Bowen Turner victim Chloe Bess, 19, recalls horrifying rape at hands of pervert!
Warning: The article contains details of sexual assault and can be triggering to readers
One of the accusers of 'serial rapist' Bowen Turner took the brave step of recounting her ordeal after the South Carolina teenager avoided time behind bars with a sentence of probation in a plea deal last week. Chloe Bess, who is the daughter of a pastor and had accused Turner of raping her in 2019, sat down with Murdaugh Murders podcast recently and revealed how the “serial rapist” screamed her name while looking for her as she hid behind a bush after the assault.
According to reports, the 19-year-old young man had been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. However, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault and battery, and was awarded a sentence of probation on Friday, April 8. Also, since he was a minor at the time of the crime, it helped him get less severe punishment.
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Not just that, Turner was also facing charges for allegedly raping Dallas Stoller, 18, but after she took her life in November 2021, he was released from those charges. “A third victim in Calhoun County also brought up rape claims against Turner in 2018, but the SC Law Enforcement Division did not proceed with criminal charges,” The Daily Mail reported.
In a heartbreaking interview, published on Wednesday, April 13, Bess recalled the horrifying night when she was violently attacked by Turner. She told Murdaugh Murders podcast: “I was just with my friends trying to have a good time. It's one of those things where you don't think it could happen until it happens to you.” The young woman said that she was attending a house party in June 2019 with her brother and best friend when because of a miscommunication both of them left her alone to grab food. She said that after that she went outside to call her friend for a ride and found that Turner followed her out and lingered around her.
Bess said, “I kind of started to feel uncomfortable, but he lived down the street from me. My dad's a pastor and his family attended our church, so he was familiar to me. I remember him coming out, and I was asking my friend to come pick me up, or when she was coming back,” before mentioning, “The phone conversation ends, and I just remember him pulling me into a tree-line, there's a truck parked there and we go behind the truck. The next thing I know I'm on the ground. And he's a lot bigger than me, I only weigh 115 pounds, I'm really tiny. So there was not much I could do at that moment in time.”
The accuser, who has bravely identified herself as an assault survivor, continued: “I remember looking at the stars, that was the main point. And I could feel what was happening, I was aware of what was going on, and I was just petrified. I wanted to kick and scream, but I couldn't move, I didn't know what to do. I was looking at the stars and I'm just like, ok, I hope it's at least quick so I can get up and run away.”
After the assault ended, Bess claimed that she immediately ran toward the bathroom. She said, “I remember I ended up in the bathroom, and I was looking at myself in the mirror, my hair was all crazy, there were leaves and twigs in my hair, my shirt was all askew, it was like I wasn't even looking at myself. It was very weird.”
The teenager then recalled seeing Turner sleeping on a couch from the bathroom door before she fled outside for help. A hysterical Bess called the first number her phone opened to despite her phone being low on battery and having a cracked screen. She is in disbelief how her guy friend understood her in all that chaos. "All I said was Bowen's name and he knew, and he was like, ‘I'm on the way,'" she recalled.
Bess also noted: “Bowen now walks out of the house and is screaming my name. So if you can imagine the terror of me hiding behind this bush as he's screaming my name. I'm aware of what just happened, and I don't even know what to make of it.” She watched in horror as her attacker searched for her in his truck and then she waited for her friend. Once she was in his car, she finally felt safe.
Bess soon reported the assault and also went through a sexual assault medical exam at a local hospital. She and her family then shifted to another state to forget the horror Bess had to endure. After the April 8 verdict, Bess' father, Reverend Darren Bess, said: “We have experienced a catastrophic failure of this system and it impacts my family daily.”
Bess' story is one a jury would have heard, if prosecutors had brought the case to trial. In June 2019 Chloe had accused Turner of raping her at a house party. He was arrested and initially denied bond and then in August 2019, Bowen was granted bond and ordered to home confinement with ankle monitoring.