July 7,1992: Keraga's medical order: "Patient on one-to-one, no calls from husband, or any of the family members."
Group Therapy for the family some time in April: Lucy, Katherine, Karen, LT Abney (Lucy's husband), Dr Keraga, Dr. Seward, Dr. Peterson were there. Katherine confronted her stepfather with her memories of sexual assault.
LUCY: "It was my worst nightmare. My family was being dissolved. When you're in this kind of therapy you become crazy."
Lucy said that she didn't question Katherine's memories. She had been convinced that the memories were true and they were accurate facts. She said that LT was very angry and threatened to stop the insurance. LT was told he should go back to Chicago and go into therapy.
Nurses notes the same day: "Patient is so sorrowful. Her husband threatened to sue for divorce because Katherine had accused him of sexual abuse."
LT did not follow through at this time.
July 4,1992: Eastepp projects a letter on the screen that Lucy sent her employer, DHC. She requested that her disability check be sent to her at the hospital, rather than at home. She had been on disability since February 1991.
EASTEPP: Were you aware that they were insuring her at this time.
LUCY: "No."
July 27, 1992: LT wrote Lucy a letter that said he had decided to go into therapy. He was sorry that he had abused the girls. He had no memories of having done so. He asks her to forgive him and tells her that he loves her and the girls. Lucy thought he was going to Chicago, but he went to Louisiana. The letter touched Lucy. Sylvia Davis read this letter to her. Lucy was allowed no uncensored mail. Lucy said that it was suggested that LT was multiple also.
July 30,1992: CPS hospital visit record: A new worker, Ivy Chambers, takes over the Abney family case. Lucy was to be moved in August. The girls are having memories of being sexually abused by their stepfather. Lucy told Ms Chambers that the girls would be out of the hospital in two or three months and they would need a guardian. Keraga had suggested that the girls needed someone to protect them if they should get out before Lucy did. The CPS worker was not allowed to see the girls
A letter from CPS came to Lucy. It said, "since the girls were safe in the hospital the case was closed." Davis read this letter to Lucy, and Davis felt the case should remain open.
Lucy received a letter from her company that stated that her disability leave would expire February 14, 1993. Her insurance would remain in effect as long as she paid her monthly contributions.
LT wrote letter of complaint to the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation about the therapy his wife and children were receiving. Dr. Peterson told Lucy that she needed to write a letter to the agency telling them how satisfied she was with the treatment. Lucy said that she didn't believe she wrote the letter.
August 25,1992: Sylvia Davis writes that Lucy said, "If I have to go back to the cult we will all be killed. The cult part of LT knows that too.
EASTEPP: Had you ever thought of asking the police for help.
LUCY: No, I knew that Peterson was an expert and I had confidence in her.
July 7, 1992: Lucy wrote a letter to CPS about the girls and drugs. (Drugs came up in Katherine's memories, and later in Karen's journaling). Lucy was worried that the girls had no place to go after she was released. She asks CPS to reopen the case because of Katherine's memory of LT's abusing her as part of a cult ritual.
September 10, 1992: A letter from LT stating that as of September 15 he will no longer be responsible for anyone's expenses other than his own. Lucy said that this letter was a surprise to her. She said she didn't get out of SSG because of this letter. She testified that she wasn't aware that her group insurance was covering her.
LT had gone to the nurse supervisor to try to see Lucy. but wasn't allowed to. Keraga told LT that she would call him.
Keraga's record: "Called LT and he was angry and hostile. LT said to tell Lucy she would have no insurance after September 15. He said he had a right to talk to Lucy and that he was not cult. He wanted to know if he should get the divorce or whether Lucy should get it. Patient had a good session. Got real deep."
Nurse on Unit D found a lawyer for Lucy.
September 17, 1992 Lucy was urged to write a letter for her record by Peterson, Keraga, Davis, and Trish Taylor. She was to explain what brought her to SSG. The cult had a purpose for Lucy to come to this hospital.
Lucy wrote, "I am writing this for my chart. I am allowed to come to the hospital to shut down Linda. She's very powerful. After the shut down we were to be dismissed. LT was involved in child pornography and was using the money for illegal drugs. We want to be free."
The letter rambles on about how LT was laundering money through his company, etc. Lucy doesn't remember to whom she gave the letter. She wrote the letter while she was in Unit D. (It was in her record)
TAPE #1 (for today): This tape was hard to follow. The judge, jury, and defense team had transcripts of the tape to follow, and they do. The issues in this tape seems to be primarily insurance and insurance payments. The tapes keep the jury focused.
SYLVIA DAVIS: It is my understanding the hospital paid two insurance payments...Or he is making no payments. So maybe you can look into this.
LUCY: All of the facts are there. The details are not filled in. Seward felt I could fill in now that Katherine has shut down. You and Peterson wondered why I came here.
DAVIS: Now the question is why? Maybe it is not accurate? Some of the real concerns?
LUCY: LT wants to shove us aside. Why bother? I'm not going to get my hopes up.
DAVIS: You wrote the letter to CPS, you should follow up, maybe with a letter.
LUCY: Will there be any difference if they prosecute him?
Other things discussed on the tape were the possibility of pressing charges against LT for sexual assaulting his daughters, unless he will go into therapy and Lucy asking Davis what she could do to help her daughters' therapy.
September 29, 1992 Peterson's records: A letter to Lucy Abney from CPS. "I have received your letter. There is no concrete evidence that their stepfather had abused your daughters." Lucy testified that this letter had no effect on her thoughts because the doctors just ignored it.
October 2,1992 Tape #2 which lasted for 45 minutes. Karen, Davis, Seward, Peterson, attended the therapy session. Karen cries through much of the session. The issues were Karen's not working, and Karen coming up with memories of sexual abuse by LT. The last person on the tape to speak was Peterson, who said, "Bring her up." (Out from hypnosis)
Eastepp questions some points on the tape for Lucy to clarify. He asks her who she had talked to about her insurance.
LUCY: I talked to Trish Taylor, Dr. Peterson, Dr. Seward, and Dr. Keraga.
Tape #3 Session with CPA, Davis, Peterson, Martha Harrison (business office), and Lucy. Early October The issues were insurance, and finding reason to keep the family in the hospital. At one point on the tape, the social worker says, "It sure feels good here."
October, second week the CPS social worker comes to see Lucy. She cannot see Lucy alone. Peterson, Keraga, Taylor and Davis were a part of the visit. Lucy was worried about her daughters being close to being discharged. She tells the social worker that their stepfather forced the girls into the cult. She said that Mr.Abney had made charges against SSG for malpractice. She said that girls have no contact with their real fathers. Lucy had never observed the girls having parts. It had come out in therapy that the girls had perpetrated each other. Lucy did not know this.
October 26,1992 Keraga's record: In an abreaction session with Trish Taylor and Lucy Abney "Patient presented killer alters who had the knowledge of four murders committed by her alters. Patient contracted for her safety. Patient will journal about shutting down these alters."
October 9,1992 Lucy wrote a letter to Ms Thornton. Lucy wrote: "this is the day the girls will be dismissed. Please find Karen a residential treatment center. A temporary shelter will not be safe." She said that the stepfather has no legal rights and that Karen should have a different name.
November 23,1992 A COBRA document is signed by Lucy Abney. This was to change her insurance coverage. It said, "Do not send any payment with this form." It was a comprehensive dental and mental health coverage for 36 months.
EASTEPP: Did you discuss this with anyone other than Davis.?
LUCY: Maybe with Keraga.
December 8,1992 Note concerns a continuation of payment schedule of $390.00 per month retroactive 9/15/92.
EASTEPP: Were you still covered by your group insurance?
LUCY: Yes, but I didn't know it.
EASTEPP: Did you have $1300?
LUCY: No, the hospital paid for it.
January 1 the benefits changed to $150,00 lifetime coverage for mental health and substance abuse.
December l,1992 Karen and Katherine were released from SSG to CPS. Lucy testified that she was very concerned for her daughters. She wasn't sure they were prepared to face the outside world. She was also afraid that she would never see them again.
For the protection of the children Lucy had to sign custody to CPS. She couldn't take care of them, and LT was not safe. A lawyer was contacted and who said she would draw up the divorce papers for Lucy.
Lucy continued with abreaction therapy. She had no contact with her children until Karen called her from Waco from her therapist's office. She saw her in the spring of 1994. Kathy called Lucy in September 1993 on Lucy's birthday.
December, 1992 Journal entry: "I was also upset because the benefit had changed. $150,000 for life time treatment. That will be eaten up quickly. Perhaps I shouldn't cover the girls."
December 25, 1992 Keraga's record: Keraga and Carol both verified that $150,000 was all the insurance left. Acute care in the hospital could go through that money quickly.
December 22, 1992 Two cashier checks. Patient remains as an in-patient. Peterson was informed.
January 11,1993 Lucy doesn't remember being told that the COBRA policy had been canceled. The reason: "Patient doesn't meet the qualifications."
EASTEPP: When did you find out that you were leaving?
LUCY: In January the insurance was used up. I recall at the time I had made good progress. The alters were still there. I was scared to death. Sylvia Davis urged me to change my identity. I was going to Richmond, VA, to a YWCA shelter for battered women. I took a taxi to the airport, and I was afraid that the cult would get me.
1/3193 Keraga record: "Staff will accompany the patient to the airport in a cab and see the patient board the plane." (Lucy went alone by taxi.)
Discharge record: Keraga and Seward attending physicians: Patient was admitted to SSG on February 13, 1992. She had MPD, post traumatic stress disorder, highly fragmented, and catastrophic sex abuse.
EASTEPP: Were you better when you left?
LUCY: Probably I was about the same.
Keraga's dismissal record: Patient is full of rage. Internal dialogs were established. Complicated stay. Children were satanically abused. Patient believed husband was part of the cult. He sabotaged her treatment. Patient had planned a divorce. She was unable to take care of her children because she was still in the hospital when they were released.
Lucy testified that she was on a lot of medicine when she was released, which she continued to take. She only stayed in Richmond for two weeks. She concentrated on getting a job. She was frightened to get out of the shelter. Even though she was afraid, she said that she made herself go out. She cut her medicine in half after she had been there a few days. Lucy began to think about her stay in the hospital. She said she really didn't want to change her name. She was terribly lonely, and missed the girls and LT. She decided to call LT and see if she could go home. She did call and left a message on his answer machine. LT called her and said he wanted her to come home. She arrived in Houston on February 15, 1993. She was trying to sort out her stay in the hospital. She was apprehensive about relationship with LT and the girls. She was beginning to question all of it.
LUCY: I believed that the alters were still talking to me, but they were not writing anything.
EASTEPP: What were you hearing?
LUCY: My own thoughts.
Lucy testified that she was still apprehensive about the cult. She was still taking her medicine, but later quit completely. Lucy did have a few therapy sessions with Adam, a colleague of Keraga's. However she didn't like him and didn't go back.
EASTEPP: Why did you choose Adam?
LUCY: I didn't know anybody. I knew Adam. I wanted someone to help me sort what was real and not real. I did call Billings, but he was not accepting any new patients.
Lucy said that she was still confused.
EASTEPP: When did you find out where the girls were?
Lucy testified that when she had given CPS the custody of her children, she thought it was temporary. But it was permanent. An attorney was provided for her by the state. Her daughter, Katherine, decided on her own to come back home and said all the stuff wasn't true. Lucy explained that she saw Karen in the spring of 1994. LT could not see her. Lucy could only visit for an hour with Karen's therapist in the room.
Lucy tried to write a chronology in the late summer of 1993. She realized that these things could not have happened. She was still journaling. She saw a TV tape where there were people who had the same therapy as hers. She contacted FMSF for information on cults, and the pros and cons of MPD therapy. She had never been a member of FMS. She talked to other women around the country. She went to a meeting in Dallas in 1993. Dr. Paul (Skipt) Simpson did a workshop in which he talked about the law. She thought that Pam Freyd was there. LT asked Freyd to write a letter to CPS and explain the foundation. Freyd also met with a local group of parents one Saturday afternoon.
Eastepp read a letter dated June 8, 1993 written by Pam Freyd to Jane Davis, caseworker for CPS . The letter said that:
"L.T. Abney has asked that we inform you about the Foundation. Over 60 women have called us...Most of these women are now involved in suing their doctors. I urge all professionals to have sympathy for these women."
Freyd sent a packet of information, and said that she would be happy to answer any questions. This was simply an information letter, not a suggestion of misdiagnosis as Hardin suggested in his cross-examination of Karen.
Lucy talked to Pam Freyd several times. She continued to go to meetings. They usually were on Saturday afternoon with speakers. There were therapists, social workers, and parents who had lost their children to this therapy. Eastepp asked if she had any contact with previous patients. Lucy had seen Mary Shanley several times, and once in a while they talk on the telephone.
EASTEPP: How did the issue of filing a law suit come up?
LUCY: LT's attorney suggested that he file a suit, September 1993. I went along with the idea.
EASTEPP: Was your attorney involved with FMS?
LUCY: No. My family had been destroyed. I lost my children. I wasn't warned about the dangers of hypnosis. The therapy itself was confrontational. I felt that I was attacked and abused. My maternal instinct was questioned. I was on suicide watch one day and turned loose to go free the next.
EASTEPP: Lucy Abney was on suicide precaution for 23l out of the 356 total days at SSG. She was on Unit restriction for 280 days out of the total 356 days. She had no visitors. Did not see her children except at therapy sessions. She had no mail. Hypnosis was used in therapy and the memories are unreliable.
Court resumes at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, November. 19