Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: I Could Feel Snow All Around Me

Episode Date: September 16, 2023

Teri’s ex-husband attacks her in a jealous rage and leaves her to die, jammed in a garbage can filled with snow. For 27 freezing hours Teri wills herself to stay alive for her children. Sponsors: Babbel: Here's a special, (limited time) deal for our listeners to get you started RIGHT NOW - get 55% off your Babbel subscription - but only for our listeners - at Babbel.com/Survive Rules and restrictions may apply. Prose: Custom, made-to-order haircare from Prose has your name all over it. Take your FREE in-depth hair consultation and get 15% off your first order today! Go to Prose.com/survive for your FREE in-depth hair consultation and 15% off. Caraway: Right now, Caraway is offering new members 30 days completely free if you go to Caraway.health/ISURVIVED.  Angi: Download the free Angi mobile app today or visit Angi.com  Warner Bros: Listen to Deadly Nightmares wherever you listen to your podcasts 

Hi, I'm Caitlin VanMol, host of I Survived. We're really proud of this show and hope by relaunching, we're going to find new audiences for these stories we think are so important. These are obviously very rough stories to listen to, but what I remember most about interviewing Terry is that she had these great one-liners she would deliver in her amazing Wisconsin accent. I now say this isn't the magazines, just like Terry did, when I want to make an excuse for

not being fancy. And what this shows me is that even when you're describing the worst thing that has happened to you, you can still find some levity. This is episode five. I could feel the snow all around me. This episode contains descriptions of assault. Listener discretion is advised. And also just a note about this episode, we interviewed Terry over Skype, so in parts of her story, you might hear some birds or a dog in the background. You know, you can't stand somebody, divorce them. You don't kill them. Terry Gendusa and David Larson met in college. They lived in the same dorm and ran in the same circle of friends.

But that's all they were back then, just friends. It was about maybe 10 years after that that we started dating. We were older, you know, both kind of looking to settle down and get married. Yep, looking back, I recognized signs of his temper, but he always displayed them to other people. You know, say like, you know, the girl behind the register at the store or, you know, the construction worker on the road when they diverted the traffic, you know, things like that. So I saw it then. I didn't like it then, but I think I told myself, well, you know, he wouldn't treat me like that.

But while planning their wedding, she got a glimpse of his need to control things. Usually the girl's like, you know, I want this color, I want these flowers. He was very controlling with all that stuff to the point where my parents, they did not even come to the rehearsal dinner. My mom was saying, don't do it. And even my dad, as we, I mean, right before we started walking down the aisle, said, we can slip out the back door. This sounds really dumb, but I can tell you that I know a lot of people have done this. If you're in the church, in your wedding gown, there are guests there. Everybody's sitting there.

You kind of feel like, well, I have to go through with it. Everybody's here. Well, I have to do this. It. Everybody's here. Well, I have to do this. It'll be fine. I mean, how bad can it be? As Terry would find out over the years to come, it can be torture. This is I Survived, the podcast where we talk to women who've lived through the worst things imaginable and all the tragic, messy, and wonderful things that can happen after survival. I'm Caitlin VanMol. On our honeymoon, we went to Hawaii.

We were going to go for a walk somewhere, and I, you know, like normal people, put on tennis shoes and shorts and a tank top or something, and they had my swimming suit underneath. And he was like, They had my swimming suit underneath. And he was like, just wear your swimming suit. Well, no, we're going to be walking around. I'm not going to, you know, like this isn't the magazines. It became a big argument. And then he hit me on the head. I remember that with the palm of his hand. And after the screaming matches and going around and around, I remember saying, I'm just going to go back home.

I mean, he had the tickets. He had our IDs. He had everything in his wallet. I was stuck there. But once I got back to Wisconsin, I should have just left. But at that point, you know, he was acting what I would say more normal. And then here's me. I basically made excuses for his behavior.

And, okay, things are going to be better now. He was just stressed out. So Terry stayed. The first year, I have to say, you know, was okay. It was probably like the end of the first year where he just really started getting controlling as far as, you know, you need to quit your job. You know, no wife of mine is going to work and you're not going to do that. You know, so the first year I would say nobody really knew exactly what was going on. You know, I was trying to save face. You know, I didn't want to look like, oh, my gosh, I'm a stupid person who married this abusive guy. You know, I'm an abused woman. I didn't want people looking at me like that. The second year we had our first child, Amanda. And, you know, I think becoming a mom just kind of like empowers you a little bit more.

Like you feel like, you know what, I am important. And now we had a baby, you know, and then he would say things like, you know what, if you divorce me, you know, you don't have any money. So the courts would give her to me. But in the third year, you know, when I got more assertive, it was like, you know, you're a jerk. I'm not putting up with this or something wrong with you. I'll never forget how he yelled at me while he was hitting me on the head saying, you better love me. And just the irony of that, you know, hitting somebody on

the head, screaming, you better love me. I was basically planning on leaving, trying to get my ducks in a row, found out I was pregnant with my second daughter, which I'm so happy today. She's such a blessing. It was really two key pieces of advice that helped Terry find the courage to leave David. I actually have a friend that I'm still best friends with, spent about 30 years, you know, her telling me, you know, if you're not happy, you need to get out. And you know what, what are you teaching your daughters? That was huge for me because I did not want my daughters growing up in a relationship like that. And I do have to say what my mom told me, which was huge because I grew up Catholic and I felt really guilty about, you know, being divorced and, you know, all this other stuff. But I remember my mom saying, God does not want you to live like this.

So she made plans to leave David. I had made the decision to go to a safe house because I didn't want to be anywhere around any of my family because I knew I had made up my mind that I was going to leave him. And I knew that all hell was going to break loose. My dad was upset that I didn't go back to my parents' house. But I just feared, you know, obviously he's going to go to all my family to look for us. Stayed there for about a month. Started all the court, you know, papers and

everything. After about a month, got our own apartment and just kind of started over from there. But David wasn't going to make starting over easy for Terry. Every job that I took, he would go and try to sabotage it. Every person that I had babysitting my kids so I can go to work, he would go and scream at them and they would say, I can't do this. When he had his visitation time with them after we were divorced and they were like, you know, two, three, four, they were not even really with him. He would throw them at a babysitter's. See, to him, two, three, four. They were not even really with him. He would throw them at a babysitter's. To him, it's the woman's job to do everything with a kid.

Never fed them, never gave them a bath, never changed a diaper. That was a woman's work. So never, I mean, I remember literally having to say, you know, play with Amanda. He never wanted to deal with kids. He just wanted to own them, to have them. Terry fought for sole custody. Even though he had an abusive past, he was still granted visitation rights. He had a defense attorney and the defense attorney

said to the judge, I'll never forget this. Well, he may be abusive to her, but there's no proof that he's abusive to the children. And I remember standing up and saying, you got to be kidding me. If somebody is abusive, how long is it going to take before he starts, you know, turning it on them? At that point, I think that the social workers involved were just so, you know, excited that they actually had a father show up in court who actually wanted to be with his kids, that they were just like willing to up in court who actually wanted to be with his kids, that they were just like willing to give him anything that he wanted. And the divorce took about a year and a half because he was just blatantly fighting everything. But finally,

on January 31st, 2001, the divorce was finalized. Let me tell you, when our divorce was final, we were in the courtroom and he was crying and I thought, why is he crying? We like can't stand each other. And he looked at me and he's like, you're going to regret this. Whether it's months from now or years from now, you'll regret it. Terry had been through three years of abuse and a lengthy, bitter divorce. So a vague threat wasn't really going to scare her. She was ready to move on. And she did. After I had left Larson and I had, we were, I was going through my divorce. I had joined a choir and Nick was in that choir. Nick had asked me out a few times and I turned him down because

I was like, you know, I'm just a single mom, like trying to make it with my kids. And I just don't need to complicate anything. And I was like, you know, I have a crazy ex and you just don't even want to deal with this. After you get out of a bad relationship, it's always hard to trust somebody else. I just think that, you know, you have to realize that most people aren't abusive psychopaths, you know. And I think I had been counseled enough that I was like, okay, well, this guy doesn't seem controlling. You know, he doesn't seem manipulative. He's not easily angered.

You know, he doesn't, you know, call me every second wondering where I am and, you know, stalk me or anything like that. And, you know, I could tell that he was just, you know, a good person. Terry and Nick got married in 2003. No one tried to talk her out of it this time. And on January 30, 2004, Terry took a pregnancy test and found out she was expecting. We were very hyped about that, very excited about that. The next morning, when I was supposed to pick up the girls, I couldn't wait to tell them that for sure, you know, we're going to have a baby. that, very excited about that. The next morning when I was supposed to pick up the girls, I

couldn't wait to tell them that for sure, you know, we're going to have a baby. And I knew that they'd be very excited. The girls were staying the night at their dad's house. And the next morning, Terry went to pick them up and tell them the news. I drove to his house and it was very cold that day and snowing. He came to the door and he's like, they're not ready yet. And then shut the door, knocked on his door again. And he opened it and he said, oh, you know, the girls are hiding and they want you to come and find them. We all do this and it's an absolutely horrible idea. You get a headache and immediately you head to Google or WebMD to find out what absolutely frightening, life-threatening condition you might have. Stop. Don't panic. Don't give yourself anxiety. Talk to a real doctor instead,

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The girls were actually locked in the bedroom with the TV turned up. After I walked in the house, I remember saying, gee, I wonder where they are. I started walking toward the living room looking for the girls, and I just remember clunk on the head. I woke up, and I was on the floor, and he was on top of me, and I saw a baseball bat. I remember seeing his face as he was swinging.

He was just so full of hatred and anger and evil. I think as I was pleading and saying, you don't have to pay your child support, you know, he paused for a minute, and then he was just like, oh, your promises don't mean anything, and continued to hit me. He beat her in the head with a bat at least 20 times. He tried strangling me.

He tried putting rags and towels and everything in my mouth. He had, during the struggle, I don't know why, taken off my socks and shoes and stuffed my socks in my mouth. When he was trying to suffocate me and he had his hand over me, I remembered something that I saw in a movie, and it said, you know, turn your head away, turn your head to the side, and I kept doing that, and he was losing his grip. He was getting angry, and he was getting frustrated that I wasn't going down as easy as he wanted me to.

I also couldn't believe that during this time, when all this was happening, my mind was still going. David then took some duct tape, bound her wrists, and covered her mouth. What he did next is he took a garbage can, one of those large Rubbermaid garbage cans, and started sliding me in it. This is another point where I thought, I can't believe that I'm still thinking, but I thought to myself, I've been knocked in the head so many times, I'm bleeding from the head. If I go in head first, that's going to be it.

Terry managed to turn herself around so her bare feet were at the bottom. But then David took the trash can with Terry in it outside into the Wisconsin winter air. He was turning it around in his front yard, filling it, packing it with snow. My feet were bare. My legs were bare. I just, you know just had a jacket on. I could feel the snow all around me. Once the trash can was full of snow,

he loaded it into the back of his truck and covered it with a tarp. It's very cold outside. I just remember what was going through my head. Just the sheer terror of, he is really killing me. When I heard his footsteps

walk back in the house and heard him shut the door, my first thought was, where are the girls? I can't die. I have to stay alert. I have to help my girls. I thought to myself, I know I have my cell phone in my jacket pocket. I then scratched off the duct tape with my thumbnail off my wrist, reached into my pocket. Even though I couldn't see because my face was all taped up, I could feel the numbers and dialed 911. In the 911 call, you can hear Terry struggling to breathe while trying to tell the operator David's address. 911, mobile emergency. Where's your emergency? I can't hear you.

Are you having difficulty breathing? 26841. What's the street? After being beaten in the head with a baseball bat, mouth duct taped shut, and now freezing from the snow, Terry had a hard time speaking. I knew she wasn't going to be able to understand me because everything was taped up. So I was just, I repeated his address like five times. The operator finally understood the address and dispatched the police. But in the meantime, David had loaded the girls into the truck and was driving away. The police only had an address, not a description of the truck or what the emergency even was. So they drove right past

the truck to the house. I'm in this garbage can, you know, no clothes on the bottom of me, packed in snow. My head is bleeding, aching. I'm slipping in and out of consciousness. When I came to, I made a 911 call again. This time it was in Milwaukee County. I'm freezing, not knowing what he's going to do next, knowing that I'm dying. The call is hard to hear, but Terry starts by saying her husband is trying to kill her. The operator repeats that back as a question and asks where she is. Can I help you? Your husband is trying to kill you?

Your husband is trying to kill you? Where are you? Terry says she's under a tarp. And again, the operator repeats this back as a question and asks her if she can move the tarp to see where she is. Someone's under a tarp. You're under a tarp? You can't put the tarp off your face to see where you are? Terry says no.

The operator asks, are you handcuffed or what? Terry says masking tape, which again is repeated as a question, adding, well, then how are you holding the phone? Then Terry passes out. The dispatcher at the time thought it was a prank call. And it was just very frustrating, but I was trying to get out my name and his name, where he lived. And I remember I think during that 911 call, I ended up blacking out. Because at the end, I was just breathing on the phone. And I remember her saying, are you going to talk to me or just breathe heavy? Terry needed to try something

else. I thought I have to do whatever I can to get him caught. I remember sticking my hand out of the garbage can and trying to like wave it around in the back of the truck, hoping somebody would see. And the truck came to a stop and he got out and he said, one more stunt like that, I'll get out my 38. He either kicked me or hit me in the head with a bat one more time. He had the bat in the truck, too. My cell phone rang. And I still to this day haven't found out who called, but he heard my cell phone ringing, and he took it. It was just, wow, that was my lifeline, and that's gone now. I was terrified

of what was happening to me, but I was more terrified of what is going to happen to my kids. It was inexplicable, the sheer terror. I remember pulling the tape down from one of my eyes and seeing the tarp, you know, that was on top of me blowing in the wind and just seeing a road with farms. I had no idea where we were. Is he going to take me and dump me in a lake somewhere? He's going to take me and put me someplace where nobody's ever going to find me.

They drove for an hour before David stopped the truck. It was about 4 p.m. And the next thing I knew, I could feel the garbage can being picked up, taken off the truck. I could hear the girls running and laughing and, you know, giggling. And I didn't want to call it to the girls because I knew, number one, they were so little. They wouldn't be able to do anything anyway. And number two, I didn't want to traumatize them. I could feel myself being enrolled somewhere.

I could hear that we were in some kind of a garage. I hear a bunch of ruckus, boxes being slid, things being piled up on top of the garbage can. He had put the lid on at this time. David had put her in a storage unit in Wheeling, Illinois. He covered the trash can with boxes and left. He then took the girls to a babysitter and went to work. I was silent all this time because I wanted him to think that I was dead

so he wouldn't shoot me. You know, it was then I thought, I am, I'm gonna die. I am beaten. I am in this frozen tomb. I'm gonna die. She tried to call for help, but no one heard her. As night began to fall, so did the temperature to just above zero. Terry's body temperature fell to a dangerous 84 degrees. Being squished up in the garbage can, I mean, my knees were totally up against it, and I was in the fetal position. I couldn't move. My feet were bare.

There was snow that was turning into ice. My head was still bleeding from being beaten so bad. I threw up a couple of times from a concussion. I was completely trapped. It felt like forever. There were a couple times when I was just so drained. I thought, you know, I just, I need to rest a little bit. Then right away I thought, I know I can't. Because I know if I rest, that's going to be it. Angie is your home for everything home. And they've made it easier than ever to connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. If you own a home, you know how much work it can take, whether it's everyday maintenance and repairs or making dream projects a reality.

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when 15-year-old Columbus, Ohio high school sophomore and cheerleader Jessica Keene meets and falls head over heels for a charming and rebellious senior. Just when it appears that her life is getting back on track, it unexpectedly takes a disturbing, twisted, and grisly detour into the isolated farmlands of Madison County, Ohio. Find out the whole story on Deadly Nightmares wherever you listen to your podcasts. It was such a helpless feeling. I knew that I was freezing. And if I don't keep trying to move as much as I can and keep myself alert, I'm going to freeze to death.

I remember hearing some noise like somebody was coming back in, and I panicked because I thought, oh my gosh, he's coming back. I heard somebody say, we're the paramedics, and I just felt such a sense of relief that I'm still alive and somebody's actually here. Terry had been in the trash can for 27 hours. After her first 911 call, police searched David's house and saw the blood on the carpet from his initial attack. They were waiting for him when he got to work and brought him in for questioning. They eventually found a business card for the storage garage and paramedics rushed over. They found her alive and raised her to the hospital. The next thing I knew, I woke up. I was in the hospital. I remember a nurse saying,

we have to cut your hair so we can staple your head. Is that okay? And I'm thinking, yeah, my hair. I care about my hair. The first thing I asked when I came to was, where are my kids? Her kids were located at the babysitters and they were okay, but Terry had lost her unborn baby. When my eyes were open and I first saw Nick, it was just, you know, I can't believe I'm here. You know, and it was sadness of what we had to go through after just being married, sadness after losing our baby together. When she was wheeled out of the storage unit, her feet had been poking out from under a blanket. One officer said he was confused because they knew they had found her socks at David's house, and yet she was now wearing black socks. But the black socks weren't socks.

Her feet were so severely frostbitten that they had turned completely black. The doctors thought at the time that they might have to amputate my legs below my knees and my arms below my elbows. Doctors were able to save her arms and legs, but did have to remove her toes. I remember my dad being in the room and saying to the doctor, do you really have to take her toes? I remember my dad being in the room and saying to the doctor, do you really have to take her toes? And at that point, I remember saying, Dad, it's just my toes. What's most important is that I'm here and my kids are safe and my kids are here. My toes don't matter.

Terry was in the hospital for two months. My family was always there. I mean, my parents, my siblings, my cousins. I come from a big Italian family was always there. I mean, my parents, my siblings, my cousins. I come from a big Italian family, always there. They were just, they were awesome. I mean, they were totally there for me. My kids weren't there visiting me yet. They didn't visit me until about a month later because I just looked horrid. I didn't want them to see me like that. It was just amazing to see cards and letters from people all over the United States coming into the hospital for me. You know, saying maybe I was

in an abusive relationship, or I know somebody else who was in an abusive relationship, or just God bless you and help you with your healing. What a horrible thing that happened, but holy cow, the outpouring of love and support and prayers and everything that I got from complete strangers was just amazing. It just makes you have a lot of faith in humanity again. When Terry was healed enough to leave the hospital, her next biggest challenge would be learning how to walk again. You know, I could have just said, oh, I don't have toes. I'm going to sit in a wheelchair. Well, I've got two little kids. See, the girls, after a while, started realizing, well, mom can't go upstairs. So then what they would do is they would be naughty and they would run up the steps.

So then I would say, teach me how to get up those steps, you know. And, you know, again, anyone with kids knows, I mean, once you're back at home with your kids, life kind of like goes back to normal because it has to. In state court, David pled no contest, which is sort of a guilty plea without admitting guilt, for attempted murder and was sentenced to 37 years in prison plus 23 years of extended supervision after his release in 2042. This brought Terry little comfort. I didn't think that was fair. I thought it should have been more. And I was disappointed in the DA because the DA at the time had an attitude like, oh my gosh, he's going to be like 70 years old by the time he gets out. What's he going to do then?

And I'm like, dude, 70 years old, he can buy a gun and come shoot me. I mean, like, what are you, you know, he just, he didn't understand. He obviously doesn't understand domestic violence, you know. If the guy lived to be 100, he's not going to change. He hasn't changed. But because Larson took Terry across state lines, he also had to face federal kidnapping charges. There, he was sentenced to life in prison. But that still hasn't stopped him from trying to finish what he started. In 2010, corrections officers uncovered his, quote, complex escape plan that involved him faking a medical emergency. He is currently in a maximum security prison. You know, so there's always that little tinge in the back, but, you know, nobody's 100 percent, you know, perfectly

secure. But I am such good friends with our sheriff and our sheriff. He's like, Terry, go about your life. Do not be paranoid. He's like, you know, all of my guys know how to get to your house within a, within a minute from wherever they are. You know, we do have alarm system on the house. You know, I do believe in a second amendment. You know, I tell you what, I will feel a lot better when when he's dead. I remember even talking to my pastor and saying, you know, I feel really guilty because I'm supposed to forgive him. It's hard to forgive someone who doesn't want to be forgiven, you know. So I mean, I struggled with that. But, you know, you just get to the point where I think I just I'm going about my life and I'm being the best mom I can for my for my kids. It was court ordered that Terry's daughters wouldn't see their father while they were underage.

But Terry says they didn't really want to see him anyway. They they want nothing, nothing to do with him at all. It was very hard for me because I had psychologists tell me no matter how horrible somebody is, it's still their, their parent. And the kids are always going to feel something for them. And you, you know, you can't take that away from them because that just makes them feel guilty. So what I would tell them is he's your dad and you have every right to love him. you just have to know that what he did was very wrong very bad and very wrong and you know he's not sorry for it so you can't trust him nor could they trust their grandfather when we were suing larson after all this stuff for basically

for child support for the girls okay so everybody So everybody knew, and his dad knew, that this was all going to go toward child support, to feed and take care of your children. His dad went to the bank, took it all out, and paid off his mortgage, basically stole the money from his grandkids. David's dad, Richard Larson, emptied his son's retirement accounts worth roughly $225,000. After facing contempt charges, Richard returned most of the money.

I got to the point where instead of asking why, why does it happen? You know, why does this happen to me? Why does it have to be like this? You know, I kind of turned my thinking around and started thinking, okay, what? What am I supposed to do with this? What can I be for other people? Today, Terry works in the Wisconsin State Capitol, working on behalf of victims' rights. We've beefed up restraining orders. Somebody doesn't abide by the restraining order two times, they can get an electronic monitoring bracelet. We've got the SAFE Act, which basically gets guns out of the hands of the abusers. And they can't just say, well, I sold it or I gave it away.

They have to literally bring it to the sheriff's department and surrender their weapons. Right after this happened to me, the Act 130, the judges have to look at instances of domestic violence before they give joint custody and placement to parents, which is huge. Now a huge thing that I'm working on, it's called Marcy's Law for Wisconsin. And this law is in about six other states already. The victims have a lot of rights in Wisconsin. Let me give you an example. There was a six-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by her own father. And when they were in the courtroom, of course, the six-year-old girl wanted her mother with her, right, on the stand. Well, that is her right. But the dad has a constitutional right to not have to face two of his accusers at the same time. So the judge had to rule that the mom had to step out of the courtroom. In addition to her work at the state capitol, Terry is also busy raising her daughters and her and Nick's 11-year-old son.

She says they often forget the kids are half-siblings and feel like a complete family. I honestly believe that God makes good things come out of really crummy things. People are resilient. You know, if somebody out there has gone through a horrible experience, there is a better life out there. And we have 100% control over that. If somebody's abusing you, it's never right. There's never an excuse for it.

Nobody in their right mind would look down on you for leaving a relationship because you're being abused. It is never your fault. You never deserve to be treated like that, ever. To speak to an advocate at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, call 1-800-799-7233 or live chat with someone at thehotline.org. That's T-H-E-H-O-T-L-I-N-E dot O-R-G. They are available 24 hours a day and can help with finding a path to safety. I'm Caitlin VanMol, host and senior producer. Our audio engineer is Kelly Kramarik.

Our producer is Scott Brody, and our executive producer is Ted Butler. I Survived was originally produced by NHNZ. To hear more I Survived, please subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen to podcasts. See what hit blockbusters are streaming free this month during Popcorn Summer Movies on Pluto TV. Watch Django Unchained or Transformers Dark of the Moon for an action-packed evening or The Truman Show and School of Rock for a good laugh with the whole family. Plus, Pluto TV has thousands of other free movies, available on live and on demand.

Download Pluto TV on all your favorite devices for free and start streaming now. This is Below Deck's Captain Lee. Listen to my new podcast, Salty, with Captain Lee. Um, don't you mean our podcast? Uh, yeah, I guess I do. Anyhow, listen to Salty with Captain Lee. Um, don't you mean our podcast? Uh, yeah, I guess I do. Anyhow, listen to Solid with Captain Lee, co-hosted by my assistant, Sam. And we will be talking about the latest pop culture news and all the gossip every week.

So does this mean we have to talk by ourselves, about ourselves, or can at least have some guests on? I don't know, I find myself pretty interesting. But yeah, we can have some guests on. Some of our reality TV friends and some stars. Works for me. Listen to Salty now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.