was tortured in ways most of us could never imagine. Court documents say she was held captive and beaten, forced to help in her boyfriend's meth business. "I was a flag girl in high school,"

Friday, August 2nd 2013, 11:44 pm



She says she was tortured in ways most of us could never imagine. Court documents say she was held captive and beaten, forced to help in her boyfriend's meth business.

"I was a flag girl in high school," Amanda Harrison said.

It's been nearly a decade since Harrison graduated from LeFlore High School. A lot has changed since then, most noticeably, her appearance.

"I don't even like to look in the mirror," Harrison said. "It's just, I'm all messed up."

Harrison said when she met Clyde Harshaw in January, there were no red flags.

"He was nice, wasn't nothing wrong with him," she said. "He was respectful, never hit me or nothing."

Harrison said she was clean when the two met, but Harshaw and her sister introduced her to meth.

8/2/2013 Related Story: McAlester Man Accused Of Kidnapping, Torturing Girlfriend For 5 Days

"Every time we'd do it, he'd always end up getting meaner and meaner," she said.

Harshaw couldn't legally buy pseudoephedrine, one of the key components used to make meth, so she bought it for him. But she reached the legal limit.

"I wanted to quit," she said. "I didn't want to do it no more. It was doing nothing but hurting me and hurting everybody around me."

When she had finally had enough, her torture began.

"Anything he could get his hands on," Harrison said. "We had tools in the house, so he used a tire iron, wire cutters, wrench, hammer. He hit me over the head with a shovel."

Her eyes are still black from where she said Harshaw beat her.

But the bruises on her face are just the beginning.

"I can't even go without wearing a hat," she said.

She's missing several chunks of hair where she says he ripped it out using a power drill and set it on fire.

"That hurt," she said. "Oh, it really hurt. Felt like it was taking my scalp off is what it felt like."

She was living with Harshaw at a house in McAlester. It was there where she says she was tortured for days on end.

Pointing out the wounds on her arms and legs, she said: "That's a solder iron. That's a knife wound. That one's a knife. Acid he poured on my feet - that's all them red bumps.

Harrison said Harshaw had her trapped. Court documents say he used extension cords and rope to tie her up.

"That was horrible, because he wanted to keep my hands tied to where I couldn't stop him from doing anything," she said.

Harrison said she tried to escape many times, but couldn't. Harshaw wouldn't let her.

"I tried to run from him," Harrison said. "I went to every corner. I don't know why I kept going to corner;, I could never get to the door fast enough. The only way I'd be able to get away from him was dead."

After five days of agony, Harrison found the courage she needed and the right time to make her getaway. She said Harshaw was distracted burning her clothes.

"All I was thinking about was just getting away from him," Harrison said. "I just wanted to get away from him so he couldn't hurt me anymore.

"I got all these scars now that won't ever go away, so every day I've got to look at them," she said. "I'm gonna remember him."

The scars are also reminders of her own perseverance and the second chance at life she never thought she'd get.

"How strong I am, the courage I had," Harrison said. "I'm thankful for being alive, instead of going to the same old life that I lived. I just want to make a better one, start doing something good with my life instead of the way it was."

Harshaw was charged with kidnapping, assault and battery, aggravated assault and battery, maiming and rape by instrumentation.

"I wanted to go do him the same way," Harrison's mother Betty Lewallen said. "I wanted to pull his hair out. I'd break his nose more than once. I wanted to shoot him up and show him how it felt with other stuff."

Harrison's parents said they hadn't heard from their daughter since she left to live with her sister in McAlester. For six months, they said they feared the worst.

"My worst fear was we're gonna find her dead and just almost did," said Harrison's father, Leo Lewallen. "The day we went and picked her up and I first seen her, first thing out of my mouth, 'we gotta get you home where you're safe.'"

As for Harrison, she said no human, whether on drugs or not, deserves to be so badly abused. But said she learned the hard way and never wants to go back.

"It wasn't worth it, at all," Harrison said. "Now running away was worth it, because I ain't getting hurt every day. I ain't gonna get more bruises or hurt anymore."

Harrison agreed to talk to News On 6, because she said she hopes her story will help show others who might be in a similar situation, that they, too, can leave.

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