Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: If I Don't Pretend To Be Dead They're Really Going To Kill Me

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

After a train derails near their home, Wayne and Mary wake up to find the area surrounded by a cloud of chlorine gas. Linda is run off the road, attacked and left for dead by a group high on meth. Holly and her boyfriend are beaten and tied up by a mugger who turns out to be a serial killer.This Episode is sponsored by BetterHelpApartments.com - To find whatever you’re searching for and more visit apartments.com the place to find a place.BetterHelp: Visit BetterHelp.com/SURVIVED to get 10% off your first month!Mint - To get the new customer offer and your new 3-month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to Mintmobile.com/survivedTempo - Check out TempoMeals.com/SURVIVED for 60% off your first box!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. The man who is sitting behind me grabbed my hair and pulled my head back and cut my throat. Real people. At this time, I thought I'm probably dying, but I'm not going to. No way I'm going to die. Who faced death. I basically was screaming and trying to hit him

and he stabbed me in my neck and said, look how easily I could kill you. And live to tell how. I'd been stabbed 17 times in my back. And that was the first moment where I really thought, if I don't pretend to be dead, they're going to really kill me.

This is I survived. It's June 2004 in San Antonio, Texas. Wayne and Mary live close to a railroad track that runs by their property. I would sound asleep in my own bed, and all of a sudden I woke up choking. I couldn't catch my breath. And it took me just a few seconds to realize that the air was contaminated. I recognized the smell as chlorine, strongest I had ever smelled in my life. At 5.05 a.m., a train derailment ruptured a tank of chlorine gas.

Lethal chlorine fumes began leaking into the atmosphere. Chlorine burns the moist tissue in the lungs and eyes. It was a very sickening smell. The smell just seemed like it took over your breath. It didn't give you a chance to really breathe because every time you had try to breathe. It was just like something going in there and just taking your insides,

burning, stinging. Wayne's brother-in-law, Robbie, was also staying in the house. The windows that were open would not close. So I roused my brother-in-law. We stopped them full of sofa cushions, dirty clothes, whatever we could find. And still didn't do much good, but we tried.

Wayne's step-sister and stepmother lived close by. At that instant, my step-sister called and told us there had been a train wreck, so then we knew this was a little before daylight, but I could see a white liquid plume, well, more of a stream, arcing way over the trees and over Nelson Road and landing about 100 feet north of our house. All of the vegetation, as far down as our house, was simply burned away. The derailed train was blocking the only road into their property.

The only way out was across farmland. It had been raining for a week. We had no option of driving out through the fields. It was so muddy that it would at least take a four-wheel drive vehicle to traverse that plowed ground. We didn't have one. I have a little office building not far from the house that is completely sealed. I thought if we could make that building, we would have a few hours.

Another option, I had a tank of oxygen in the garage. That could also sustain us for a few hours. I reached my pocket and got my keys, and they were just a glob of green corrosion. There's no chance opening the door. Chlorine gas corrods metal. My next shot was to get that oxygen out of the shot. Same thing, no key would fit any lot. Wayne was partially deaf, so Mary had to make all the phone calls.

Mary called 911 from her cell phone. Hello. Hello? Yes. Yes, ma'am. What's going on over there, ma'am? I don't know. I think a train decryl.

We can't breathe. Oh, we have someone in route to you, ma'am. Are you in the house? Yes. You need to get out of the house, ma'am, if you can't breathe. I can't breathe. You need to get out of the house, ma'am. Our next option was to go down and see what the situation looked like

down at the road crossing. Well, we drove down all the way up to the tracks, what was left of the tracks, still couldn't see. There was this terrific fog. I go up, walk up as far as I can, I see a locomotive laying on its side right across the middle of the street. There was two cars of the train. One was standing straight up on top of the other one, and it was just horrible.

There was no way that we could get through the road because of the train. Hey, Marne. Jason, this is April's the Sheriff's Office. She got a lady on the line stuck in the middle of the chlorine spill. Right. There's three of them. She's on the phone, having a hard time reading.

Is there any type of pre-arrival instructions you can give her to try to help her? We have an officer trying to get to them, but due to the chlorine, everybody. We don't, we're not sending anybody in there right now. Ma'am, can you get away from the train? We have people in the area that are trying to help you, but you just need to try to get away from that train as far as you can. I don't know what's wrong.

Something's bad wrong. I had all kind of confidence in the volunteers, but I don't understand what's wrong. Why don't they do something? We drove down by the river to see if we could find a way out. There was a steel gate across the street, a tall gate, eight or ten feet high, heavy steel. Couldn't get through. We went back and went down a neighbor's long driveway.

As far as we could, we encountered another gate. So I turned the suburban around backwards so as not to set off the airbags. And I ran that gate, I mean pedal to the metal, I hit it hard. And I didn't think anything happened. I got out of the suburban look. Nothing did happen to the gate. Suburban folded up like a beer can. And it wouldn't have helped anyway

because there was a truckload of logs directly behind the gate stuck in the mud. We couldn't have got through anyway. Three hours had passed since the train crash. Emergency services were still unsure about the size and spread of the gas cloud. The 911 operator called Mary in the car. Barbara.

Yes, ma'am, AMS is on their way. They are going to get to you and they will take you safely to the hospital, okay? I can't wait much longer. It's been over two or three hours. We've got to get out of here. Okay, don't go back to the home, okay? Don't go back to your home. We're trying to get to you, ma'am.

Hold on. Eight minutes later, the 911 operator reversed. for advice. Madam, if you want to go back to your home, go ahead. Well, once we got back at the house,

neither Mary nor my brother-in-law could walk. I had to help them both to get back into the house. All of our clocks quit running. All the watches, all the timepieces,

everything just died. We had a stainless stove, stainless refrigerator, you know, all the trappings in the kitchen were stainless steel. The stainless steel would melt. It would flow down, down the walls, onto the countertops, off onto the floor.

I thought all of my life that stainless steel was impervious to anything wrong. It will not stand that strength of chlorine. Jean and Lois lived 200 yards away. I told Mary, I'm going to get Jean and Lois, that's my stepmile and step-sister. I'm going to get them. And she had 911 on the phone. And I told them that I was going to attempt to rescue my stepmom and my step-sister. And they told me they had, oh, we already got them.

They're okay. I was terrifically relieved when I was told that they were rescued because I'd been worried about them all along. Jean and Lois had not been rescued. I kept calling 911. trying to get them to come, tell me to do something. All they would tell me is turn off your air condition, stay in the room, stay in the house. Mary and my brother-in-law were both in bad, bad shape.

We had no chance of walking out because they couldn't walk. I couldn't carry both of them. I had an old work truck that we'd been using there, and I started up and moved it around to the other side of the house, and I climbed on top of them. And my head was out of the fog. I could actually breathe. I could see over to the southeast.

There was no gas at all. No burned vegetation. Wayne could also see the emergency services at the train wreck. But I was getting mighty, mighty nervous because I'm watching those guys try to come right through the middle of that wreck where the gas is the worst. There's twisted metal everywhere.

They could come 100. and 50 yards either way and come through with no obstructions. I knew my dogs were getting sicker and sicker. And the one, she just dearly loved me, she would not leave me for a second. The one dog that would not leave Mary's side is lying in the bedroom dying. She's coughing up stuff just like I've been coughing up. It just looked like bloody hamburger or something. or something.

Chlorine gas breaks down lung tissue. I told the other dogs to go outside. I'm going to open the gate. I told them, you know, you guys run to the southeast as far as you can. Well, Mary was coughing so bad she couldn't talk, but she grabbed my sleeve and kept pulling it. Well, finally, when she could talk, she says, A dog doesn't know southeast from up.

A member of a volunteer rescue team phoned Wayne. We received a phone call from some group of volunteers, and he told me there's no gas to the southeast. We'll be coming in that way. We'll have four ATVs and four hours of oxygen. It said it'll be 25, 20 minutes. And so that really gave me some hope. One hour later, a call comes in.

And finally the phone rang, and it was one of these guys. And he told me, he says the deputies turned us back. They threatened to arrest us or fire on us. And they won't look at our credentials. They won't let us talk to who's in charge. They don't even know who's in charge. The sheriff's office had cordoned off the entire area. Yeah, I was out of options.

Everything I tried did not work. At this time, I thought I'm probably dying, but I'm not going to. No way I'm going to die. and I'm starting to cough up, nasty-looking bloody stuff. Mary was pretty bad off at this time, and barely breathing. Are we going to get any help here or not? Yes, yes, sir. Yeah.

Did you close your windows and set off the air? Yes, we've done all that. Okay, wait until we're out. Yes, sir. Are you coming or not? Yes, there's that the train is in the way, and that's the reason why it's taking long. Wayne decided to call a private rescue company. In fact, I looked in the yellow pages, and I found there are such things as professional rescuers.

I did talk to two of the potential rescuers, and one of them told me, he said, it'll take us two hours to get there. Are you sure you have two hours? I said, no, I'm not. I'm not sure that I have two hours. Can't you do it faster? He said, no, we have to go in by helicopter. And I said, well, the sheriff's department won't let anybody. He says, we don't care about that.

He says, if we come to rescue you, we'll rescue you. But if you're going to be dead, who's going to pay us? I said, well, let me call you back. And I'm still running around left and right, trying to come up with just one more option, just some way to get us out of there. And I could go in the kitchen and watch the appliances melt down or go outside and hold my breath

or stay in the bedroom and hold my breath. I did all those things. One of our sons, who was a volunteer fireman in another county, was en route somewhere and just happened by and heard this on the radio. Wayne's son Charles called emergency services. This is Charles Hill? Yes, sir. Mom and dad, are they okay?

We are having a hard time getting to them. Can't they just land a helicopter in the backyard? No, sure. due to the chemicals that are involved. Well, can't they just put a gas mask on and go in there like a fire? Our officers, our fire department, and our EMS personnel are aware of your parents. And as soon as we can extricate them from the situation, we'll get them out. Well, if I go over there, can I just get a gas mask and I'll go for myself?

No, sir, you will be thrown off the scene and if you fight with the officers, you will most likely be arrested. He told the deputy I'm going in anyway, and the deputy says if you do, we'll arrest you. arrest all you want to, I'm going in. He said, we'll shoot you. He just gave up. The sheriff's department, we had some nice lady on the telephone. She told us, get in the shower and decontaminate yourselves.

The rescuers will be there just within a minute or two. Can you do me a favor? Can you go into the shower? What am I supposed to do? Run the water on your body. That's the best thing, so you can decontaminate yourself. Water mixed with chlorine gas turns into burning hydrochloric acid. So in sheer desperation, I knew better than to get in the shower.

I knew better than that. I knew better than to turn off the air conditioner. I was so desperate I did it anyway. Big mistake. Big time mistake. I drug married to the shower. Just turned the water on and got her soaked and climbed right in behind her. I soaked myself.

My brother-in-law, I didn't even disturb him. Because I'm thinking this is as stupidest thing I've ever done. I can't believe I'm stupid enough to do it. Because with the introduction of that moisture to that room and no AC to pull it out, within one or two minutes, all the mirrors, all the windows, start getting a green haze on them and a different odor, hydrochloric acid.

Oh, boy, this is really the end. You know, all the pale areas of my skin were all burned. In some cases, the skin came off. I know my husband. He was trying to keep me awake, and I was real sick. Well, Mary, stopped breathing. Just gave up. Wouldn't breathe anymore.

I had to force her to breathe to give her CPR. It must have gone on for maybe 45 minutes, I'm not sure. Help arrived almost seven hours after the train crash. And all of a sudden, here's a city fireman in his spacesuit. He walks in the bedroom and he says, it's turned hydrochloric, everybody out. They drug us all outside. And hosed us down again and called in a helicopter and finally got us out of there. Wayne hadn't heard from his stepmother and step-sister,

since early that morning. One of the firemen asked me, does anybody live in this house down the road here? And I said, they've already been rescued. He said, nobody's been rescued from that house. At that point, I knew they had to be dead. Well, see, they pronounced me dead twice, and I didn't even know it.

When I got to the hospital, they said I was dead. And then they revived me. Wayne's stepmother and step-sister died at the scene. His brother-in-law Robbie died four months later. Two of their three dogs also died. My wife and myself and that one dog are the only living things that survived in that area. I'm sorry, I get upset, but thanks to God that I had my husband with me. And if it wasn't for him, I don't think any of us would be here. be here. I survived because I was too angry to die.

Here I'm watching my loved ones die off and there's nothing I can do. Wayne and Mary have since reached an out-of-court settlement with Union Pacific Railroad, who were responsible for the tragedy. Every group has that friend who insists on doing things the hard way. You know the type. Still paying for subscriptions they forgot they had or hanging on to an old phone because it still works. I've got a friend like that when it comes to their wireless plan. They were paying way too much every month until they finally tried Mint Mobile. Mint offers the same premium wireless service,

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Make it easier to get a place that gets you. Visit Apartments.com, the place to find a place. It's June 2000 in Canyon County, Idaho. Linda is driving alone at night across rural Idaho. She is on her way to her family cabin in Utah for an annual retreat away from her husband and large extended family. I'd been driving probably from an hour and a half

and there weren't many cars on the road. It's a very isolated road. It's just driving on the freeway, just having a marvelous time singing and being happy that I was on vacation. And I looked to my left, and there was a car with four young people in it. And I had an idea, they're going to mess with me. I'm not going to make eye contact. And I speed it up, and they speed it up.

And I slowed down, and they slowed down. And so they started pacing me. And then on the passenger side of their car, two people leaned out. They had these large, like almost tree branches, very two, three inches in diameter. And they moved their car sideways into mine. And they started beating on my car.

And I was just terrified. And I tried to slow down and pull around behind them. And they turned their car perpendicular across both lanes of the freeway, there was no one else on the road. It was 2.30 in the morning. I could see all the trucks way far in the distance. And I thought, if I could just get up there with them, I'll be okay.

And I was trying to get the windows rolled up. And apparently I didn't roll up the window on the passenger side because they pushed me off of the freeway, basically. And I stopped because I was terrified, and I didn't know what to do. Linda was not carrying a cell phone. So they jumped out of their car, and the woman ran around to the passenger side of my car

and just reached in the window and unlocked the door because I hadn't rolled the window up. And she reached over me, she had a knife, and she stuck it by my throat, and she unlocked the driver's door. The attackers were high on methamphetamine. And she was yelling and screaming at me. They were screaming obscenities. They were screaming, where's the money? Give us the money.

And they were just like wild animals. They were totally hyped up. And their anger and their wildness was something I had never ever encountered before. It was like having a pack of wolves attacking me and trying to defend myself from every side. I couldn't understand why they were doing this. I didn't really feel in danger, oddly enough. I didn't feel in danger. I felt I could talk my way out of anything and this very large Native American man with long greasy hair who I later called greasy man because he smelled bad and his face was just totally pockmarked and he he just was wild and he kept

screaming and he had a knife and he put the knife to my throat and he grabbed me out of the car. And I had bare feet because I drive barefooted and he pulled me around the back of the car. And I kept saying, I don't have shoes on, please, you know, slow down. You're hurting my feet. And he pushed me into the passenger side of the car, into the passenger seat in the front. And all this time I kept saying, Why are you doing this? Stop. You're hurting me.

You're hurting me. And he got in the driver's side behind the wheel of my car. And greasy man reached up his knife to my throat. And I grabbed his knife with my hand and pushed it away and cut all the fingers of my violin hand. The other man yelled, we've got to get her car off of the freeway. And greasy man, who was a good. who was in the driver's side of my car,

he started my car off and he followed the other car. And while he was doing that, he was reaching over at me with his knife and stabbing me just randomly in the chest. And he stabbed me five times. And so by that time, my hand was bleeding, my chest was bleeding. And they drove to a dark farm road.

There was no lights. It was a beet field. And so it was out in the middle of Idaho, in the middle of nowhere. I kept looking at them. And the thing that struck me about the woman is she was so young and she was beautiful. And these men were older and they were greasy and dirty.

And I couldn't understand why she was with them. And at that point, I turned to the woman in the back. I turned and looked over my. left shoulder and I said to her please please don't kill me I have a family I want to live and at that moment the man who was sitting behind me grabbed my hair and pulled my head back and cut my throat and I remember thinking this is not good I mean it was a very rational thought I was still very very rational I still felt that I could talk my way out of this

And the man who was sitting in the driver's seat said, give me your money, give me your money. And he put his greasy hands in my pockets, and he took my wedding ring off of my bloody finger. And I had given him my wallet, and it had my driver's license and $40 in it. And he was furious that I only had $40. And I turned back to the woman and said,

please don't kill me. don't kill me and she says well go ahead and beg me for your life so I opened the passenger side door and I got out and I got on my knees and I looked into the car at these three people and I put my hands like this and I said please don't kill me just take everything I have a I have children I have a family I want to live and at that moment the other man who'd driven their car came around from the back of the car and he had a baseball bat and it was a metal baseball bat and he said okay we're going to kill her now and i remember just being so angry at her and saying you said you weren't going to kill me and she said she said well we're going to do you a favor we're going to knock you out first and then

we're going to kill you and so i i put my head on my arms on top of the car and the third man bashed my head in with the baseball bat, and I fell on the ground, face down. And I was face down in the dirt, and I felt like someone was pounding on my back. And I found out later that I'd been stabbed 17 times in my back. And that was the first moment where I really thought, if I don't pretend to be dead, they're going to really kill me. I could tell their car was leaving, I saw lights leaving, and I was left in the dark, in the beat field. The moon was full, so I could see that I was in a beat field.

And at that point, I sat up and leaned against my car. And I looked into my car to see if the keys were there. I don't remember if I saw them there. I somehow had the thought that I could get in my car and drive away. and save myself. At that moment, I saw a car coming. I saw headlights approaching my car. And I waved my hand,

come help me, please. And it was these people come back. And the greasy man came up to me and he said, oh, so you think you're strong because he was surprised that I was still alive. And he took his knife and he slashed open my shoulder. And they beat me with my shoulder. And they beat me with you.

the metal baseball bat again and I fell face down on the earth. My body was on the ground, my legs were under the car, and then I heard this whoosh sound and they had set the car on fire. They'd used some kind of flammable liquid and set the car on fire and they drove away. And I thought, I may be going to die, but they're not going to be going to be. burn up my body. And the fireman roll that they teach us in school, drop and roll, I rolled out into the beat field. And the thing I remember about that, it was June.

The beat field had just been freshly furrowed. The beach shoots were about three inches high, and beach shoots are like sticks. And I remember rolling over these sticks and thinking how much you. that hurt. Linda had her throat cut and 22 stab wounds. She also had punctured lungs and a fractured skull.

And I remember smelling the earth and just smelling that rich loam of fresh dirt. And I gathered the dirt under my head and I made a pillow. And I consciously thought, I'm going to prepare to die. Linda had lost so much blood, she was at the clinical boundary between life and death. And at that moment, very bright white light surrounded me,

and it felt like I was lifted up in the harms of my Heavenly Father. It felt like he had rescued me and lifted me up, and I felt at peace. The white light experience is often described by people close to death. One explanation is that it is caused by a lack of oxygen and chemical changes in the brain. And I wasn't thinking about my family or my children or my husband or anything. I was thinking how peaceful I felt and how ready I was to go with him. And I heard voices again.

And I had the thought, oh, they've come back again. to make sure I'm dead. And something told me, no, these are teenage voices. These aren't the same voices. And these two teenage boys had been driving home from watching videos, and they'd seen the car fire out in the field. And so they'd called the fire department. And then, as teenage boys do, they wanted to come down

and see the fire. They thought it was cool. And I heard them, and I yelled, And I yelled, help me, help me, I'm out here. And they came out in the field and found me. And they each grabbed an arm and a leg, and they dragged me probably 50 feet away from the car before the gas, before the fire hit the gas line,

and the car blew up. And in pulling me away, they dislocated my shoulders. But they saved my life. It took two years to track down Linda's attackers. Three of the attackers are serving life sentences for kidnapping, robbery, and attempted murder. A fourth is serving 10 years for robbery and aggravated assault. The attackers setting the car on fire was what saved my life. Because if I'd just been out in the beat field, I would have just blood to death and died.

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Holly and her boyfriend Chris are at a college party. Party was rather dull, not a whole lot going on. So we decided to leave, just go take a walk to the railroad tracks that were about two blocks away. And actually two of our other friends came with us. We were planning to go put quarters on the railroad tracks to flatten them. It was close to midnight. Our friends actually decided to go back to the party when after about an hour no trains had come by. And so Chris and I stayed there for a little while and talked.

And then when we got up to a leave, that's when a man approached us. And we were actually walking on the railroad tracks. And the man came from behind an electrical box, like he had been hiding behind an electrical box. We never saw a gun. He had some kind of ice pick or screwdriver or something sharp. That was his weapon. He just automatically was asking for money. And when you're confronted with someone that is wanting something from you that you can comply

and that you, especially if a weapon is involved, that you just comply and give them what they want and they'll leave you alone. The attacker forced Holly and Chris to their knees. Really the first thing that we said to him was, you know, we don't have money. And when he started going through the backpack, we said, you know, would you like us to go get money? You can have our credit card. you can have anything you want here. He tied Chris's arms behind his back.

He was only about five, six, but Chris was very skinny and, you know, very tall but very skinny. So they probably weighed close to the same. Chris did not fight back. You know, one thing if I could describe about Chris is that I don't know if he had ever killed a fly. I don't think he'd ever been in a fight in his life. And, you know, with Chris feeling threatened and complying, that made me feel. afraid. Really, you know, all the time he was controlling Chris. He wasn't really controlling me. I was just following along because I thought, you know, maybe I can stop, you know, stop something

from happening here. I just, there was no way I was going to try to run away or, you know, leave Chris there. He tied up Chris's arms first and he even pulled Chris into the grass beside the railroad tracks. And, you know, I saw that that was painful and so I just sort of crawled along and did the same thing. We were on our knees at that point, and he had actually taken my belt and tied up my arms with my belt. You could tell that he had done this before. He knew how to control us. He knew he needed to tie us up. He knew that he needed to disable Chris. And so, you know, everything that he did, you could tell he had done it before. Unknown to Holly and Chris, the attacker was a serial killer. He had a bag with him that

I saw that he kept going back to. And he actually went back to that bag. And I heard him ripping a shirt. And that's what he tied up our legs with was with a ripped shirt. And that he gagged us with a ripped shirt. And when he gagged us, I actually stuck my tongue out so that the gag wouldn't work. So I could continue talking to him.

And I did. I was just asking him questions, like why he was there. And he was telling crazy stories. Like he had just broken out of jail. And he was waiting on his friend and his friend and his friend was going to be coming back with some food for him. And, I mean, just nothing really made sense. We were sort of on a hill.

So we were down kind of at the bottom of the hill, and the railroad tracks were up from where we were laying. So he would go back up to a bag or whatever he had, you know, with him. And so anytime he'd go back up, I would try to, that's when I would try to untie myself. But he never left our side longer. than just a few minutes. So anytime, you know, I was trying to strategize

on what we were going to do was only a few minutes' time before he would come back. Well, I'm not really sure how much time passed before he came with a rock to hit Chris. And it was a 52-pound rock, so he was not carrying it easily. But he hit Chris, you know, on his head.

I mean, it was just like a dream. It was, you know, I didn't know really what was going to happen to me. I actually heard Chris gurgling after he had hit him, so I asked him to go and turn Chris's head to the side because I didn't want him to choke on his own blood. And he actually went and did it, and he said, don't worry about him, he's gone. I remember a lot more of talking to him after he had hit Chris

because I think that I went into a survival mode after he had hit Chris. I didn't even think about the fact that he wanted, that he was going to rape me until he actually climbed on top of me. And I tried to fight him. I basically was, you know, screaming and trying to hit him. And that's, he stabbed me in my neck and said, look how easily I could kill you. I felt like I was floating above my body. I did not feel anything.

He had just stabbed me in my neck and I didn't feel that. I, you know, I wasn't feeling pain. I wasn't feeling anything. He took off my pants, but that was all. He didn't completely undress me. Even after he raped me, I asked him to put my pants back on because I thought, you know, if he's going to kill me, I don't want to be found laying here naked.

So he even put my pants back on after he attacked me. So, you know, he was, at that point, he was doing things, and I really thought he was going to let me go. At that time, like I asked him what his name was, and he asked me what my name was, I was just trying to make him. him, but know that I was a person. I was, you know, trying to get to it.

If he had an emotional side, I was trying to get to it. And I was saying, you know, I really want to see my family again. I really want to see my friends. And, you know, I won't turn you in. I'll let, I'll just, you know, leave. And I won't tell anybody that you did this. So, you know, my mind was trying to do anything to just make him stop.

And I was, I was begging for my life. I was telling him that I wanted to see my friends and family again that I, you know, did not want to die. You know, the moment when before he hit me, I really thought that I had convinced him that he wasn't going to hurt me, that he was going to leave me there. He hit me in my face, and I think what I did

was I turned over to stop him from hitting me in the face. And so he hit me about five times in the back of my head. I thought I remembered him covering me up with, you know, like branches and grass and things. And then I thought I, I, I even remember saying, like, thank you because I knew that I was still alive and that I was saying thank you for leaving me here alive. But, you know, I don't think he knew that I was still alive. I think he definitely tried to kill me.

Really, the next memory that I have was appearing in someone's front yard. You know, I was covered in blood and I didn't knock. I didn't ring a doorbell. I just walked into this person's house. I remember saying, you know, I've been hurt. My friend is still out at the railroad tracks. We need help. and I don't really remember exactly,

but I said to call 911 and, you know, that I definitely was going into shock. When they finally told me about Chris, it wasn't, the hospital didn't tell me, my parents had arrived, and I turned to my dad, and I said, I didn't say, it's Chris dead. I just said, Chris is dead, isn't he? Because I knew it.

Holly's boyfriend, Chris, died at the scene. I survived because I was supposed to. I think that, you know, I just wasn't finished. Holly is the only known survivor of the railroad serial killer, Angel Matarino Resendez, who is suspected of murdering more than nine people. He was executed in 2006 for a murder he committed in Texas. I believe that there are several ways that, you know, a tragic event like this can change you. I really felt like I had two options. I could crawl in a hole and, you know,

be angry and live my life that way the rest of my life. And then my other option was to try to, you know, do the best I could with my second chance at life. And I survived to dedicate my life to assisting victims of rape and sexual assault and tragedy. That's, I think that's my purpose. Finding the one can feel impossible. And in today's world, it's even harder. all's profiles, inaccurate pictures, incompatibilities, ghosting on dates. Is this sounding familiar?

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