Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: I Was Scared to See The Blood

Episode Date: January 27, 2024

In November 1988, 27-year-old Enietra Margette is walking to a party in South Los Angeles, when a neatly dressed man offers her a ride. After she gets in the car, he shoots her in the chest setting off a lifetime of problems.

An A&E original podcast. This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault and violence. Listener discretion is advised. I'm not dying. It's not happening. I say, because if I do die, I'm going to ask the Lord, let me haunt you the rest of your life so that you will know you couldn't get away with this. In 1988, Anitria Marquette was going through a transition phase in her life.

I was about 27 years old living in South LA between Dinker and Normandy at the time. I had two children, youngsters. I was going through a rough period in my life. I just split up with my ex. He was keeping the children. I didn't have nothing to keep myself busy besides work, but I was still trying to get my own self together because I was like in a bad place to myself.

At the time, the reason of the breakup, because I was a in a bad place to myself. At the time the reason of the breakup because I was a really big, I'm a big girl but I was really big then. I would say verbal insults, the mindset at the time was not in very good frame as for me. I used to be, you know, not caring about what I weighed or looked like. Still don't. I've gotten used to myself, comfortable with myself. I should say now. Back then, I think skinny was in. And skinny is not me. Though Inutria was only 27, she had already been working in home care for 12 years. I've been doing home health care since I was 15. In 1988, I was working home care for a friend of mine.

His wife, she was diabetic and blind. Time had happened. I was just coming from work, and I was going to go to a party that night and I happened to walk past this store at the corner where I was staying at and a car caught my eye. It was an orange Pinto and I was like, I know that's not a Pinto because you ain't seen no Pinto since 77. I mean, they had stopped making them and I was like, okay. And I looked at it, and I was checking it out because it was, you know, pretty well pimped out. It looked just like the Hot Wheel cars that were going at the time for the children, the die-cast ones. It was orange with a white strip going down, racing stripes. It had Kregers on it, I believe, Pirellis, the mag tires.

And that's why I was like, wow believe, Pirellis, the mag tires. And that's why I was like, wow, whoever did that did good, you know? And I guess the owner of the car came out behind me, but I kept walking. I wasn't trying to see who it was or anything. And I heard somebody hollering and I turned around and I looked and I was like, I know you're not hollering at me.

If you want to talk to me, you have to come to me. And to my surprise, he got in the Pinto and came up to where I was. He was really not threatening. Like I said, he was dressed really comfortable, business casual wise. Like I said, he had on khakis and a polo. He said, so you like my car?

And I went, yeah, I was looking at it because you know, it's pretty pimped out. You know, you look like the Hot Wheels car. And he said, oh, I did the work myself and da da da, you know, we had a conversation. And I was like, oh, okay, this is a good job, you know. And he was like, oh, well, where are you going? I said, I'm going to a party later on, so I'm going to go around the corner to my friend's house. He says, oh, I'll take you. I said, oh, no, no, no, no, it's okay. I'm good. I can walk. It's not that far. I really wasn't interested in what he was saying because he turned out to be

short for one thing and I was like, oh heck no. No short men. No more. No more. That's out the door and so he goes, oh come on, let me take. And I was like, no, I'm good. I'm not going that far. And he was saying, that's what's wrong with you black women. You can't do nothing nice for y'all. And I said, oh, where'd that come from? You know, it's like a left field question. And I was like, you know what? Okay, if this is going to make you feel better, I'll let you take me.

So I went in the house and got my things. This is I Survived, the podcast where we talk to people who've lived through the worst things imaginable in all the tragic, messy, and wonderful things that happen after survival. I'm Caitlin VanMol. She got in the car and directed him to her friend Linda's house. Before the party, the plan was that Anitria was going to get ready at Linda's and they would all go to the party together. I do my hair and my makeup over to Linda's, you know, let him take me there. As soon as we got to the light, it was Manchester and Dinker, he made a left. A little warning went off and went like, uh-oh. I said, why are you going left? We were just going right there.

Oh, I need to go stop and get some money. I'm just like, what? I'm thinking to myself, as soon as he pulls up to the corner, the next corner, I'm just gonna get out and go where I gotta go. He goes, he pulls up to Western, and I started to get out, and the light changed and he turned the corner. And I said, okay, let's see what this is about.

Because my warning went off, like, you know, let's get out of here. Let's, you know, you don't need to ride with anyone. You don't even like them. They pulled up to a house and parked on the street. So he says, I'll be right back. He says, just give me a few minutes, and I'm going to run in here to my uncle, and I'm going to get some money.

And I said, oh, okay. So I waited, and I heard him talking to somebody, and I looked around me, and I said, well, okay, if he comes back with people, I'm getting out this car then and now. And I almost got ready to get out the car, but he came back to the car, and he was talking to somebody again, and I had to turn around to look to see if he's letting somebody in the car, and he wasn't. It was just himself. And I said, oh, okay, cool. in the car and he wasn't it was just himself and i said oh okay cool we drive off maybe down to the end of the block and he was saying something and because i wasn't really paying attention so

focused on him i think i was ignoring him and i was looking out the window but then Anitria realized he had turned the wrong way again. And the music all of a sudden just went really quiet. Like if you have children and it's all of a sudden just too dang quiet and you're like, where'd they go? What happened? You know, but it was just an eerie quiet. As soon as my mind cleared that, okay, we're getting out this car, I reached for the door handle to open it, and he said, bitch, I'll shoot you again. I turned to look at him, I said, you shot me? And I said, oh, my God.

The fact that they say that when you get shot, it burns. I didn't feel no kind of burning sensation. So I was like, what the hell? I was scared to look anywhere, couldn't see the blood, in case I might panic or, you know, even though I was taught not to panic from EMT and doing home care and everything else, I don't panic when I see blood, I know to go into action.

But I'm looking around and I don't have nothing to go into action if he really did shoot me. But he definitely had shot Anitria in her abdomen. So I said, well, why did you shoot me? I mean, I don't even know you. Yeah, you know me. No, I was like, no, I don't know you. I would have spoken to you as if I knew you or called you by your name.

And since I don't even know your name, why do you assume I know you? Oh, yeah, you know me. You dog me. You did it. And he called me Brenda. And I was like, that's not my name. I said, so why are you calling me somebody else's name? And who is Brenda? So I attempt to get out the car and he drove real fast. And so I couldn't get out, you know, in it. And I'm like, OK well you need to take me to the doctor you know the hospital if you shot me I mean I need to get attention oh no we can't do

that I said why we can't do that because you can and they'll see me I said no you drive up and let me off at the corner I'll walk in myself and he was like no we can't do that I said they're gonna see me they're gonna see me I said who gonna're going to see me. They're going to see me. I said, who's going to see you? We started arguing, and then all of a sudden, I don't remember arguing anymore. She passed out. When she woke up, there was a heaviness on top of her. She wasn't sure if it was the man on top of her

or pressure due to the gunshot. I don't know where I was. I remember pressure being on my chest. And I was like, oh no, got to get off, got to get off. You know, I started fighting, pushing off. And he pushed back. And I tried to go to the door again and the door was locked. I couldn't get out. And he started driving again. And I don't know where he drove to, and I drifted off again. This time I woke up to flashing lights, and I was like, he was taking pictures. And I was like, what? This dude is sick.

I got to get up out of here. While she was unconscious, he had pulled the car over and was taking photos of her laying in the front seat of his car, passed out and bleeding. Next thing I knew, he was driving again. And I remember trying to get out the car, open the door. When I opened the door, he pushed me at the same time.

Like, okay, she want to get out, I'll push her out. And I was just lying there in the middle of the street I didn't know where I was or what was going on and I was just lying there and I just kept hearing this voice like get out the street and I was like what you know it was like get out the street get out the street and I think I looked up and looked around and saw myself lying in the middle of the street. And I was like, oh yeah, get out the street,

get out the street. And I remember rolling to the curb to try to get up. When I got to the curb, it took a minute, I got up and I finally looked and I looked down and I saw, oh, he really did shoot me. Oh, shit. And I said, okay, walk to a main street. Somebody will help you.

All you need to do is just get to a main street and somebody will help. And I thought I was walking toward a main street because I remember the street being so dark. And I was like, dang. I mean, it's like no lights, no porch lights were on. You know, it was dark. And I remember coming up to a corner and looking at the sign going, oh, if I go a certain way,

I should be able to go down Dinker and I can get to make it to Linda's house. I think it was maybe three or four blocks. I don't know. And so I walked in the middle of the street, holding onto cars, trying to feel my way, going down Dinker. When I got to her door, nobody was there,

and I was screaming and hollering and bamming on her door. And I realized, ugh, they're at the party. I told myself, okay, I just got to get some help, that I would just lay here a few minutes and get some strength. And, you know, I don't know how long I laid there. I just know, I just felt like I had to get up, but I couldn't get up yet. Then, as Anitria lay there in the street, Linda finally drove up.

It was around 1 a.m. And while I'm laying there, she drives up, her and her husband. And she's fussing and telling, you know, I waited for you. You didn't ever show up. You didn't call. I'm like, call 911. Just call 911. He shot me, you know, and she's like, who shot you? I don't know.

Call 911. Stop asking questions. She didn't believe me. She thought I was tripping. So when she walked around to the front of me and saw all the blood, she screams bloody murder and every neighbor comes running outside. And I was like, wait a minute, I know my voice is

loud. How come nobody heard me? You know, I was like, oh my goodness. So we waited to the ambulance and everybody came. The police came. A police officer that responded to Linda's house suspected Anitria had been sexually assaulted. But Anitria had no memory of a sexual assault. Well, I remember them putting me on the gurney and somebody was like, I don't know what the policeman was making a comment to the paramedic about. And he said, yeah, she ain't even got no panties on and blah, blah, blah. And I said, you're a liar. I got a whole complete set on. Because when I had got dressed, I had on a pair of biker shorts underneath my skirt

with my underwear, because I was going out, and my skirt was short. And I don't go out uncovered. No biker shorts were found. My underwear were hanging off under my skirt. And then I think the paramedic looked and said, yeah, she does. And he goes, I think she'd been raped

because they were hanging off. That's why it looked like I didn't have no panties on. Her attacker had raped her while she was unconscious. The pressure she had felt on her chest when she woke up the first time was him on top of her. While she initially didn't feel pain from being shot, things got worse at the hospital. And when I get there, they were working on me,

trying to, and all of a sudden they said, oh, we can't give you anything. We're gonna have to cut you while you awake. And I was like, what? He said, yeah? He said, yeah. He said, and I just remember somebody asking, you want to hold my hand? And I said, yes. I let out this long, terrific scream and I passed out. When she woke up, the doctor told her how lucky she was to be alive.

And he was like, you ought to be grateful that you're a big girl. I said, what? He said, yeah, it's a good thing your bones was big because a frail person would be dead by now. He said, but yours, it helped. It bounced around off of it. And I said, oh, okay. So I think from that point on, I accepted myself as I am, big girl, leave it alone. It works out for the benefit. Because if I hadn't been big, I wouldn't even be here. While she was still recovering in the hospital, police interviewed her, and she gave them all the information she could remember about the attack.

I think like a couple of days later, they came to the hospital and asked me a lot of questions. I told them what happened. They said, do you remember what he looked like? And I tried to describe what he looked like. And the rest, I got to recuperate. And then when I got home from the hospital, they came to visit me again and asked, when I got better, would I mind driving through the scenery again? And I was like, oh, okay, and look for this Pinto.

They had a description of the car, but like I said, it shouldn't have been hard to find. Pintos would stop being made way back in the 70s, and that was why it was such a shock that that's what it was. They tried to tell me, oh you sure it's a pinto and not a gremlin? I said, yeah I know a pinto when I see one. I said I know a gremlin when I see one because a gremlin has a slant back, you know, and it's kind of boxed in the back. A pinto is rounded and I know because my guy I was dating in high school had a pinto. I know a difference. So I said, okay.

Because they said they had a couple of leads where pintos might be. But I remember him saying Long Beach. I said, I don't remember going way out there. I don't know, I wasn't way out there. I said, I was right here, blah, blah, blah. I gave the circumference of where I was. And he says, okay, well, let's go ride.

You can show me your route how you took it and I showed them everything that I did that I went through but they weren't listening to me at the time I was taking the places they were more interested about the apartment that sat on the corner uh where these guys were hanging out and I said we didn't go to no apartments. We went over there. But they weren't listening. They wanted their own take on things. Even with the information she provided, police could not find the man that attacked her. With her attacker still out in the world,

Anitria was constantly on the lookout. Well, I did. For the first couple of years, yes, I felt that way. Like I said, I was very apprehensive. I wasn't sure of myself. I didn't like, I couldn't go nowhere without looking over my shoulder. I didn't live a bad life where I needed to look over my shoulder.

You know, I didn't date guys that I had to look over my shoulder. It was very weird. You know, like I said, when I finally settled down that I had to look over my shoulder. It was very weird. Like I said, when I finally settled down and was able to do things and live a life and not let it bother me, like I said, the detectives would run in and out your life. And you'd be like,

you know, we haven't caught him. We just need you to look at some pictures. Like I'm looking at some pictures, like if you ain't caught him, then you ain't got no idea. But she did try to move on with her life. That included trying to date. It was hard to date afterwards. It was hard, you know, to really talk to a guy,

you know, not know what they think. And I really made sure, even the tall ones, it was getting sort of scary, not know what they think. And I really made sure even the tall ones, it was getting sort of scary. And usually they don't. And I was like, okay, we could do this. I can do this. I couldn't do a relationship for some years. You know, and I said, I'm not gonna let this hold me back from me being me. Then one day, a call from LA Weekly journalist, Christine Pelasek, turned Anitria's life upside down. It was a gruesome discovery on my part. If it, like I said, if it hadn't been for Christine Pelasek,

she kept hounding me to speak with me and I was rejecting her at every end. It got to a point where she was on my nerves. And I was going to tell her something. She was like, do you know this is a serial killer? What? No. And now I'm really worried because I've got children. I mean, even they are of age, but I don't want nothing to happen to them.

How do I know he's not going to try to retaliate if they don't know who it is you know come after me and she was like well did the police and the police weren't doing nothing and then I think by the time she broke the story of what she found all of a sudden they want to come come around and talk with me and I'm like you knew this and you didn't say anything well yeah I'm No, you're not sorry because it shows that you just didn't care. And I was like, wow. So much to find out what they do to black people in the community, especially black women,

and it's no concern whatsoever what happens to us. It's hard to describe. You know, it was a lot of black women being killed and police were doing nothing about it. They said they were, but they really weren't. The LA Weekly published an article on August 7, 2008, detailing the failures of the LAPD to investigate a series of murders from 1985 to 1987. During those two years, a string of Black women had been shot and their bodies dumped

on the side of the road, in alleys, or in dumpsters. Ballistics found that the same gun was used in all the murders and Anitria's attack. But just like Anitria's case, the murder investigations went cold. In 2004, LAPD started testing DNA from unsolved cases and unexpectedly connected two more murders to the seven from the 80s. Many of the families learned from Pelasek, not police, that their loved one died at the hands of a serial killer. Anitria was the only known survivor. It was heartbreaking to me because the other families were looking at me like I could do something. I saw him, you know, I knew, but I was telling them it was hard because I didn't know the guy. You know, I can

only tell you what happened to me. It was like, okay, we're relying on you. You got to remember, you got to remember. It would be hard because I had pushed it out of my mind and for them to keep trying to make me bring it back up, it was hard. You know, until I, until I just gave him my prayers and told Father God, if you want me to remember, okay, you know, and I'll help in any way I can. Police didn't find a DNA match to the killer in their database, which was fairly new at the time. So in 2010, they did a familial DNA search and found the killer would be a relative of Christopher Franklin. They focused on his relatives,

who would have been old enough to commit murder in 1985, and zeroed in on Christopher's dad, Lonnie Franklin. To be sure it was him, a police officer posed as a pizza restaurant employee and gathered Lonnie's discarded pizza crust and utensils. His DNA was a match. Lonnie Franklin was arrested July 7, 2010, 35 years after Anitria was shot. Anitria was called to identify him. I identified him when they said they had caught him. And I said, well, let me go look at

the prisoners that were coming in. And if I see them, I'll let you know. And, you know, some came in and I was then just so happened I turned to this door. They were bringing a new set in. And I looked and I went, that's the guy. And they go, we got him. During the search of Franklin's car and home, police found 180 Polaroids of women, most of them decades old. Not all were victims, but Anitria's photo was among them. I looked at it and thought, oh my God, I was dead. That's what it looked like.

It didn't look like the rest of the Polaroids that he had of the other women. They were all posed up and whatnot. I wasn't posed. I was slumped against the seat. And you could see the blood pouring out, you know, coming out of my shirt. So it was like, wow. So I really did, he really was taking pictures of me. Lonnie Franklin was convicted of the murders of Deborah Jackson, Henrietta Wright, Barbara Ware, Bernita Sparks, Mary Lowe, Latrika Jefferson, Alicia Alexander, Princess Berthemew, Valerie McCorvey, and Genesia Peters,

as well as the attempted murder of Anitria Marget. During the penalty portion of his trial, he was connected to many more murders and was sentenced to death. Even with Franklin on death row, Anitria still didn't feel safe. Well, I felt relieved. I was like, yeah, but then again, I wasn't relieved because what if he had family? What if they got upset that he got caught shooting somebody?

You know, they don't want to believe that he could do something like that. How would they, you know, what retaliation they were going to take? And he did have a son and a daughter, is what I heard. And I heard the son was a little rowdy. So I was like, oh, I was worried. I didn't wanna be around.

I didn't wanna stay in that lane. I told them, I don't wanna be out here. I don't wanna do this. You know, I said, how do I know he's gonna come after me? Well, he's in jail. I said, yeah, but he has a son. His son ain't in jail. So, and they didn't, he's in jail. I said, yeah, but he has a son. His son ain't in jail. So, and they didn't want to give me no protection.

So I really feel they used me as bait to get this man. You know, then they claimed the reward. I said, well, do I get the reward? And they were like, well, we got to convict him first and all of this. And I'm like, okay, but I done gave you everything that where he was. You had his house.

You had a car he was driving. You knew what, you know, you had his DNA. What more could I get? Anitria gave a lot, but she is thankful for everything she has. Well, I'm single. My children are grown. Thank you, Father God. They've graduated from school. They got their jobs, their lives, and their children.

It's all good. They know God for themselves. It's just a blessing. And when we're together, we pray together and eat and have a good time. It gave me insight, so I look at things differently than most people would. But all in all, I am grateful unto the Father God for it all. Teach my children. If your gut tells you something else, do not do it.

Do not do it. Don't go against it. When the Holy Spirit speaks to you, listen to it. It's telling you the right thing. Don't think you are that grown and you know what you're doing. Because it can happen to anyone. I'm a conqueror. Because I'm still getting nowhere.

Because surviving means I'm just living. I'm doing more than living. Like I said, I'm a conqueror. Because I'm still getting nowhere. Because surviving means I'm just living. I'm doing more than living. To speak to someone at the Rape Abuse Incest National Network, call 1-800-656-HOPE or 1-800-656-4673. You can also live chat with someone at RAINN.org. That's R-A-I-N-N dot O-R-G. I Survived is hosted and produced by Caitlin VanMol and Law & Crime Network.

Audio editing by Brad Mabee. For A&E, our senior producer is John Thrasher and our supervising producer is McKamey Lynn. Our executive producers are Jesse Katz, Sean Gottlieb, and Shelley Tatro. This podcast is based on A&E's Emmy-winning TV series, I Survived. For more I Survived, visit aetv.com. Copyright 2020, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved. Sometime in the early 80s, REO Speedwagon's airplane made an unannounced middle-of-the-night landing. This is my friend Kyle McLaughlin, the star of Twin Peaks. And he's telling me about how he discovered a real-life Twin Peaks in rural North Carolina,

not far from where he filmed Blue Velvet. What was on the plane was copious amounts of drugs coming in from South America. Supposedly, Pablo Escobar went looking for other spots, quiet, out-of-the-way places to bring in his cocaine. My name is Joshua Davis, and I'm an investigative reporter. Kyle and I talk all the time about the strange things we come across, but nothing was quite as strange as what we found in Varnumtown, North Carolina. There's crooked cops, brother against brother. Everyone's got a story to tell, but does the truth even exist?

Welcome to Varnumtown. Varnumtown is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Hold on to your jingle bells. Pluto TV has all your holiday favorites for free. Enjoy our season's greetings category with nine holiday channels, including holiday movie favorites by Lifetime, Festive Fireplace, Holiday Lights, and Hallmark Movies and more. Download the Pluto TV app on all your favorite devices and start streaming holiday favorites

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