By SUSAN SHARP

LAFOLLETTE, TN. (WLAF)- “Everybody has a sad story.”

Those words were spoken this week by a young lady who started her life with one of the saddest stories told in Campbell County.

Twenty years ago next month, Haley Spicer was found bruised, burned and battered. Her injuries were so extensive her 3-year-old, 22-pound frame didn’t have an area that wasn’t injured. A doctor who testified at one of the many criminal court proceedings that followed said Spicer’s injuries were caused by “blunt trauma” and were “consistent with non- accidental trauma.”

Her convicted abusers were her father Tommy Owens and his girlfriend Charlotte Claiborne. A jury convicted Owens for his part in the abuse. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is due to be released next summer. At the eleventh hour, Claiborne pleaded guilty instead of facing a jury. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her crimes against the little girl. She was released in July 2021.

Spicer had been living with the two when they inflicted the abuse. She was eventually returned to her mother’s care.

But life still wasn’t easy. The relationship with her mother, who had fought to regain custody of her daughter, was chaotic and sometimes confusing for Spicer.

Through it all, she tried to connect with her mother- to have a parent child relationship that was nurturing and supportive. Instead, Spicer often found herself in the role of caretaker with her mother turning to her when times were hard.

“I didn’t have much a of teenage life,” Spicer said earlier this week.

Between being her mother’s confidant, a controlling stepfather and later a pseudo nurse to her mother’s bedridden paramour, Spicer missed the things common to being a teen.

At 16-years-old, Spicer learned her mother was pregnant with her third child.

She had already helped raise her younger brother and didn’t anticipate things being different this time.

Haley Spicer (far right) is now caring for her 6- year-old brother (middle.) She is helped by her younger brother (left.)

While she harbored no ill will about the pregnancy, Spicer wasn’t oblivious of what a new baby in the family would mean for her.

She was in the delivery room when her mother gave birth to the baby boy.

“I fell in love with him,” Spicer said of her new little brother.

With her mother working nights and the child’s biological father, who often slept through the newborn’s cries, Spicer became the baby’s primary caretaker, which she didn’t mind. He quickly became her “baby,” she said. Through it all, she had a gnawing feeling she would “end up with him.”

At the age of 21, Spicer was told by her mother to leave the family home, she said.

She moved in with her boyfriend, and they began building a life.

Then life “smacked” them, she said.

Around the end of 2023, Spicer began noticing a change in her mother’s behaviors, she said.

Soon after, she was allegedly shown texts that confirmed her fears as to her mother’s behavior changes. Spicer is careful not to reveal too many details because these texts led to her involving authorities, which resulted in her obtaining custody of her now 6-year-old brother. Under normal circumstances, parenting a 6-year-old could be challenging but when it is a 23-year-old, who works full-time in Knoxville and the 6-year-old is autistic with limited verbal skills, things get tougher.

“My whole thing was to make sure he was safe,” Spicer said of her little brother.

Eventually, her 19-year-old brother moved in as well. Someone needed to stay with their youngest brother during the day, she said.

The irony of this situation is not lost on Spicer. Nearly 20 years ago, when she needed help, it came in the form of a police officer finding her wrapped up in two blankets on a top bunk in the heat of late June.

While her youngest brother wasn’t in the same physical shape as Spicer was, her fear was simple – “I didn’t want history to repeat itself,” she said.

History was the one thing Spicer had worked hard to put behind her. “It always made me uncomfortable when people recognized me as ‘Baby Haley’,” she said.

“Everybody has a sad story,” she said. “What matters is how you let it define you.”

Publisher’s Note: Assuming custody of her special needs brother has created a hardship for Spicer, her boyfriend and her brothers. Due to court appearances and appointments, she has missed work. The family of four also needs a larger home. They currently live in a two-bedroom apartment with no yard. They hope to move into a home with an outdoor space for their brother. The family has been trying to save money to accomplish this. Anyone who would like to donate can do so by CLICKING HERE. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 5/30/2024- 6AM)

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