[Abby] 10 years ago, two brothers
from Knoxville escaped horrific abuse they suffered at the hands of
their stepmother and father. As 10News anchor Robin Wilhoit reports,
on the other side of the horrors, they eventually found hope. A warning, this story may
be disturbing to some. [Woman] Follow-up message,
aren't those awesome? [Justin] Those are awesome. [Robin] Whether it's picking out fixtures... [Woman] So everything is handmade. [Robin] or coordinating colors... [Woman] This is actually a new red. [Robin] Justin McIntosh finds
comfort in creating a sense of home. [Justin] I love anything and
everything with a home. I love making... your home as beautiful as you can make it. [Robin] Home is supposed to be a haven, but growing up, home was
full of horrors and abuse for the 24-year-old and
his older brother, Austin. [Reporter] Now, investigators accuse
Cox of handcuffing the two boys in the kitchen on numerous occasions. [Robin] The siblings' story
topped the headlines in 2013 when the two escaped the
torture they endured for years from their stepmother, Jessica Cox, and their father, Michael McIntosh. [Justin] She would just beat us. It was just horrible, whether it was with extension cords,
hangers, belts, canned goods, I mean, like, literally just anything. [Robin] How long would you go without food? [Justin] Most of the time,
it was two to three days. If she was really angry,
it was four to five days. [Robin] Justin can't escape the memories of being handcuffed to the
oven or kitchen cabinets. The boys would be forced
to stand, sit, or kneel sometimes for hours that
stretched into days. [Justin] She would have us fill
the tub up with ice-cold water and then take every ice tray out of the
freezer and put the ice in the bathtub and then would have us get in and she... literally would get on top
of us and try to drown us. [Robin] The breaking point for the boys finally came in the early
morning of May 28, 2013. The night before, Michael and Jessica
arrived home to find Austin uncuffed. The couple handcuffed the boys
together to a lower cabinet. [Justin] As we were sitting there, we just kind of both said we
had never seen her that angry. You know what I mean? This is an opportunity if we
really want to get out of here. I mean, how are we going to do this? [Robin] They hatched a plan. Handcuffed on either side of the cabinet, Justin crawled through the
cabinet to Austin's side. [Justin] I got through and I remember him
just like yanking me through the end of it. And he was like, "We gotta go. We gotta go." "We got to get out of here right away." [Robin] The brothers quietly and quickly jumped out of the front window and started walking. A challenge for Austin given his feet were swollen and
bruised from a recent beating. [Justin] I remember him saying
his feet were really killing him because his, you know, his wound. And he kept saying, "Well, can we stop?" And I just kept saying, "I don't want to stop." "You know we can't stop." [car drives by] [Robin] Still handcuffed and hungry, the teens walked nearly three
miles here to Kingston Pike. They then went into a grocery store and stole food because they had no money, then walked across the street
to a fast food restaurant where they called their grandparents. But no one answered. They then went on to Farragut High School and ran into a janitor. Seeing them bound and beaten, he called authorities. [Justin] I remember Austin just saying, "Please don't take us back." "Please don't take us back again." I remember one of the detectives that had literally just pulled up said, "Buddy, don't you worry." "There's about 20 sheriffs
there with guns drawn." "You're not going back there." [Robin] Investigators converged on the
family's trailer and removed evidence, including a cabinet the brothers
were regularly handcuffed to. Four years later, in 2017, a jury convicted Jessica Cox
of aggravated child abuse and reckless endangerment. Michael McIntosh pleaded guilty
to aggravated child abuse. [Justin] As a...as a kid,
I was upset because... you didn't understand it. You just wanted to be loved by your parents. But as time has gone on, I think I'm more upset that
he wouldn't have just... manned up and said, "You know,
this isn't good for my boys." [Robin] Justin says years of therapy
helped him work through the trauma. Though the anxiety lingers, he has restored his relationship with his father. Did he apologize? [Justin] He has apologized
probably 150 times. He...every single time I talk to him, the very first thing that
comes out of his mouth is, "I'm so sorry. I should have done better." [Robin] As for Jessica, Justin hasn't seen or spoken
to her since their escape. [Justin] I want to have that one sit down... meeting where I can get, like, the
closure, the answers that I want, even though she probably won't give them. [Robin] Instead, Justin finds love
and support from his grandparents who took the brothers in after the abuse. [Justin] And they are the most
precious people in my entire life. I'm so thankful for them. [Woman] Isn't that pretty? [Justin] Oh yeah. [Robin] Making a house a
home is now Justin's mission and hope is his message. [Justin] If anyone can see this and know that they can
get through this in life and you don't always have
to be stuck where you're at. Life does go forward and it can get better. [Abby] Wow, that was Robin Wilhoit reporting. Jessica Cox is serving a 24-year sentence
at the women's prison in Nashville. Michael McIntosh is set
to be released from the Northwest Correctional
Facility in Tiptonville in 2027. Justin's brother, Austin, works
as a flight mechanic in Florida with the goal of someday becoming a pilot.
