The victim of an alleged kidnapping and beating in June revealed in court Wednesday that prior to the alleged abuse she and one of the female defendants in the case considered themselves “married,” and that the motive for the abuse may have been related to the custody of the victim’s child.

Chelsea R. Adams, Christopher C. Fast, Tabatha J. Mallory and Anthony W. Thomas.

On June 19, Tabatha Jalayne Mallory, 25, of Lawrence, along with Christopher Cody Fast, 26, of Topeka, and Chelsea Rayne Adams, 23, of Edwardsville, were charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery in connection with the alleged three-day mental and physical abuse of their 22-year-old roommate, a mother of one.

Anthony Wayne Thomas, 29, of Lawrence, was originally only charged with aggravated assault in connection with the incident, but prosecutor C.J. Rieg changed the charge to aggravated kidnapping and tacked on additional charges of aggravated battery and two counts of child endangerment.

On Wednesday, a preliminary hearing was held in Douglas County District Court for Adams and Thomas. The victim testified that between June 14 and June 16, Mallory, Adams and Fast beat her with fists, a spoon, a dog toy, metal pliers and a toy piano.

The victim said that Fast and Adams were dating and visiting Adams’ sister, Mallory, and Mallory’s fiancé, Thomas, during the nearly three days of abuse. The victim also said that she and Mallory had a romantic relationship and considered each other “wives” until Mallory broke up with or “divorced” her in early June.

The victim said that Mallory and Thomas wanted to adopt her 3-year-old son, which she speculated could have been a motive for the abuse. Part of the abuse, she said, involved the four forcing her to make a false confession to molesting her son on video and audio recordings.

The victim said that Mallory told her that they would stop beating her if she agreed to “sign adoption papers” allowing Mallory and Thomas to adopt her son.

The victim eventually left the home on the night of June 16 without her child. She said she had previously signed over “temporary custody” of her child to Thomas and Mallory before a notary, so she didn’t think she was allowed to take her child.

After the victim testified, Rieg attempted to change Thomas’ charges to aggravated kidnapping, attempt to commit interference with parental custody, aiding and abetting aggravated battery, aggravated assault and two counts of child endangerment. She also wanted to change Adams’ charges to aggravated kidnapping, aiding and abetting aggravated battery, aiding and abetting attempt to commit interference with parental custody and criminal threat.

Chief Douglas County District Judge Robert Fairchild said he would take the matter under advisement and announce his decision on whether to bind the two over on the suggested charges at their next court date Aug. 14.

Also on Wednesday, Mallory and Fast waived their preliminary hearings and entered pleas of not guilty to their charges. Rieg told Fairchild that she believed attorneys are “close to resolving this case,” but that if Fast and Mallory decide to take the case to trial, she would be requesting a preliminary hearing so she could try to tack on more charges to their cases, as well.

Mallory and Fast are expected to appear next in court on Sept. 14, with Mallory’s jury trial scheduled to begin Sept. 16 and Fast’s on Sept. 23.

All four defendants remain in the Douglas County Jail.