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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Man Testifies His Life Turned Into ‘A Living Hell’ Former Best Friend On Trial For Assaulting, Raping Him

Spokane held the West’s promise of opportunity when the happy New Jersey couple bought their cross-country Greyhound tickets.

Their best friend, Theresa Spickler-Bowe, had an apartment in Spokane, and both were optimistic about finding jobs.

But four months after moving here last fall, happiness had turned to misery.

Eunice Eickhoff pleaded guilty earlier this month to raping and assaulting her longtime boyfriend - allegedly joining Spickler-Bowe in meting out the abuse.

The man testified Monday afternoon in Spickler-Bowe’s rape and assault trial about the rapid turn of events that turned his life into “a living hell.”

In a halting narrative, the thin, graying 43-year-old described the physical and psychological control Spickler-Bowe allegedly had exercised over him and Eickhoff.

“If I didn’t do what she said, there would be punishment,” he said in a hushed, scratchy voice.

The punishment inflicted by Spickler-Bowe escalated and Eickhoff joined in, he told the Spokane County Superior Court jury. The three and Spickler-Bowe’s husband shared an apartment at 1619 E. DeSmet.

The man said he was punished for not taking out the trash, paying the rent late, even flatulence.

Eickhoff began punching and slapping him in October, weeks after arriving in Spokane, he said. In the previous 12 years of their relationship, Eickhoff had not been violent, he said.

“We had fun together,” the man said, describing trips to the New Jersey shore.

“Nothing happened until we moved in with (Spickler-Bowe),” the man said. “It was mostly her idea.”

Spickler-Bowe started chaining him to the front door at night and making him sleep on the kitchen floor, he said. She soon demanded that he crawl around the apartment on his hands and knees because she said he made too much noise, he testified.

Spickler-Bowe returned to New Jersey for a month in late 1996. During that time, Eickhoff was not violent, the man said.

When Spickler-Bowe returned, she began taking the money he made at Labor Ready, a Spokane day-labor company, and later at a Burger King restaurant, he said.

The man was forced several times into the freezing January weather in a homemade diaper because he had been flatulent in the living room, he testified.

In late December and early January, the violence peaked. At Spickler-Bowe’s suggestion, Eickhoff burned her boyfriend with a butter knife and spatula heated on the stove, he said. The jury saw that the scars on the man’s ribs, shoulders and buttocks remain.

On Jan. 15, Spickler-Bowe and Eickhoff took turns raping him for 15 minutes with a broom handle, he testified.

When asked what he had done to deserve the rape, he shrugged. “I must have done something,” he said, looking away.

The day after the rape, the women forced the man, a nondrinker, to guzzle wine, then poured wine on his clothes. “Make him smell like he is a drunk,” the man said he remembers Spickler-Bowe telling Eickhoff.

The next day, Jan. 17, they kicked him out. He went to an East Central neighborhood clinic, where police found him.

Asked why he hadn’t left or resisted the violence, the man shrugged again. “I don’t know why I didn’t go,” he said. “I wish I had.”

He now lives in New Jersey with friends.

Eickhoff is expected to take the stand today, testifying against Spickler-Bowe. The defense is expected to begin presenting its case later this week.

If convicted, Spickler-Bowe faces at least 10 years in prison. Eickhoff was sentenced to an exceptional term of 12-1/2 years.

, DataTimes