Bowen Turner was given probation after admitting to assaulting Chloe Bess in 2019
One of the three girls who accused a South Carolina teenager of rape has spoken out about her ordeal, after the alleged serial rapist was handed a lenient plea deal avoiding prison time last week.
Chloe Bess, one of three accusers who said that 19-year-old Bowen Turner violently sexually assaulted her, told the Murdaugh Murders podcast that she fled and hid behind a bush after the attack, as he searched for her screaming her name.
Turner had been charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault and battery on Friday, for a sentence of probation. Turner was a juvenile at the time of the assault, which factored into the deal.
Orangeburg County Judge Markley Dennis and Second Circuit Deputy Solicitor David Miller agreed to the deal, even though Turner had allegedly violated house arrest dozens of times, and assaulted Chole while on bond in a second rape case.
Turner had also been charged with raping 18-year-old Dallas Stoller, but those charges were dropped after she took her own life last November. Prosecutors also dropped charges in a third case, which is sealed due to his juvenile status.
Chloe Bess, one Bowen Turner's three accusers, said she fled and hid behind a bush after the attack, as he searched for her screaming her name
Turner had also been charged with raping 18-year-old Dallas Stoller (above), but those charges were dropped after she took her own life last November
'I think this is just a tragedy for these families,' Sarah Ford, an attorney for the victims' families, told DailyMail.com of the case in an interview on Wednesday.
'The overarching thing that we see with this case is just a failure of our system. We see people with power and privilege deciding what justice should look like for them,' she said.
'There is just issue after issue with this case, and it's a failure of our system -- victims deserve better,' said Ford.
In the podcast interview published on Wednesday, Chole, who is now 19, bravely agreed to be identified as an assault survivor and gave her account -- the one a jury would have heard, if prosecutors had brought the case to trial.
'I was just with my friends trying to have a good time,' she recalled of the night of the assault. 'It's one of those things where you don't think it could happen until it happens to you.'
Chloe said she was at a house party in June 2019, when through a mis-communication, her brother and best friend both left to grab food without her.
The teen stepped outside to call her friend for a ride, when she says that Turner followed her out and hovered around her as she tried to make the call.
'I kind of started to feel uncomfortable, but he lived down the street from me,' recalled Chloe. 'My dad's a pastor and his family attended our church, so he was familiar to me.'
Chole, who is now 19, bravely agreed to be identified as an assault survivor and gave her account -- the one a jury would have heard, if prosecutors had brought the case to trial
Chloe said that, due to the suddenness and violence of the attack, her memory is fragmentary, but that key details stick out.
'I remember him coming out, and I was asking my friend to come pick me up, or when she was coming back,' she said.
'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,' she said.
'So there was not much I could do at that moment in time,' Chloe recalled.
'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,' she said.
'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,' said Chloe.
Chloe said that as soon as she could get free, she fled back inside the house and ran into the bathroom.
'I remember I ended up in the bathroom, and I was looking at myself in the mirror, my hair was all crazy, there were
