Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: I'm locked up like a dog. I can't escape

Episode Date: January 11, 2025

A heart-wrenching drama unfolds when a man struggles to save himself and his family from drowning in frigid waters, and a female prison officer uses her strength and quick thinking skills to stay alive during the longest prison siege in U.S. history. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp: Visit www.BetterHelp.com/SURVIVED to get 10% off your first month Progressive: Visit www.Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance

This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. The waves were constantly coming, constantly covering us up and we're spitting and swallowing water. Real people. Now I'm thinking to myself, if he does even give me a two-second head start, where am I going to go? Who faced death.

We have to fight this war all night. Where is everybody? Why are we alone? And live to tell how. I was not thinking death, ever. I was thinking life and live. We going to make it. This is I Survived.

It's April 2008. Reverend Albert lives with his wife Carolyn and his daughters Cherie and Leatrice in Port Arthur, Texas. We were going fishing out in Lake Sabine for every Saturday. It was like a family time together. We would go out and just enjoy the day and enjoy each other, fishing and just, you know, having fun. It was myself and my wife Carolyn, my oldest daughter Cherie and her husband Cedric and it was my baby daughter, Leatrice, and her husband Christopher. On the weekends we always

called daddy looking to see if he's gonna take us fishing in a boat. If not, then we, you know, go to the bank. Anyway, that day, it was a normal day. Everybody had their fishing rods in the water and we played around a little bit and left. We were out, I guess, about two and a half, three hours. I guess about seven. The waves started getting big. It wasn't the weather, it was the waves. And a big wave came into the boat,

and I asked Chris to check the bottom of the boat to see how much water got in it. And he looked and he said, no, we good. The 17-foot aluminum boat was in good condition, and the family was fishing one and a half miles from shore. About 10 minutes later, 15 minutes later, another big wave came. Big wave came, threw water in the boat. It was real, these little ferocious looking waves. And by then, it's like my sister

jumped up and we had a little white bucket in the boat. And I could actually remember her scooping water. So I said, no, it's time to go. So I cranked the boat up and when I cranked it, it started and when I tried to put it in forward, the engine quit. And another wave came after that. I cranked it again, started, but it wouldn't go. And my daddy trying to turn the boat on, and Chris saying that he couldn't pull the anchor up, and I can remember my father saying, cut the rope. More and more water was getting in the boat, and the second time I tried to crank the boat, and it cranked, but it wouldn't go.

When the wave came in, throw the water in the boat, it made the back of the boat getting real close to the water. And the boat had never done that before. Start up and to go forward and quit had never done that. He said, OK, y'all put your life jackets on. to go forward and quit. Had never done that. He said, okay, y'all put your life jackets on. If you can get to a phone, somebody call somebody. Cedric got on the phone and dialed 911. He had the phone up to his ear

and then all of a sudden the boat just flipped. It didn't just go down, it completely flipped and throwed all of us out of the boat. The family of six have been clinging to their capsized boat for three hours. They're a mile and a half from shore. The waves were constantly coming, constantly covering us up and we're spitting and swallowing water. So I knew my wife couldn't swim. So immediately I'm up trying to find her

and everybody else trying to keep them from panicking and get their life jackets on. Don't panic. Get your life jacket on. The front part of the boat was up out of the water, sticking up. And we were able to hold on there and able to get up right there on the top of it. Two people were able to get up there comfortably, and they were taking turns at first. My husband was the smallest of all of us. And he sat there and he said, I can make it. I think I can make it to shore.

And I said, Cedric, they tell you when the boat capsized, stay with the boat. And daddy kept saying, stay with the boat. Somebody's going to come for us. We still got daylight, at least an hour and a half. Somebody got to see us, we not that far from the bank. About a mile, maybe a mile and a half. Everything seemed to be going along pretty good

until it start getting dark. And when it start getting dark, I knew nobody wasn't going to see us. So it's time to keep encouraging one another, keep talking, keep talking, you know, just keep talking. After four hours, the cold water was causing their core body temperatures to drop. The family was at risk of death from hypothermia. family was at risk of death from hypothermia. That was a full moon. The sky was clear. You could see the stars. It was a beautiful night. Me and Chris were right next to each other, so we talked and kissed and, you know, and

then after a while, you know, every now and again, he'd pray and Jack would pray or Cedric would pray. The only person I was worried about was mom because you know, that's mama. But when she was holding on pretty good and you know, daddy was taking care of her, you know, he held on to her as long as he could. And the whole time she'd say, I'm okay, I'm okay. Mama, you okay?

Yes, I'm okay. The capsized boat was too heavy to turn upright. Only a small area of the boat's hull remained out of the water. I tried to get my wife up there, but she never could get up there. Every time she get up, she slide back down. Every time we get her up there, she slide back down. So I was just there with her holding in the talking. We're just talking. You okay? We're gonna be okay. Y'all hold on. We're gonna be alright. So I don't know

what time it was. My daughter called me around to the other side of the boat and I said, baby, you okay? She said, yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I said, well, hold on right here. I'm going to go around and see what Sherry want. And I'll be right back. So I was going to go around. I guess I'm just thinking they want me to try to go around and get up on the top to try to help pull her up as soon as I left. To go around on the other side, I heard my baby girl calling to mama.

You know, mama, mama. Because she was holding her by her life jacket. By the time I got back around there, she was gone. Where is she? Where is she? I finally spotted her. She was about 10 yards away. She was face down and I got over there.

He said, she not breathing, y'all, she not breathing. And when he said that, it was like we were all frozen, you know? And I was like, not my mama, Lord, not my mama. He kept saying, Callan, Callan, baby, what you doing? Why you doing this to me? And I grabbed his jacket and I pulled him to the boat and he was holding my mother and she was laying flat down in the water. Seven hours after their boat capsized, the family is becoming hypothermic.

Reverend Albert's wife, Carolyn, is face down in the cold water, unconscious. He kept saying, Carolyn, Carolyn, baby, what you doing? Why you doing this to me? And I grabbed his jacket and I pulled him to the boat and he was holding my mother and she was laying flat down in the water and I kept saying daddy pick her head up, pick her head up out the water daddy. But what nothing I could do she was gone. So I started thinking about the rest of them.

Carolyn succumbed to hypothermia and drowned. When we first went in the water, it was cold. We were shivering, teeth clacking. It was cold. But then after a while, you just don't feel it no more. I was just thinking, keep breathing, keep holding up, keep your head above the water, and we're going to be OK. We got to, my girls got up on top of the boat up there.

They was up on the top. And they were talking to their husband. They was talking to him, you know, trying to keep him focused. They was talking and all of a sudden, Chris just closed his eyes. Leatris and Chris had been married for two months. He was next to my dad, you know. When I heard my dad call out for Chris' name, and he didn't, I looked back and I just seen him going under. So I don't remember saying anything because I knew it was nothing I could do. And I know I had to stay focused and keep control. Chris also succumbed to hypothermia and drowned.

Nobody was saying anything. Nobody was saying I can't feel my legs or I'm terribly cold. Nobody said anything. It was just all happening so fast. And I grabbed Cedric. I was holding him in my arms, kissing on him. And all I could hear was, like he couldn't even open his mouth. Cherie and Cedric had been together for 11 years. They have two young sons. I said, Cedric, I love you, please don't leave me. And his eyes changed color in front of me. And at that point I started shouting out like, Lord, no, not

Cedric too. Not Cedric, Lord. And I heard my sister yell out for her husband and that hurt. All I could think about was, you know, the kids. They have kids. Cedric, like Carolyn and Chris, became hypothermic and drowned. What am I going to say to my kids? He made me all these promises and he's not here anymore. What am I supposed to do? And my sister, she turned around and she said, Sherri, now is not the time. Hold on. There was nothing I could do. I'm old and old, you know, if they were drowning, I thought maybe I could help.

But nobody was drowning. We was all up talking to each other. And then all of a sudden they were just gone. So my girls made me promise them I wouldn't go leave them. I said, I ain't going nowhere, I ain't going nowhere. I'll be right here. We gonna make it, we gonna make it, you know, we gonna make it. Reverend Albert had now been in the water for nine hours.

His daughters were on top of the capsized boat. There was only room for two. My daddy, he was in the water on the side at that point still. And he started to get a little delirious. Dad started slipping out for a minute, and me and my sister found a way to kind of rig him up to a piece of rope and hold on to him. The anchor rope was still attached to the boat. I took the rope that I was holding

and I tied it around his belt. And that way she was pulling and I was pulling and that way we were able to keep his upper torso out of the water so he wouldn't swallow much water because he kept trying to go to sleep. And we were blowing air in his face because he kept saying, I'm cold, I'm cold, I can't get comfortable.

I don't know what time it was or what happened. I closed my eyes. I closed my eyes too. Next thing I know I did wake up, it was daylight. The girls were still up on the boat. I don't know. I just said I'm gonna swim, I'm gonna swim. He was saying that he was swimming to the shore and he was going to get us some help because nobody was coming to help us, so he was going to get help. He was determined. He wasn't going anywhere because we had him tied up by the rope, but he thought he was swimming.

He was moving his arms because the whole night when we were fighting the water, I kept saying, move your legs, daddy. Move your legs. Move your arms. He said, I got to move my arms. I said, keep your circulation going, daddy. Stay up. Stay up. They had now been in the cold water for 13 hours. I'm like my brother, he knew we were going fishing. Maybe he'll think something wrong. Maybe he'll pass by the house. It's like I had all these thoughts going through my head about all these maybes.

I was angry. Like the game wasn't always out here. Where are you now? You know, we have to fight this war all night. Where is everybody? Why are we alone? And then I noticed, I said, Lily, your stomach's swelling. She said, no, it's not.

I said, yes, it is. Reverend Albert was beginning to lose consciousness. His stomach swoll up. And he kept saying, Daddy, look, the sun, the sun out. He said, Mm-hmm, I see it. I said, No, you don't. Open your eyes. He said, Mm-hmm, I see it.

And I smacked him. When I smacked him, his eyes bucked wide open. And when his eyes bucked wide open, I could see the colors changing in his eyes buck wide open. And when his eyes buck wide open, I could see the colors changing in his eyes. The outer sides of his eyes had turned colors, like Cedric's eyes had turned colors. And I was afraid because then I was like, you told us you wouldn't leave us out of here. You can't leave us out of here in all of this water. Reverend Albert's pupils are dilated and his stomach is swelling. When his stomach swelled, I kind of lost a little hope there because it was like we had been there for so long and nobody has come to get us.

We made him promise to not leave us and he promised not to leave us. But, you know, nobody's guaranteed tomorrow. I wanted to panic. I was panicking inside, but I couldn't panic outwardly, because if I did, like I said, I felt like I'd lose control and then I'd probably be in pretty bad shape, you know. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, this boat was behind us. We didn't hear it come up. We didn't see it come up. Just happened to turn, and it was there, sitting there.

I heard Sherry say, Daddy, come aboard. Here come aboard. And I didn't see a boat. I didn't see anything. And the next thing I noticed, this guy was in front of me. It was a big old boat in front of me. I don't know what color, what kind of boat it was. All I know is I saw this guy kneeling down reaching his hand for me. A fire department vessel had found the family. They pulled up and they asked, you gonna be okay for a few minutes? And I was

thinking, why are they even leaving us here? It's three of them and it's three of us. And my sister said, Sherrie, they in there. We saw the body bags. We knew they had our family members in the boat. And I guess they didn't want to put us in the boat with them. And so they sped the shore and they sped right back. And they put us in the boat. By the time we got to the shore, the body bags were laying on side of the docking ramp. And I could hear my father scream out, he said, Callan. And he said he don't remember doing it.

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. I don't know why. They would close their eyes, woke up in hell, and I closed my eyes, woke up in the hospital. They had all these blankets and... hot blankets and stuff on me, and the room was really, really hot. And people were standing around everywhere. And the guy, one of the guys at the hospital, I don't know, intern, I don't know who he was,

working for the hospital, he said 85 to 95 percent of people who stayed in water as long as I did, 85 percent, 95 percent of them don't make it. The things that helped me survive that day, I thought about my sister kids a lot. I miss Chris. I really miss my mom, my brother-in-law, but we were left here for a reason. So I got to keep going. Making sure that everybody was okay helped me to survive because my mother meant the world to me and so did Cedric.

And my sister and Christopher, I survived because my children need me. The funeral for Carolyn, Cedric and Christopher was held on April 26, 2008 at Antioch Baptist Church. More than 2,000 community and church members attended. I'd have to say I survived because of my girls and because of God. That's the only way. I wasn't looking or thinking death at all. Even after my wife died and my two sons-in-law died, I was not thinking death ever.

I was thinking life and live. We gonna make it. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. As we step into 2025, it's time to ask yourself, what story do you want to write this year? January brings 365 blank pages waiting for you to fill them with purpose and meaning. Maybe you're ready for a plot twist, or maybe there's a chapter you've been itching to revise. Life isn't about fleeting resolutions that fizzle out by February. It's about taking

control of your narrative and becoming the author of your own journey. Think of therapy as your editorial partner, guiding you through new chapters and helping you craft the meaningful story you deserve to live. I found therapy to be extremely beneficial in my life. It gives me a sense of perspective that isn't always easy to find on my own, especially at the start of a new year when we're all thinking about the things we'd maybe like to change or do differently. BetterHelp is fully online,

making therapy accessible and convenient and serving over 5 million people worldwide. With a network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties, you can find the right match for your unique needs. And if you ever feel like you need a change, switching therapists is easy and comes at no extra cost. So why wait? Write your story with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash survived to get 10% off your first month. That's better help. H E L P dot com slash survived.

I survived is brought to you by progressiveive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. It's January 2004 in Buckeye, Arizona. Lois is a prison officer at Arizona State Prison.

The facility houses over 4,000 inmates. About nine o'clock is when we'd start our job. And that night just happened to be the night that I was scheduled to be up in the tower. And there's not a lot of interaction with the inmates when you're up in the tower. So most of the inmates were, you know, going to sleep and getting ready for the next day. Lois was working the night shift in the watchtower. Her job was to observe the yard and maintain security. Officer Jason was in the tower with me that night.

You know, he's a good kid. You know, he's 21, he's new. Jason and I were talking when a buzz came over the speaker I was talking when a buzz came over the speaker and a buzz usually lets us know that somebody is at the gate that needs to be popped through. And we do this only for the officers. We don't do it for the inmates. Jason saw a man in uniform and buzzed the gate open. I asked him, I said, you know, who is it?

And he said, I don't know. It looks like Officer out, um, Martin. And my stomach just kind of started turning. It just didn't feel right. So here comes up this officer, so we think, and he rears back with a 30 inch industrial paddle that kind of looks like a spatula, but they're used in the kitchens for stirring and everything. And he looks at me and said, oh, you got complacent, and rears back and hits Jason upside the head,

crushing his eye orbital. I'm thinking to myself, what's going on? Well, I've got to myself, what's going on? Well, I gotta stop this guy. So I get in a, you know, football stance and I tackle him and he grabs my head and shoves it into his knee and I go down on the ground. Me and Jason both were handcuffed behind our backs and it's not until 10 or 15 minutes later that we realized that, or I realized that this is an inmate and not an officer.

Inmate Wassener was posing as a prison officer. Of course I get handcuffed first and Jason's screaming and he's yelling and he's bleeding. And I'm trying to figure out, asking what's going on, you know, let's talk about this, you know and He's he's telling me to shut up and Then he grabs the you know the gun that was unloaded and the bullets in the magazine and he starts putting the bullets into the magazine weapons and He starts putting the bullets into the magazine. Weapons and ammunition were stored in the tower.

And, you know, I'm thinking, you know, I'm dead. You know, what's going on here? How can I defuse it? How can I fix this? After he gets the gun loaded, he made several phone calls to an inmate in the kitchen, inmate Coy. Wassener's accomplice, inmate Coy, was armed with a knife in the kitchen. The prison kitchen was 50 yards from the watchtower. He made several contacts with inmate Coy, saying, okay, it's time for you to come up here.

And me and Jason were forced downstairs with the AR-15 at our backs and our heads. An AR-15 is a semi-automatic assault rifle. And while this is going on, there hasn't been called an emergency response yet. So nobody knows what's going on, except for me and Jason. He told Jason to hold open the door. And so I'm laying there next to Jason. I'm like, you know, the door's being held open. Inmate Wasner's firing rounds from the AR-15 into the yard.

He's covering the yard, firing shots at other officers to allow his partner, Inmate Coy, to make it from the kitchen to the tower. And I'm going, this is not good. And please don't hit any other officers. You know, I hope that this inmate can't shoot right. He got his partner, inmate Coy, to get into the tower, and then the door shuts.

And what I remember of the Academy is that, you know, if you're taking hostage, there's no negotiating. So what does that tell you? OK, I'm dead. They're not going to negotiate for my life. I look over at Jason because we're sitting next to each other, and I just see all this blood just coming down his face.

And he was in and out of consciousness. And, you know, I kind of, like, took over him like a caretaker. I'm not sure Jason's going to make it. How can I get myself out of this? You know, what can I do to get out of here? I wonder, you know, if my family knows what's going on. Have they been notified? Where are they?

Lois is a single mom. She has a 12-year-old daughter. Wassner and Coyer are laughing and joking about shooting rounds at the officers. Inmate Wassner then gets a phone call from our lieutenant, and they're asking him what does he want, you know, let's resolve this, and of course, you know, Inmate Wassner is going, you know, we want something different, I'm not sure yet, but we'll let you know.

The two inmates demand a helicopter and a pizza. They were denied the helicopter. Inmate Wassner was kind of paranoid, you know, thinking that, you know, snipers will start shooting. So, Inmate Wassner forced me to take off my pants. Well, he took off my pants and my boots and tossed them over to the inmate Wassner forced me to take off my pants. Well, he took off my pants and my boots and tossed them over to inmate Coy and said, you know, go downstairs and get these clothes on so that they

don't know who you are. So while inmate Coy was downstairs changing in my clothes, inmate Wassner had us, had me and Jason in the corner, and Jason's going in and out of consciousness, and Wassner decides that, you know, he's gonna sexually assault me. You know, working in a prison, I knew that this could happen. And so I always told myself, you know,

what would I do if this was ever to happen? Well, I have two violent inmates in the tower with me. I don't know what they're in for. I mean, these guys aren't in there because they missed Sunday school. Wassener was serving 28 years for armed robbery and aggravated assault. Coy was serving multiple life sentences for armed robbery, rape, and kidnapping. So when I was getting sexually assaulted by inmate Wassner, I didn't really make any noise except for telling him, no, no, no, please don't, please don't. But it was more

like a whisper that only he could hear. I didn't want the other inmate to know because I didn't want it to become a free-for-all. If the other one knew that the other one had raped me, they might say, oh, well, you know, we'll keep raping her. But if the other one doesn't realize what the other one's done, then I'd have a better chance. Wassener made Coy take both officers to the lower level. Anything that Wassener would say or do, Koy would just agree and agree. So, and may Koy take us downstairs. Jason's bleeding still.

Jason was drifting in and out of consciousness. Lois and Jason had now been held at gunpoint for over two hours. Jason's put into the corner of the staircase, and, you know, I'm telling Koi, please don't, please don't. You don't want to do this. You know, I'm thinking of everything I can. And needless to say, I got sexually assaulted by an inmate, Koi. I'm still hopeful that, you know, this will just, you know, stop in a couple hours. They're going to come in guns barreling. They're going to make their way into this tower.

They're going to kill both inmates. And we're going to get up and walk out, you know, happy ending. But it doesn't happen. By day three, I'm worn out. I'm an emotional roller coaster. What I was hoping would end in one or two days, you know, just seems like it's getting longer and longer. And negotiators are negotiating and I'm trying to figure out why, you know, come up here,

blast away, let's go. Police had been trying to end the siege for three days. The inmates now demanded transfers to prisons closer to their families. And then negotiators and inmate Wassner decided that, you know, they're going to get full night's sleep. And I'm thinking, okay, this is my chance. If I can do anything, this will be the night I can do it. To give you an idea of about how I was locked up, I had a pair of handcuffs. To the handcuffs was a pair of leg irons. Attached to the leg irons was a belly chain, and that was attached to a pole.

So I only had so much movement in the tower, I was on a leash like a dog. Inmate Coy looked my handcuff kind of loose, and so while the inmates are sleeping, both of them, I'm able to get my handcuff off. And I nudged Jason, say, hey, you know, I can go grab the gun. It's 10 feet away. I can blow both inmates. Are you with me? Jason's like, no, don't do it. And so I put my handcuff back

on and I just kept playing it in my head. You know, can I do this? Would I be able to do this? Realizing that I don't know how long this is going to be, if I'm even going to make it out alive. Lois decided not to retrieve the gun. With the inmates becoming more unpredictable, Lois tried a new strategy. Me and my quay start building a relationship, if you will, from early on.

The thing that we had in common was that I smoked and he smoked. And we started talking about family and relationships. And he told me, you know, when he started his life of crime at, you know, 15 and how his dad was never there, but his Uncle Bob was. You know, I talked about a little bit of where I grew up to get onto his side and to gain a little bit of trust with him.

You know, they say that if he can identify with the person who's taking you hostage, they start looking at you as a person instead of an object. I never had Stockholm Syndrome though. Stockholm Syndrome is a condition where kidnapping victims sympathize with their captors. On day four, inmate Coy woke up and he started doing security checks around the tower. And he noticed that there was a cut in the fence because the tarp was kind of flapping open. And so he told inmate Wassner, and Wassner was on the phone to negotiators at the time, and he told the negotiator, hold on, and he set the phone down, went over to the fence,

looked at it, and I'm thinking to myself, oh God, this is not good. Overnight, the authorities had attempted to breach a gate near the tower. So inmate Wassner picked up the phone, he says, you know, you've really messed up. You're going to pay for this now. Why don't you listen to what's about to happen? And he sets the phone down to where, you know, they could hear what was going on on the phone line. And he had me and Jason stand up. And he took the shotgun and he pointed at Jason and said, you know, I'm going to blow you away.

What do you have to say? And Jason's like, well, you know, just shoot me in the head and make it quick. And then I'm standing there and I'm numb, you know. And Wasser points the gun at me and says, are you ready to die? When he points the gun, me and says, are you ready to die? When he points the gun, I'm more defiant. I'm more hard, non-emotional.

And I said, you know, flat out, I've been waiting to die since the moment you walked in. And then he gets on the phone and says, are you happy you ever pull a stunt like that again? And you're going to lose both officers. And he just starts yelling and screaming. And, you know, I really thought for sure he was going to blow us away. The inmates decided not to shoot the officers, but demanded more food.

Negotiators in turn demanded the inmates hand over ammunition. Inmate Wassner was talking to a negotiator, and he wanted Subway sandwiches. The negotiator was saying, no, you're not going to get Subway. You're not going to get Burger King. You're not going to get any fast food. You're going to get what we're getting down here. And Wassner gets angry, and he's like, all right,

if you don't give us what we want, we're going to cut off her pinky. And so he yells to Coy saying, you know, get that object over there. Cut off her pinky. And he started pressing the blunt object in between my pinky, the little bone right there, the joint.

And he's pressing down on it, and I'm screaming and I'm yelling. And the negotiator's going, you know, you don't want to do that. And so Wassner's like, you know, well, what do you have down there? And he started describing roast beef, ham, you know, variety of breads and soda. And Wassner's like, okay, fine, you know, send us up some of that. But if you ever do this again, you know, her pinky's coming off and it's going over the side. You give us what we want or we'll make it worse for them.

Lois and Jason have now been held hostage for six days. I woke to Wassner telling me that Jason's going to be released. And what they're planning on doing is getting a bunch of food and some supplies in exchange for his release. It's like, wait, you know, I'm a female. I've been raped. You know, I'm a female. I've been raped. You know, I'm a single mom. You know, I should be the one going home, not him.

And Koy told me that I was a better bargaining tool, that I was a single female mom, and they could get more out for me than what they could for a male. So while Wassner was upstairs, for me than what they could for a male. Jason had a fractured eye socket and was released. So while Wassner's upstairs, up on the top of the tower, inmate Coy comes to me and he goes, you know, if you have sex with me,

I'll give you a two second head start before I shoot you. Lois was chained up at the base of the tower. Now I'm thinking to myself, you know, if he does even give me a two-second head start, where am I going to go? I'm locked up like a dog. I can't escape. After Jason's release, Lois prepares for the worst. I had snatched a picture out of my wallet

before Wassner went through it, a picture of my daughter, and I talked to it as if I was talking to her and telling her, saying my goodbyes, letting her know that, okay, I love you, I miss you, you'll be okay, you got family around. That's when I really started separating myself from my family and saying my goodbyes. One week later, negotiators send for inmate Koy's Uncle Bob. When inmate Koy's Uncle Bob showed up, his whole attitude changed. His main concern was he wanted to see his Uncle Bob, he wanted to hug his Uncle Bob, he wanted to, you know, have a conversation.

That's when Wassner lost all control over Coy. And Coy started making up his own mind and saying, no, I'm done. Let's end this. There was no yelling or screaming about it. It was what it was, and Wassner just had to deal with it. Officer Lois has now been held hostage for 15 days. Inmate Wassner is telling me that today's the day they're going to end this, but if they don't follow the rules, we'll just keep it going. One of Wassener's last and final demands was for two steak dinners. They wanted a 12-pack of Heineken and a large cheese crust stuffed pizza.

Well, they were finally talked down to two beers. That was their last and final demands. Negotiators told the inmates to throw their guns onto the roof and exit from the tower base. Inmate Wassener refused. Wassener took the guns down. He had the AR-15. I was in the middle, and then Coy was behind me with the shotgun, not on safety. So we came out of the tower. The officers are telling Wassner exactly what to do. Turn around, drop everything, walk backwards, lay down.

And then, you know, I go to start walking out. And then I backed all the way up, and I had somebody snatch me from the other side of the fence, and I was out the gate, down the road, by the time that the whole thing ended, on my way to the hospital. Lois' 15-day ordeal was the longest prison hostage siege in United States history.

When you have something major happen to you, and you're not sure whether you're gonna live or die, and I know that this has been said time after time. It's like everything that you took for granted is all new back into your life. And you learn not to take things for granted. And I took a lot of my family for granted. And I took my daughter for granted

and my freedom for granted. I've changed enormously. Inmate Coy pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms in prison. Inmate Wassener pleaded not guilty and was sentenced to 16 life terms plus 28 years. I survived because I look at myself as a survivor and not a victim. I survived because my family was out there and I needed to get back with them. I

survived because I love life.