‘My car broke down and I was gang raped and hung me like an animal in 1981’, says Texas mom

A mother has described being gang-raped, beaten and tortured at the side of a road by a gang while her young son slept in her car nearly 40 years ago.

Charise Thompson has told her story in an emotional Facebook post decades after she says she was kidnapped by a gang of six men by the side of a highway between the cities of Freer and Laredo, in Duval County, Texas.

She took to social media to tell her story because she says she wants to help other victims of sexual violence.  

While driving to her mother’s for Thanksgiving in 1981, Thompson tells how she got out her car to change a flat tire and was bundled into the back of a van by a gang of six men. 

She says the men kidnapped her and gang raped her – before trying to drill holes in her ankles and hang her up ‘like wild game’.

Continuing the devastating story, she says the men beat her with a tyre iron and ran her over before leaving her for dead and she struggled several miles to find help at a nearby town. 

As evidence of her claims, Thompson shows a horrific bloody picture of her face after the attack. 

Charise Thompson suffered devastating injuries after the attack in 1981 in which she was beaten and left for dead at the side of a road in Texas. She shared this horrific image of her injuries alongside a Facebook post describing the attack

Thompson with her son James who was only four when she was attacked. He was asleep her her vehicle when she was abducted and gang raped

Thompson with her son James who was only four when she was attacked. He was asleep her her vehicle when she was abducted and gang raped 

Emotional Facebook post: Charise says she describes the story in a post on social media made earlier this month

Emotional Facebook post: Charise says she describes the story in a post on social media made earlier this month

The mother, who is now 61 and lives with her veteran husband, adds: ‘This is my story, this is my life and I will share it every time I can because each time I do I hear from people who are telling their story for the first time.’ 

‘We have to talk about it and keep talking until there is no secret, no stigma, no sexual assault against any man, woman or child.’ 

Thompson suffered devastating internal injuries, shattered teeth and 14 broken bones, including two fractured legs, in the ghastly assault in November 1981. 

She posted a picture of her battered face on Facebook last month alongside a long caption describing her ordeal in graphic detail.  

Thompson (pictured above in a recent photo), who is now 61 and lives with her veteran husband, said: 'This is my story, this is my life and I will share it every time I can because each time I do I hear from people who are telling their story for the first time'

Thompson (pictured above in a recent photo), who is now 61 and lives with her veteran husband, said: ‘This is my story, this is my life and I will share it every time I can because each time I do I hear from people who are telling their story for the first time’

Despite her horrific injuries Thompson managed to crawl on her elbows two-and-a-half miles along the side of the road to get back to her four-year-old, James, where he was still sleeping in the locked car. 

She says: ‘ In 1981 I was attacked by a group of men while changing a tire on the side of the highway in Texas. They took me from the scene for which I will always be grateful since my 4-year-old son was asleep in the car. 

‘Hours later they left me in a drainage ditch for dead with 14 broken bones (not counting ribs, fingers or multiple breaks), kicked out or broke most of my teeth, fractured my skull in several places, tried to drill holes in my ankles to string me up like wild game, ran over me and my insides were dangling to my knees.’

‘When I was sure they were gone I crawled 2 1/2 miles on broken legs and elbows to get help to my son. The first thing the cop that rode in the ambulance asked me was “What did you do to make them so mad”? A doctor at the hospital said it was just as well if I didn’t make it. When the police got to my car, it was still locked and my son asleep in the back seat.

Thompson is pictured above in a recent photo with her son James who was only four when she was attacked

Thompson is pictured above in a recent photo with her son James who was only four when she was attacked

‘For me, 31 units of blood, 17 weeks in the hospital, an emergency hysterectomy at 27 and a number of reconstructive surgeries and physical rehabs later, I struggled to get through the aftermath. I was not their only victim but I was the only survivor. Only one was arrested and he was accidentally released on a personal recon bond and never seen again.’  

After being taken to hospital, Thompson said she spent more than four months in hospital and needed 31 units of blood.

Five years later she needed an emergency hysterectomy and reconstructive surgeries. 

But her ordeal did not finished there as she then contracted Hepatitis C from blood transfusions which lead to her suffering from liver disease and a series of strokes, she said.

Charise Thompson with her husband Chris. They have been together over 35 years

Charise Thompson with her husband Chris. They have been together over 35 years

Thompson is pictured above in a recent photo with her mother. Thompson now lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband

Thompson is pictured above in a recent photo with her mother. Thompson now lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband

She adds: ‘ From the blood, I got Hepatitis C which has been an ongoing nightmare for 25+ years and put me into late-stage liver disease. 

‘After hundreds of thousands of dollars in failed treatments, my body went into spontaneous remission almost two years ago and has remained “negative” since, but the problems didn’t go with it. I was left with temporal arteritis, much like the worse migraine you ever had or saw, only this is 24/7 and never lets up. 

‘Other complications included a series of strokes that put me in a wheelchair for 13 years, my bones hurt and I can always tell when the weather is changing, along with problems with my thyroid, intestines, and the damage to my liver which caused things like hepatic encephalopathy.’

Although the brutal ordeal took place 38 years ago, Thompson wants to help others deal with the trauma of sex attacks and volunteered at a crisis center.

She has since moved from Laredo to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she lives with her husband.  

She wrote on social media: ‘I had a unique perspective that I was sure could help others who had been through trauma, and I had personal experience.

‘Here in Wyoming, I found a new kind of peace, and I worked with Safehouse for 12 years. It was in helping others to make that transition from Victim to Survivor that I found the very best help for me and my true healing.’

‘It was in helping others to make that transition from victim to survivor that I found the very best help for me and my true healing.

A GoFundMe was set up to help Thompson pay for the drugs she needs due to Hepatitis C

A GoFundMe was set up to help Thompson pay for the drugs she needs due to Hepatitis C

‘No one will ever rain on my parade. I am not a victim, I am a survivor and a survivor I will always be. So life continues to be a struggle physically but I will shout my story from the rooftops if it helps or inspires just one person.

‘If it helps one person to not feel so alone or encourages them to tell their story. We have to bring it out of the darkness and into the light, to eliminate the stigma from women who are made to feel guilty but did absolutely nothing wrong.’ 

Charise has also told her story on GoFundMe page posted two years ago. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk