Hells Headbangers Co-Owner Eric Horval Accused of Rape and Abuse, Brother and Co-Owner Justin Horval Says, “There’s Zero Truth To It Whatsoever”
Eric Horval, co-owner of metal label and distro site Hells Headbangers, has been accused of rape and abuse by a woman named Melissa Haus, who is apparently his ex-fiancé. In response to this, Justin Horval, Eric’s brother and co-owner of Hells Headbangers, has posted a video claiming that these accusations are false and slanderous.
In her post from February 26th which can be found below, Melissa Haus wrote a series of claims against Eric, including physical and psychological abuse. Melissa also posted images which she claims are of a written testimony from her son, who says he was attacked by Eric Horval.
You can read the whole statement below, but here are some specific moments:
“In March 2021, Eric Horval physically attacked my disabled son…below is Johann’s statement in his own words. He functions about 4-5 years below his age. He did not deserve this & I failed to protect him. I froze, told my son to leave the room and told Eric to hit me instead
I didn’t tell the police what I saw. I was scared and still think no one will believe us…
“…i had a breakdown from what I found. I was shaking and crying. I was distraught..Scared. That night on July 10, 2021, he pinned me down and raped me and did something horrible I cant say. I pushed it from my mind to keep my job. He fled the house the following day, stealing my drivers license & ransacking the house…I described the incident in detail to a select few “friends” and a crisis center. I went to the hospital in distress when I realized what had happened. They did not perform a rape kit although my heart rate was 145 and I had back pain. I was discharged and given a referral to an obgyn. They had no openings until Dec 8. I went. They found something in my body
In response to this, Justin Horval, Eric’s brother and business partner, has posted a YouTube video titled, ‘Wild and Slanderous Hells Headbangers accusations addressed with straight facts by J-dawg!’ The video claims that Melissa’s claims are false and defamatory. He says that her claims are easily disproved, and that they have hired an attorney to deal with this matter.
Here is a transcription of some of Justin’s response:
“Eric is my brother, he owns Hells Headbangers with me and Chase [Horval]. His ex-fiancé, they broke up approximately seven months ago…she’s making accusations of him of criminal activity. Being abused, things of that nature. That he abused her, that he abused her son. And I can tell you guys, without a shadow of a doubt [sic], that these are 100% false. There’s zero truth to it whatsoever.
“And I’m not just being biased because he’s my brother, I know this to be 100% fact. And not only do I know it for a fact knowing him my whole life, and I’ve known her now for six years, and she’s definitely shown her character — with multiple things, she’s been scandalous with other people, that is known and provable…she’s kind of known for doing this kind of shit. So actually, this didn’t come as too big of a shock, when this post came out, but I didn’t think even her would’ve sunk this low.”
Justin says that as recently as last Halloween, Melissa and her son had been happily spending time with the Horval family.
Justin also confronts the accusations that Eric abused her son:
“First of all, he’s technically not a child, he’s actually 18 years old. Now,. he does have a mental disability, but there was no abuse. That’s completely false. I’m not going to get into all the details, but that’s not true. Long story short, he was basically a teenager acting out at the time, and he needed to be restrained. And actually, she praised Eric up and down the next day. Thought he did a really good job of handling the situation.”
Obviously, these are incredibly serious accusations, and we’ll have to see what comes of this case. Until then, we don’t actually know.
You can read Melissa’s statement below, and then watch Justin’s video after it. More as we know it.
