Sickening

September 13, 2010 3:12 AM

For at least five years, a Missouri man allegedly sexually abused and tortured a young, mentally-disabled woman and then broadcast her suffering online to four men who either paid to watch him do so, or to torture her themselves. A 20-page federal indictment (warning: highly disturbing, graphic descriptions) was unsealed with their arrests this past Thursday. It contains accusations of sexual and physical torture that include acts that U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips called "among the most horrific ever prosecuted" in the Western District of Missouri, and that range from waterboarding and electric shock to piercing and mutilation.

A pdf of the indictment can be found here.

The ringleader was caught only after he induced a heart attack in his victim while suffocating and electrocuting her this past February, and she required hospitalization. At that time, she was 23 years old.

Per this blog entry, one of the five men is the Postmaster General for Nevada, MO. Another is a national representative for Disabled Americans.

posted by zarq (21 comments total)

When I read about actions like these, I really hope that these people and my friends and family are not genetically compatible, like a pony and a monkey cannot breed and have offspring, that sort of non-compatibility.

Because that means we are different species and it almost makes things a little better in my mind.
posted by Dagobert at 3:21 AM on September 13, 2010

For the next five years, Bagley allegedly sexually tortured and mutilated the woman with techniques that the indictment described as “flogging, whipping, shocking, choking, piercing, sewing” and “stapling.”

Let the punishment fit the crime...
posted by chavenet at 3:29 AM on September 13, 2010

Christ on a stick, I couldn't read past the first page of that indictment. I feel sick.
posted by pjern at 3:34 AM on September 13, 2010

chavenet, then what the fuck do you do to the guy tasked with carrying out the 'punishment'? Because in my book, there exists no set of circumstances to render such actions legal.
posted by Dysk at 3:34 AM on September 13, 2010

I try to be a good liberal about the death penalty.

But I would personally like to chain these guys to the back of a tractor and start plowing a field.

Although first I would make them beg for their lives, and enjoy ignoring them.

After I was done, I'd feed what was left of their carcasses to the hogs.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:34 AM on September 13, 2010

This is exactly why I can't be against the death penalty in every case. This type of person will never be "rehabilitated." There is no "habilitated" to "re."
posted by sonic meat machine at 3:39 AM on September 13, 2010

fourcheesemac, being a good liberal about the death sentence is easier when you remember that a lot of people would want to do something similar to you for the horrible crimes that you at the moment deem to be just punishment.
posted by Dysk at 3:39 AM on September 13, 2010

"provided Defendant with benefits and things of value, includnig, but not limited to, cash, cigarettes, computer hard drivers, sadomasochism videos, coats, and meat."

What a manly method of payment!
posted by Joe Chip at 3:41 AM on September 13, 2010

fourcheesemac, being a good liberal about the death sentence is easier when you remember that a lot of people would want to do something similar to you for the horrible crimes that you at the moment deem to be just punishment.

What?

Seriously, what?

I guess being a good liberal about the death penalty is to individually chastise everyone who has violent thoughts about horrible people. Feels good man.
posted by Snyder at 3:57 AM on September 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

want to do something similar to you for the horrible crimes that you at the moment deem to be just punishment.

Not following. How are a gang of murderous torturers morally equivalent to my desire to see them tortured and killed *for what they did to that woman*?

MeFi moral philosophers are a dime a dozen, but I still dig "an eye for an eye" where the crime involves sadistic violence perpetrated by a rational person and can be proven without a doubt.

Anyone who thinks I deserve to die for thinking that is welcome to bring it fucking on.

Whole world is apparently already blind anyway.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:59 AM on September 13, 2010

Is anyone else a little uncomfortable at the meta-voyeurism potentially attached to reading the above links? Or is it just my Prudence McPrudiness? At any rate - thanks for the post. Here's a link to a Kansas City women's shelter's fundraising page as well.
posted by pomegranate at 4:00 AM on September 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

Wait, better yet . . . prisoner exchange with the Taliban. I'd love to see a beheading video starring Ed Bagley, Jr.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:00 AM on September 13, 2010

Nah, all I want is life in prison with no chance of parole.

At some point, if they ever do realize the gravity of their crime, then that means that they could live a long, long time with the knowledge that this is something they did. And if they don't, they still live a long, long time in prison with no chance of resuming their former lives.

I've always felt that that's cruel enough.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:04 AM on September 13, 2010 [5 favorites]

Is anyone else a little uncomfortable at the meta-voyeurism potentially attached to reading the above links?

Yes. I read a few sentences, then closed it and stared at the wall for about 10 minutes. Now I'm going to go hug my wife.
posted by empyrean at 4:05 AM on September 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I admit it being somewhat voyeuristic, I guess. I read the post, and I thought for a minute whether I should read the indictment. My curiosity overcame my revulsion, and I read a few pages.

Then I had to stop. They actually nailed her labia to wood... Jesus, I think I'm going to be sick.

I'm going to take a shower now. Yes, so to those who want to read the indictment... be warned. It's stomach-churning.
posted by suburbanbeatnik at 4:07 AM on September 13, 2010

This is exactly why I can't be against the death penalty in every case. This type of person will never be "rehabilitated." There is no "habilitated" to "re."

Well, if you're looking for some righteous payback, you'll get more payback for the dollar with life imprisonment.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:07 AM on September 13, 2010

You get more payback for the dollar with a 12 gauge. I volunteer to do it for free.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:10 AM on September 13, 2010

Found something cool on the web and want to share it with everyone else?
posted by fire&wings at 4:11 AM on September 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

Not going to read this, but I hope there is a Hell, and when this guy gets there he will have to endure an eternity of suffering exactly as he doled it out, except on fire.
posted by bwg at 4:14 AM on September 13, 2010

Not being snarky, is there a point to this post?
posted by unSane at 4:15 AM on September 13, 2010

I'm certainly not going to read that indictment. Simply hearing the way it's being described, and reading the list of atrocities in the news article, is quite enough for me. This is horrifying, chilling, incredibly depressing... just... good god, what can you say? To know that any human could do these sorts of things to another human is something that, well, it's hard to come to terms with, isn't it? The enormous, hideous, evil monstrosity of it.

I feel so, so sad and sorry for that poor woman,
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:15 AM on September 13, 2010