Josie Lou Ratley Update: Facebook Support Grows Attack Suspect Wayne Treacy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS) In a taped interrogation released by Wayne Treacy's defense attorney, Treacy, who allegedly pummeled and kicked Josie Lou Ratley in the head with steel-toed boots, calls himself a "monster" - but a Facebook group called the "Wayne Treacy Support Group" maintains that he doesn't deserve to go to prison.
PICTURES: Josie Lou Ratley, Steel-Toed Attack Victim
The 100-member strong support group, many of whom have never met Treacy, calls for the 15-year-old high school student who is charged as an adult to be tried in juvenile court and given psychiatric help, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Josie spent two weeks in a medically induced coma following the March 17 attack and underwent several surgeries to reduce swelling on her brain before finally being released from the hospital. She is now living back at home but has had to relearn even basic tasks like brushing her teeth and getting dressed. She is able to walk and talk but has trouble using one of her arms. Her mother also says she has trouble remembering things and can't read.
Her doctors say she may never fully recover.
The founders of the "Wayne Treacy Support Group" say that, in a very different way, Treacy will also never recover from the attack and should receive counseling and treatment - a sort of psychiatric rehab - the paper reports.
During his interrogation, Treacy maintained that he was overcome by sudden rage and did not intend to hurt Josie. But prosecutors disagree, and have charged him as an adult for attempted first-degree murder. He could face life in prison.
PICTURES: Josie Lou Ratley, Steel-Toed Attack Victim
During the interrogation, Treacy told Sheriff's Detective Shane Schroeder that he didn't remember the attack and only realized what had happened when the people who pulled him off of Josie told him, according to the Post.
But Schroeder challenged this version of events by pointing to texts sent by Treacy before and after the attack that suggest premeditation.
In one of those texts, released in May and obtained by CBS affiliate WFOR, Treacy tells a friend that he intends to "snap her neck then stomp her skull. Fastest way I could uhink [sic] of." And then minutes after the beating he allegedly texts another friend saying "I just tried to kill sum1 [sic]. Im going to prison."
Treacy's lawyer, Russell Williams, said he is preparing an insanity defense after a court appointed psychologist said Treacy is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder following the suicide of his older brother, who served as a role model and father figure to Treacy, according to the Post.
In the last text sent from Josie's cell phone in the heated volley between her and Treacy leading up to the beating, she allegedly called him a rapist before telling him to "jus [sic] go visit ur [sic] dead brother." That is the text that Treacy says set him off and prompted him to seek out Josie.
Complete Coverage of Josie Lou Ratley Attack
