WILMINGTON, Delaware — (KYW/CNN) - A Delaware woman is issuing a warning to people traveling to the Dominican Republic after she says she was brutally attacked on vacation earlier this year.
The tourist, Tammy Lawrence-Daley, says she was attacked while at her resort in the Caribbean country.
"I'll never forget the last breath I took because it had some water in it. And I just remember ... I'm never gonna see my kids again. I'm never going to see my husband again, and they're never gonna find me here," said Lawrence-Daley.
She said her picture-perfect vacation quickly turned into a tragic nightmare for her and her husband Christopher Daley.
It's very difficult, very difficult reliving ... the fear, the blame, I feel so guilty. I blame myself," said Lawrence-Daley.
Tammy and her husband were on a couple's trip with their best friends at Majestic Elegance Resort in January in Punta Cana.
She says she went downstairs on the property to buy a snack when she says a man wearing of resort maintenance hat and shirt strangled and beat her.
Photographs she posted on Facebook show her in the hospital bed in the Dominican Republic.
She suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket, nerve damage throughout her head, and her entire mouth had to be sewn back together. Her disappearance lasted eight hours.
She says she was left in an underground crawl space with rocks and wastewater. The next morning she screamed for help and staff found her.
Her husband was in disbelief after the attack.
"When we first found her at the infirmary, it was unreal. I just lost control," said Christopher Daley.
The couple tried to sue the resort but their case went nowhere. She now has a message for others "to be aware, to be safe, and be smart."
