within hours it goes viral setting off a firestorm of national media coverage. a disturbing story out of texas. hillary and her mom hallie, now divorced from william, appear on the today show and other national media. william adams gives his side when questioned by a local reporter at the time. in my mind i haven t done anything wrong other than discipline after my child after she was caught stealing. i did lose my temper but i ve since apologized. it looks worse than it is. there is a story. it will come out in time. you acknowledge that is you. absolutely, it is me. police investigate but the statute of limitations has run out and no charges are filed. adams is suspended with full pay from the bench pending the results of an investigation by the state commission on judicial conduct.
mother with the wrong tone, you look at me wrong, i m going to take you in there and wear your ass out with this belt. dours understand me? yes, sir. that s what it s come to. that s what it s come to. adams leaves the room and doesn t return. all of a sudden i remembered the camera. as fast as i could, i took the camera down and plugged it into my computer. i copied it in a few different places and i erased the tape. hillary says her father s physical violence tapers off after the incident and for the next several years the video remains a secret. that would change seven years later in the fall of 2011 when hillary, 23 and living on her own, decides to release the video after a financial dispute with her father. hillary posts the video on youtube.
and that was just magical to a little kid like me. according to hillary s mom hallie, the 16-year-old begins to spend more and more of her free time online. she loved video games. she loved being on the computer, chatting on the computer or even skyping on the computer. but her daughter s cyber life does not sit well with her family william, a family law judge for aransas county. he didn t like that presence in her life or my life. early in the evening tensions escalate quh hillary s father learns she s been downloading music off the internet illegally. all he knew was downloading meant illegal. that was basically stealing. not that i m condoning it. i could tell something was going to happen. that something hillary fears is a physical beating from her father. he would discipline harshly
bend over that bed. a young girl is beaten with a leather belt. bend over the bed. by her own father, a respected judge. dad just kept coming back with the belt. he kept coming back. get on your stomach on the bed now. i remember thinking he won t stop. get on your stomach, i said. why won t he just stop. the year is 2004, rockport, texas. hillary adams, a shy home schooled teenager with a rare form of cerebral palsy has discovered a new world, the internet. i found out there were other people you could find with the same interests as you, even if you thought you were the only person in the entire world. you could find a friend on the internet.
june 26th, 2006, beach island carolina, a town with two speeds, slow and slower. a local fixture, todd s convenience store, where mary todd has been working the front counter for more than 35 years. when my husband s not there, i like to be there. and if problems arise, i take care of it. on this lazy friday afternoon, the great-grandmother twice over retreats to the store s back office to indulge her twin passions. i was crocheting and watching television, and that s a good thing to do. seven security cameras roll as two teenager cashiers work the registers up front while long-time employee michael wallace stocks the shelves. come to work at 2:00 in the afternoon. i was stocking some beer to put on the shelf. just another routine day.