MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – While her husband returned a rototiller to a West Virginia rental shop, a limping woman sneaked into another part of the building seeking help. Soon, she was at a shelter with a horrifying tale: She had been held hostage for the better part of a decade – beaten, burned and even shackled during childbirth.

Investigators have 45 photographs showing burns on her back and breasts from irons and frying pans, and scars on her wrists and ankles. Now her husband is in jail and authorities are investigating what Jackson County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Boggs called one of the most terrible cases he’s seen.

“This appears to go beyond abuse to what I would consider torture,” he said Wednesday.