SundayRepublican
FINAL $1.50
JUNE 8, 2008
THE AGONY OF DEFEAT ...
Naugatuck falls short against Masuk in Class LL softball, 1-0
Holy Cross loses Class M baseball title to Plainville, 5-4
Stories on Page 1C
BIG UPSET
DA’ TARA PUSHES
BIG BROWN ASIDE
TO WIN BELMONT
PAGE 2C
She survived
THIRTEEN STAB WOUNDS, A BROKEN NECK: ENOUGH TO KILL A WOMAN
LESS DETERMINED TO LIVE, TO WALK AGAIN AND ULTIMATELY TO CHANGE
THE LAWS THAT FAILED TO PROTECT HER FROM THIS SAVAGE ASSAULT
TENANTS FORCED TO TAKE STAIRS
Residents in Trinity Apartments in
Waterbury had to use the stairs in
Saturday’s heat because the building’s
elevator was broken. PAGE 1B
Family, friends say goodbye
Karen Cotner receives an American flag at
the service for her son, Marine Cpl. Christian
Cotner. More than 200 people attended the
service for Cotner, who died in Iraq. PAGE 1B
Clinton backs Obama
Hillary Rodham
Clinton suspended her
presidential campaign
Saturday and urged
her supporters to use
their energy to put
Barack Obama in
the White House.
PAGE 3A
RA WEB EXTRAS
T.J. KIRKPATRICK REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Tracey Motuzick of Torrington holds a photo of herself taken in 1983 at Hartford Hospital four days after she was brutally attacked by
her estranged husband, Charles ‘Buck’ Thurman. Motuzick, who was stabbed and suffered a broken neck in the attack, didn’t want
her face to be photographed for this story because she still fears Thurman. ‘I don’t want him to know what I look like,’ she says.
TODAY AT WWW.REP-AM.COM
>> Photo galleries of CIAC championships: Thomaston-St. Bernard,
Holy Cross-Plainville in baseball; Naugatuck-Masuk in softball.
>> Photo galleries of high school graduations.
>> Photo gallery of Marine Cpl. Christian Cotner’s funeral.
BY MEGAN BRODERICK AND BRIGITTE RUTHMAN
BUCK THURMAN
After spending nearly eight
years in jail for the attack,
Thurman says he wants to
put the past behind him,
Page 7A.
93
Low 66
High
Crank up those air
conditioners. Hot and
humid with lots of
sunshine. Page 10B
LEGAL IMPACT
Victim advocates say much
work remains to stamp out
domestic violence, Page 7A.
TIMELINE
Annie’sMailbox 2G
Around the towns 6B
Arts beat 5H
Book reviews 7H
Business 5-6D
Classified 1-8E
Commentary 1-4D
Connecticut 7B
Crossword 5G
Editorials 2D
Health 3G
Horoscope 5G
House of the week 1F
Jumble 5G
Letters 3D
Lottery 2A
Movie times 4H
Obituaries 8-9B
Pets 6G
Public record 2A
Real estate transfers 5F
Social moments 3H
Sports 1-8C
Stocks 5D
Sudoku 5G
Travel 7-8H
Weddings 4G
142 pages. © 2008 The Sunday Republican
Established 1906, Waterbury, Connecticut
All rights reserved
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Read today’s editions online
at www.rep-am.com
Some key dates in the
Tracey Thurman case and
domestic violence laws,
Page 6A.
ON THE WEB
Go to www.rep-am.com for
an interactive Web page,
including stories
and photos
from the
RepublicanAmerican
archive, a
timeline and video.
RA
T
ORRINGTON — Twenty-five years
later, Tracey Motuzick still remembers the twist of her estranged husband's dirty buck knife in her neck,
and tears wet her cheeks.
She could not have imagined this life — not
the constant ache and disability from her injuries, not the fear still deep in her heart. But
even as she cries, she wants
women to pay attention, to learn
the story of the attack she survived.
Motuzick, through her pain, embraces this:
What happened to her on June 10, 1983, and
the changes it inspired in domestic violence
laws, could save another woman’s life.
A reluctant hero, Motuzick does not readily
share the horrific details. The memories are as
permanent as the scars that remind her of 13
stab wounds, and as undeniable as her lurching
gait, the result of partial paralysis from the moment her husband stomped on her head and
broke her neck as she lay helpless in a growing
pool of blood.
Back then, she was Tracey Thurman, 22, a
high-school dropout with a soft, pretty face and
long brown hair that matched the color of her
eyes. After five years of abuse she had steeled
herself to file for divorce from her husband,
Charles “Buck” Thurman. She had been doing
laundry at a friend’s apartment on Hoffman
Street in Torrington; son C.J., 22-months-old,
was napping.
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
For eight months before that June afternoon,
Buck Thurman had harassed, stalked and
threatened his wife, irate that she had dared to
leave him. Despite a restraining order, he arrived at the apartment, ranting in the backyard. He wanted to be a family. He did not
want anyone else to raise his son, he yelled.
His wife called police. By the time Buck
Thurman was arrested, Tracey
Thurman had been stabbed in
her face, shoulders and neck.
Her husband’s bootprint
marked her bruised and bloody face. He had
sliced three holes in her esophagus. Her lungs
were filled with blood.
“At Hartford Hospital, they told me I wouldn’t walk again,” she said. “I didn’t want to hear
it. They considered me a quadriplegic. I said,
‘No, I’m not.’” Her life became consumed with
learning to overcome her handicap and the
emotional trauma of the attack. She still struggles with both today.
During eight months of hospitalization, she
learned how to eat and walk again. Nerve damage left her with sensation but limited control
on her right side and control but no feeling on
her left. Michael Motuzick, her husband of 13
years, sometimes must turn down the water
temperature when she washes dishes. When
she uses her functioning arm, her left, she cannot feel scalding water.
RA SPECIAL REPORT
See LAW, Page 6A