When Bethany Arceneaux, a 29-year-old single mom from Lafayette, Louisiana, was abducted by her ex-boyfriend, her family took matters into their own hands in a daring rescue. It began with a woman who witnessed the abduction take place.
A woman, Derrimetrie Robinson, had spotted Bethany in a parking lot. Bethany was being dragged from the driver’s door of her car by her ex-boyfriend and father of her son, Scott Thomas. Bethany was honking her car horn frantically. Incidentally, she had a restraining order against Thomas.
“She (Arceneaux) went to the passenger side to get her baby out, and when she was doing that a white Buick pulled up behind her. She started running, and he (the driver of the car) ran behind her and he attacked her, you know, while she was holding her baby,” Robinson said.
Robinson ran to the car, but Bethany screamed at her to take her two-year-old son. Robinson managed to get her hands on the little boy as she saw Thomas throw Arceneaux into the back seat of his car and speed away.
Bethany’s family began searching by first placing flyers around town. They did have an edge on most families who are searching for abducted victims because, thanks to Robinson, they knew who had taken Bethany.
Police finally located Scott’s car abandoned in a field but had no other leads. Bethany’s family began using off-road vehicles to search some of the remote areas around the sugar cane fields.
Then, another witness came forward with details of an abandoned house near the field where the car had been found. Six of Bethany’s relatives went straight to the house. When they arrived, they could hear Bethany screaming inside.
Bethany’s brother, Ryan Arceneaux, kicked down the front door and when he got into the house, he saw Thomas stabbing Bethany. She was stabbed multiple times and she could feel the knife slicing into her throat.
“We kicked doors down. It was like a movie unfolding,” Miss Arceneaux’s brother, Ryan, told the Advertiser. “If we would have waited, she would have been dead.”
It was Bethany’s cousin, Marcus Arceneaux, Jr., who stabbed Thomas 11 times. He bled to death on the floor beside the mattress.
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Bethany’s uncle, Marcus Arceneaux, carried his niece to safety. Her brother, Ryan, described her condition.
“She’s shook up, she’s sliced up, but she’s alright.”
Bethany’s uncle, Marcus Arceneaux
“I was like, wow, she’s hurt but she’s alive. It’s a miracle. I was trying to get her in the truck and get her to the hospital. She was bleeding, and I didn’t know where the blood was coming from. She had blood everywhere,” Marcus Arceneaux said.
Bethany later revealed that when she and Thomas heard her rescuers approaching, he said:
“It’s about to be that time. We are about to die.”
She revealed some of the horrors that she experienced in those three days in which she was held captive. She said that at one point, Thomas made calls to his family and told his other child goodbye. He also allowed Bethany to call her sister. Then he dismantled the phone and told Bethany:
“You should’ve just loved me. Why didn’t you just love me?”
And he made terrifying threats.
“You not gonna live no happy life. You’re not. I’m not goin’ to jail! And you not goin’ live no happy life,” Thomas told her. “We gonna die together.”
No charges have been filed against Bethany’s family. Police Captain Kip Justice issued this statement after confirming that Thomas died of injuries sustained in the confrontation.
“The man began harming her. He [Arceneaux’s family member] did what he needed to do to stop that aggressive behavior from Mr. Thomas.”
Bethany had filed a restraining order against Thomas after he locked her and their son in a house. The order barred Thomas from coming close to Bethany’s home or their son’s daycare, according to The Daily Mail. At the time, Bethany gave this statement.
“After we called cops on him he grabbed our son from me and shoved him into the car. He then got on his knees in front of the cops and said ‘I swear to God on all my children I will kill you.'”
Based on all that has happened, we totally believe he meant to do just that.
We’re so grateful that Bethany and her precious little boy are OK and will never have to fear this evil man again.
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