SHELBYVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
Police in one Middle Tennessee city are calling a domestic abuse case one of the most horrific they have ever seen.
Investigators believe a woman was held against her will for nearly three days inside her own Shelbyville home while she was beaten, stabbed and raped by her husband, David "Bubba" Johnson.
And the whole episode may have started because of an argument over Facebook.
"I want to take Bubba and I want to strangle him. And I want to treat him like he did my sister," said Heather Baucom, sister of the alleged victim.
Baucom said what happened to her sister is unbelievable. She was beaten so badly her eyes were swollen shut.
"We told her many times, 'get away from him. Get away from him.' But she doesn't listen. She put him on a pedestal because he was 'God' to her," said Cindy Hemric, another sister of the alleged victim.
Detectives said Johnson snapped Wednesday, repeatedly attacking his wife after he saw her chatting with another man on Facebook.
The couple's three small children were inside the home at the time, too.
"Both of her eyes are nearly swollen shut. She has severe bruises on her arms where she was held on obviously against her will," said Shelbyville Police Detective Brian Crews. "During the attack, there was a knife thrown at her that went through her leg."
Police said after two-and-a-half days of being tortured, the woman finally made a run for it when her husband turned his back.
She ran to a nearby gas station as her husband was in pursuit in his car, police said.
A store clerk heard the woman's cries for help and was able to lock her safely in a back room until police arrived.
Officers arrested Johnson and later charged his mother and sister, too, because investigators said they witnessed the alleged abuse and did nothing to stop it.
Johnson is charged with aggravated kidnapping and especially aggravated rape.
"He'll pay for everything that he's done," Cindy Hemric said.
Johnson's bond is set at $500,000, and police are still investigating the couple's past history of domestic violence.
The victim, whose identity Channel 4 is not reporting, is now in a "safe place," her family said.
The Department of Children's Services has been called to care for the couple's children.
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David Wayne Johnson (Photo from Bedford County Sheriff's Dept.)
