2 Montgomery Women Passengers on Carnival Cruise Drûgged, Rapéd at Resort in Bahamas: "They were like blàck demons in a bad dream!"

{TheChronicle exclusive}

Mobile, Ala. – A month after two women from Kentucky were allegedly sèxûàlly assàûlted on Bahamas vacation, several other potential victims have come forward. Two of them from the great state of Alabama.

What was supposed to be an idyllic escape for two Alabama mothers spiraled into an unimaginable nightmare.

Dawn Peterson and Vicki Toliver, lifelong best friends from Montgomery, claim they were drûgged and brutally ràpéd at a Bahamas resort while docked there from a Carnival cruise.

"Usually when you're on your dream cruise vacation you'd think that your only real worry would be something like the Titanic. You never really envision that you'd be someone's f#&k toy," Peterson revealed, her angry voice trembling. "Now it’s like a nightmare we can’t wake up from.. Literally like, like Freddy Krueger on me everytime I close my eyes."

The best friends embarked on their Carnival cruise on February 6th, enjoying a blissful day at sea followed by two seemingly perfect days in Nassau.

But when they docked in Freeport on Grand Bahama Island on Sunday, their dream vacation morphed into a horrifying ordeal.

They recounted being offered two drinks each by staff members at a local resort – a seemingly harmless gesture at an all-inclusive venue. After finishing their first drink and sipping the second, darkness fell.

They woke up to a living hell, regaining consciousness only to find themselves in some hidden room being vîolèntly assaulted by unknown men.

"I woke up in a bed on my back nàkèd from the waist down, a fairly large musclebound man.. beatin' up inside me like an animal!!" Toliver exclaimed in recount, her teary eyes wide with fear. "I was able to glance over and see Dawn lyin' next to me, being done the same way by another burly figure... "

"They were like blàck démons in a bad dream," she added rather solemnly now.

The women were able to escape by feigning in and out of consciousness, then waiting for both men to step outside the closed room door, presumably to discuss, when they queasily and quietly but quickly climbed out of the bedroom window. 

They documented the gruesome bruising on their lower bodies and immediately contacted Bahamian police. However, to their horror, the police refused to administer drug tests, rape kits, or provide proper medical care until they were back on the Carnival cruise ship.

Once on board, their worst fears were confirmed. Drug tests showed they had been administered a cocktail of substances, including benzos and amphetamines. The rape kits returned positive as well.

Now, back in the U.S., they are working with American law enforcement and their legal teams, accusing two men from the resort of the assaults.

According to investigators hired by the women's attorneys, this is the seventh ràpé incident of American women in as little as ten days. 

"The men on that island appear to favor American women," said Toliver's attorney, Howard Collins of Mobile. "If my client thought she saw a dèmon on top of her then the miscreant likely felt he had captured a whîte goddess of some sort. That's how monsters think."

In a shocking twist, the Royal Bahamas Police Force announced on Friday the arrest of four men in connection with the case. All ranging between the ages of 25 and 40, all locals that temp for the particular resort. Yet, the police’s version of events raises questions. They claim medical assistance was offered at the scene but was declined by the victims, a stark contrast to Peterson and Toliver''s account.

“Our officers boarded the cruise ship, provided a sexual assault kit, and obtained signed statements from the victims,” the police statement read.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force is now collaborating with the FBI on this high-stakes investigation.

Peterson and Toliver insist they took every precaution. “We took every precaution available. Purchased our tickets and accommodations directly from the vendor. We traveled in a pair, we didn’t talk to strangers. We didn’t take drinks from anyone, other than staff,” Peterson stressed.

Police have yet to confirm whether the arrested men were resort staff members.

In a further indictment of Carnival, the women allege they were never informed of the U.S. Department of State's Level 2 travel advisory for the Bahamas, which warns of prevalent crime.

Back home, Peterson and Toliver are grappling with deep psychological scars. They are on a cocktail of medications, including costly HIV prevention drugs.

A GoFundMe page set up to cover their medical expenses paints a grim picture. "Now that we have them home safe back here in Alabama, they are so traumatized that they can’t go back to work, they can’t even leave the house without an escort due to fear," it reads. "These girls were just trying to enjoy a well-deserved girls weekend, which turned into a nightmare, leaving them with psychological trauma."

Determined to prevent such horrors from befalling others, Peterson and Toliver are sharing their harrowing story. “Sèxûàl assàûlt is NEVER okay. I don’t want it to be someone else’s daughter, mother, or sister,” Toliver declared. “These crimes don’t just affect the women themselves – the women like Dawn and me who are ràpéd. They affect our family because we can’t be loved the same after.”