Tonya Hailey (born 1974) was a Madison County, Mississippi resident. In 1984, at the age of ten, she was abducted, beaten, and raped by white supremacists Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard, leading to her father Carl Lee Hailey killing the two rapists in a vigilante action.
Biography[]
Tonya Hailey was born in Canton, Mississippi in 1974, the daughter of Vietnam War veteran Carl Lee Hailey and his wife Gwen Hailey, the sister of Skip, Slim and Willie Hailey and niece of Lester Hailey. She grew up in a poor African-American neighborhood, and, one summer day in 1984, she was sent to buy groceries for her family. As she walked home with her groceries, she was assaulted by white supremacists Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard, who threw a beer bottle at her head before beating and raping her and attempting, but failing, to lynch her. She was rushed to the hospital, and her father avenged her rape by gunning down the rapists at the courthouse, leading to his own trial and ultimate acquittal.