(CNN/WHDH) — A woman is warning other travelers heading to the Dominican Republic to be on high alert after she claims she was brutally beaten by a maintenance worker while vacationing at a resort on the Caribbean island earlier this year.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley, of Delaware, says a picture-perfect vacation with her husband in January quickly turned into a tragic nightmare.
“I’ll never forget the last breath I took because it had some water in it,” she told KYW-TV. “I just remember, I’m never gonna see my kids again, never going to see my husband again, and they’re never gonna find me here.”
Lawrence-Daley and her husband, Christopher Daley, were on a couples trip with their best friends at Majestic Elegance Resort in Punta Cana, the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, when the unthinkable unfolded.
She went downstairs on the property to buy a snack when she says a man wearing a resort maintenance hat and shirt strangled and beat her.
Photos shared on Facebook of Lawrence-Daley recovering in the hospital showed the horrifying aftermath of the vicious attack.
She suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket, and nerve damage throughout her head. Doctors had to wire her mouth back together.
Lawrence-Daley’s suspected attacker dumped her in crawl space filled with rocks and wastewater. She was found eight hours later as she screamed out for help.
Christopher Daley says the sight of his battered wife left him in disbelief.
“When we first found her at the infirmary, it was unreal. I just lost control,” he said.
The couple tried to sue the resort but their case went nowhere.
Lawrence-Daley is now asking travelers who consider visiting the Dominican Republic “to be aware, to be safe, and be smart.”
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