SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — In the next few weeks, a Scott County woman will share her story of survival with a national audience.
Melanie Robey will appear on an episode of Evil Lives Hereon Investigation Discovery.
Her journey begins more than three decades ago, when she was living in Sevierville, Tennessee with her then-husband Tracy Marshall.
The years haven't stopped Robey, who also goes by Angel, from sharing what happened to her in June 1993.
"I do this because I want people not to have to go through what I did," she told LEX 18. "When I relive this, it helps to heal my inner being."
One night, she woke up to flames in her bedroom and on her body. She later learned Marshall had intentionally set the fire and tried to trap her inside the room.
"Had I had died, he would have gotten a large amount of money, insurance money, and he would have gone on to supposedly raise my daughter as if I had never existed," she said.
It was the ultimate betrayal that could have been deadly.
"I was in a coma for two and a half months, I burned 69% of my body, 3rd and 4th degree," she said. "They said if I made it 24 hours, it would be a miracle."
Miraculously, Robey did survive.
As for Marshall, he assumed an alias and ran from the police for seven years. After he arrest, he died in prison.
But Robey is still here. She considers herself a survivor, not a victim.
"God seen fit that I wasn't going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life," she said. "God seen fit that I was going to have a purpose in my life."
She raised her daughter Sami, eventually remarried, and even wrote a book about her ordeal, titled His Love Called My Name.
Robey will share her story once again on Evil Lives Here, as she encourages others to learn from her experience.
"I learned in my first marriage it's not okay for anybody to hit anybody, and it is okay to reach out when you feel threatened," she said. "And it is okay to feel safe, at all times."
New episodes of Evil Lives Here air Sundays at 9 p.m. You can also stream episodes online.
