Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: We're Never Going to Get Out of This Alive

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

Sharon is abducted outside her home by a man with a knife who blindfolds and assaults her. Al and Linda are snowmobiling with their daughter on a frozen lake when their sleds fall through the... ice along with Al. Misty and her friend Tanya are walking home from a part when hey are attacked by a man with a baseball bat who leads them into the woods.Apartments.com - To find whatever you’re searching for and more visit apartments.com the place to find a place.Progressive: Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.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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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, iSurvive listeners. I'm Marisa Pinson. And before we get into this week's episode, I just want to remind you that episodes of iSurvived, as well as the A&E Classic podcast Cold Case Files, City Confidential, and American Justice are all available ad free on the new A&E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus
Starting point is 00:00:19 for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. I'm shaking and he said, I'm going to open your door if you scream or you try to get away. He said, I'm going to kill you. Real people.
Starting point is 00:00:42 We're never going to get out of this alive if he doesn't get out of that ice. Who faced death. I'm angry and I'm thinking, I'm just gonna hit this guy in the head. I don't care if he dies. And live to tell how. I'm starting to lose consciousness
Starting point is 00:00:57 because he's strangling me pretty hard. If I black out, who knows what's gonna happen at that point. This is I Survived. It's May 1985 in North Aurora, Illinois. 21-year-old Sharon has spent the weekend working at a trade show. On her way home, Sharon stalled her car at a red light. I noticed someone pulling up on the passenger side of the car
Starting point is 00:01:28 and he yelled over, hey, do you need some help? I said, no, thank you, I'm fine. And the car started before the light even turned green and I proceeded on. There's basically a traffic light every block. So I came up to the next light, hit another red light, noticed a car again pulling up, kind of glanced over and noticed it was the same person who had, I'd seen it the light before and asked if I needed help.
Starting point is 00:01:52 I was starting to get a little on edge at that point. So I pulled into the complex and pulled into my spot when I noticed out of my peripheral vision a car pulling into the complex as well. It was the same car that I had seen at the traffic lights. Now I'm starting to get really leery, because if he followed me home, it means he followed me home for a reason,
Starting point is 00:02:20 and not knowing what that reason was, but it didn't feel right to me. And again, it's late late and I'm by myself. I started glancing around for a way out. The door of my home was literally 50 feet away from me at that particular point. The man following Sharon knocked on her car window and suggested they go for a drink.
Starting point is 00:02:42 I said, all the bars are closed, it's late, I've been working, I just really just wanna go for a drink. I said all the bars are closed, it's late, I've been working, I just really just want to go home. Thanks. He looked to be late 20s and nothing odd about him that I could sense at the time besides the fact that he was, you know, glaring at me. I'm really starting to get scared because he's really close to me at this point. I'm glancing up at my mother's bedroom window, which was right there, thinking she might have heard me pull in, she's going to look out. And then he basically said, well, you want to make some money.
Starting point is 00:03:15 You want to make, you know, want to make 80 bucks. I said, no, I'm not interested. Sharon tried to close her car window. That's when his arm shot through the driver's side window and I could feel a knife up against my throat and he pinned me to the headrest of the car. It was so fast, I froze. And the horn in my car didn't work.
Starting point is 00:03:37 I went to hit it and it didn't sound. I was afraid if I screamed that he would cut my throat. I'm shaking at this point, and he said, I'm going to open your door. If you scream or you try to get away, he said, I'm gonna kill you. He was holding the knife still to my throat, and he started strangling me and telling me, you're going to do whatever I say,
Starting point is 00:04:06 I'm going to do whatever I want to do with you. So I'm trying not to lose consciousness. If I black out, who knows what's going to happen at that point? I said, you know, please don't hurt me. I'll do whatever you say. Just don't stab me. As he's pulling me out of the car is when I feel something being pressed up against my stomach and he said, I've got a gun.
Starting point is 00:04:29 Too scared to scream, Sharon hoped that someone noticed what was happening. I'm like, why isn't anybody seeing this? Why isn't my mother, she had to have heard something. Why isn't she looking out of her bedroom window? Why isn't a car drive by? He tied my hands behind my back. Then he laid the knife that he had used earlier on the seat of the car right in front of my face. So he said, the knife is right there.
Starting point is 00:04:54 After tying Sharon's hands, the attacker blindfolded her. I felt pretty helpless being blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back. I heard him start the car and proceed to drive away. So I tried to listen as carefully as I could to sounds. Now I'm being taken away from somewhere that's familiar. So I'm thinking at that point I'm gonna die. Maybe I just do whatever he says.
Starting point is 00:05:21 I pled with him a lot. Every time he would make a threat, I would respond with, just please, I'll do whatever you say. And he said that, you know, he told me his name was Brian. He said that he knew me from somewhere. I said, I've never seen you before. He mentioned a bar that was in town somewhere. He goes, no, I've seen you there before. I said, I've never been there. I don't even know where that is. Blindfolded and bound, Sharon listened to figure out where Brian was taking her.
Starting point is 00:05:50 We had been driving for what I thought was about 15 minutes or so, and I could feel the car slowing down. And we hit gravel, and he made one more turn, and the car stopped. I got the sense that he took me to a place that he was familiar with. I heard a dog barking. I said, I hear a dog. He said, don't worry about the dog. Nobody's around, nobody's gonna see what's going on,
Starting point is 00:06:16 so just do what I say. And I just said, well, what are you gonna do? And he said, don't worry about that. You'll find out. He mentioned somebody that he knew or that was in prison at the time for a rape case. And he had said it would be worth going to prison for six or eight years for what I'm going to do to you. When he mentioned that case, all I could think about
Starting point is 00:06:43 was my death and thinking I would never to do to you. When he mentioned that case, all I could think about was my death and thinking I would never see my family again. He told me to take off my clothes. And my response was, well, I can't, my hands are tied behind my back. What are you going to do? He said, you know what I'm going to do, take your clothes off.
Starting point is 00:07:03 So he came over to me and untied my hands. I proceeded to start to undress. And I guess I wasn't going fast enough for him. He came over and he started pulling my clothes off. I knew he had a knife. I had seen the knife. I had felt the gun. I didn't know where they were.
Starting point is 00:07:24 And there were a couple times where he touched me again with the knife. I had felt the gun. I didn't know where they were. And there were a couple times where he touched me again with the knife. I could feel the blade, the coldness of the blade. My heart started racing. I'm crying. I'm shaking everywhere. I can't breathe. It's getting hard to breathe. I'm trying to think I should run because I'm starting to get into that panic mode. Should I just start running and maybe you know I could hit the blindfold off my eyes. I was absolutely helpless. I couldn't even tell where a door handle was or or even to try to push him if I wanted to. I was him if I wanted to.
Starting point is 00:08:05 I was just totally, totally rendered helpless. Sharon decided that escape was impossible. I was crying at this point. I'm only 21. I'm engaged. This is not the way I want my life to start with my husband to be. I had to suppress my anger and my fear and my wanting to just hurt him or do something
Starting point is 00:08:31 and knowing that I had to think of another way or I might not make it out alive. I'm getting sick to my stomach at this point thinking what I have to do, but I know I have to do it to hopefully survive. He basically demanded for me to perform oral sex on him. I was pleading with him, please don't make me do this, please don't make me do this, and that's when he would get aggravated and shove me around a little bit and say, you're going to do whatever I want. When I would cry or show any kind of emotion, that
Starting point is 00:09:06 agitated him. And then he would start with stronger threats or more threats. So I tried to keep my emotions as much as minimum as possible. With her life on the line, Sharon resisted the urge to fight back. I knew what he was going to do. He had already mentioned that he was going to rape me. But now it was real. I'm crying. I'm hysterical at this point. Thinking in my head, I just want this to be over.
Starting point is 00:09:35 Just try to concentrate on something else. I started thinking about my family, thinking about my fiance, anything to get my mind off of what was happening. Sharon was sexually assaulted for over three hours. After several times being raped, he said, get your clothes on. He said, the knife's right here. Don't try to get out of the car.
Starting point is 00:10:02 Don't take the blindfold off. Don't do anything. Just get dressed. He basically said. Don't take the blindfold off. Don't do anything. Just get dressed. He basically said, just stay in the back seat. We're going to go somewhere else. I thought that the worst was over, and now I'm thinking that that might have been nothing compared to what he's going to do next.
Starting point is 00:10:21 I felt pretty helpless being blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back. I thought to myself, he's going to take my body somewhere and he's going to do horrible things to it and dump me where nobody will ever be able to find me. He says, where do you want me to drop you off? And I thought to myself, I don't know that I actually heard him say that. Or is he toying with me? Is he just trying to make it, like, give me hope and then go somewhere else? So in that split second, I'm trying to think of a place to tell him.
Starting point is 00:10:59 Sharon told her attacker to drop her off at a school a half mile from her home. I feel the car come to a stop. There's no way that he's going to let me go. I had way too much information on him. There was no way he was going to let me walk out of the car. He says, I'm going to come around, I'm going to let you out. I felt pavement under my feet.
Starting point is 00:11:21 And he said, I want you to just stay facing this way or I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna kill you. I heard him get in his car, close the door, I heard the car driving away. I was just so afraid to turn around that he might be right there. I waited until I absolutely could not hear another sound. I pulled the blindfold and I was looking at the elementary school that I had gone to. And I proceeded to run the rest of the way home. I couldn't run fast enough. I was, kept looking over my shoulder thinking, he's, the car's behind me, he's coming after me again. My mother was already coming down the stairs
Starting point is 00:12:08 because she said she had heard someone screaming and I just remembered screaming to her, you know, somebody just kidnapped me and raped me. She immediately was like, oh my God, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? And I said, no, call the police, call the police. You know, he may still be close, call the police. Two weeks later, Brian Dugan was apprehended for a traffic violation. DNA linked Dugan
Starting point is 00:12:32 to Sharon's attack and two unsolved murders of young girls. While in prison, Dugan had also been convicted of murdering a 10-year-old girl and sentenced to death. I asked myself, why didn't he kill me every day of my life? I survived because I didn't fight. I turned that energy around and used it to just try to concentrate on what I had to do every minute to get to the last minute. And maybe that's why he decided not to kill me. I Survived is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
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Starting point is 00:13:34 Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. states or situations, prices vary based on how you buy. It's March 2008 in Lake Umba-Gog, New Hampshire. Al and his wife Linda are vacationing at the Bull Moose Campground. As night falls, the couple and their daughter Haley go snowmobiling on the frozen lake. March 7th was Al's birthday, so it was very important for him that he, Haley, and I go
Starting point is 00:14:04 snowmobiling. And it was a beautiful night. The stars were out. It was clear. It was mild. We stopped at the gas station to fill the sleds up with gas, and we were starting to make our way back up to the camp. So we basically head out of town. It's a about an eight-mile ride up through the trails. It was still very lightly snowing.
Starting point is 00:14:23 Nothing to be concerned about. We were really fooling around, just riding around, and it was deep powder, and we were actually enjoying ourselves, it was so mild out. It was right as we were getting closer to the lake that the snow picked up. It was like a blizzard out of nowhere. I could not even see in front of me,
Starting point is 00:14:42 barely seeing the light from Haley Sled, never mind Al, who was up ahead. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, I can't see. How is he seeing and how does he even know where we're going? When we first hit the lake in the whiteout was when I said, oh God, I need to bring the GPS with me. And I usually always have it on the sled, it, always plugged in. You know, I said, oh, we're, we're going to find our way. And, you know, don't worry. And it was just trying to keep them calm. You know, I'm a typical guy. I didn't want to say, you know, we're lost. I mean, there's
Starting point is 00:15:14 three feet of ice in the lake. I mean, I was not really any worries and we were actually kind of having fun. I thought, how are we going to get out of this? And it's pitch black. You know, the only lights are from our sleds." After riding in the darkness for 40 minutes, Al realized he had made a mistake. The whole time I'm thinking I'm working my way down across the bottom of the lake. I'm really heading north, we're heading towards the mouth of the river. They were now in unfamiliar territory off course by eight miles at the wrong end of the lake. So we had stopped and we were talking and it was at that time, and I'll never forget
Starting point is 00:15:49 Haley said those faithful words, Daddy is that open water over there? The only place there's any open water on this lake is all the way up to the north. And we never traveled to the north. We have no business up there. I said, listen, right now we're going to turn around and we're going to get out to the middle of the lake. Al knew it was safe to ride in the middle of the lake where the ice is thicker. I started turning and I thought I heard a scream. All of a sudden I saw Haley jump off her sled as I saw her sled just go melt into the ice. It just disappeared. And I couldn't believe what I was seeing,
Starting point is 00:16:26 and I just yelled out a scream like no one would ever believe. I turned back to look behind me, and I saw Haley standing on the ice and no sled. And I went, oh, dear God. And I started feeling the bottom of my sled coming out. I hammered the snowmobile wide open, trying to get off the bad ice.
Starting point is 00:16:50 Al's attempt to drive onto solid ice failed, and he disappeared from view. My husband had just gone through the lake. He went, sunk right into the ice. And at that time, I can't even tell you, I just felt probably feelings I've never felt in my life. It was total despair, disbelief. That was it. The party was over. She just sunk. And in the water I went.
Starting point is 00:17:13 I knew I didn't have a lot of time. Everything's kind of numb. I wasn't really cold. It's like something travels through your body and you just go on shutdown. Only yards away, Linda couldn't see Al in the darkness and was scared of falling through the thin ice. I still couldn't hear Al. I couldn't see him and I didn't even know if he was alive. I mean I can't even tell you the emotions. I was petrified.
Starting point is 00:17:40 I would start trying to back myself up on the ice and using my feet in the ice and trying to slide and slither backwards onto the ice. And then I would almost be out and it would break. I'd just fall back through the ice. My sled still was running and still had the light on it. I was just so grateful that we at least had one sled left. The only thing I could see when I popped my head out of the hole was through the snow was the light on Haley. I remember just kept hearing her cheer me on, come on daddy, come
Starting point is 00:18:12 on daddy, you can do it, I know you can do it. The weight of Al's wet clothing made it impossible to get out of the ice. I knew if I would have started shedding gear, I wouldn't have made it through this whole thing with all my extremities. I knew we were still out in the middle of nowhere. We were lost. You know, we were down to one sled. And even though that stuff was wet,
Starting point is 00:18:32 it was still protecting me. And it was right then I was trying to make my third, third attempt at getting out when things went on shutdown. There was no more kicking. There was no more treading water. There was no more flailing around, breaking ice or anything. Just trying to take a breath was very difficult.
Starting point is 00:18:49 After being in the freezing water for 10 minutes, Al was starting to suffer from hypothermia. As his temperature plummeted, Al's vital organs started to shut down. And I just was ready to take a nap. And you don't really feel like you're giving up, but you just kind of start going to sleep. I said, Linda, I said, I remember saying something like, I don't think I'm going to make it. That's about the golden rule of about 20 minutes about how much you can take before you start hypothermia,
Starting point is 00:19:14 starts running through your body. All of a sudden, Al said to me, honey, I don't think I'm going to make it. And I think that just totally got me out of the shock I was in and put me right into gear because I'm thinking, that is so not an option. All I was able to do was holding onto the edge of the ice just to keep my mouth out of the water.
Starting point is 00:19:33 One thing I heard from her was I remember hearing, I can't see you. Al's helmet with its flashing red light had been knocked off when he fell through the ice. Linda screamed at Al to grab the light. I just dove for the helmet. I figured, I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down trying. He had managed to grab his helmet, and with the light on it,
Starting point is 00:19:54 he put that right where he was so I could actually see him. Out of the darkness, here she comes with this, you know, here comes my wife, this little woman of, you know, 5'4", 120 pounds, with the sleeve of this jacket saying, here, take this. And I just yelled to him, grab my sleeve, and he did. And I can remember just squatting down, because I know that if you squat and your legs are stronger,
Starting point is 00:20:16 I'd have more of a chance to be able to get leverage. She just yarded me out of that ice like a bulldozer. You know, she could have lifted a house off the foundation, I think. I was worried about her falling in too, but I remember just saying, stay back there as far as you can. And she got down low and she just yarded me right out. I can't even tell you the relief when he stood up on that ice and I thought, oh my god, thank you.
Starting point is 00:20:40 And within a second of him standing, he broke through the ice again. I didn't panic because I thought, this is nothing. It was so effortless to get him out the first time. It was like a feather. We can definitely do this again. And we just did it again the same exact way, except when he got up this time, he stayed down. And we both pretty much crawled back, you know, towards Haley. So she towed me along the ice and we got back over to where her sled was at and them guys
Starting point is 00:21:10 peeled my heavy jacket off me, the jacket. I remember opening up the hood to that sled, just laid my chest and my head right on the exhaust pipe and I remember them guys kind of huddling over me for a minute and just warming me up. Still on the ice and eight miles from camp, Al needed urgent medical attention. We still were lost. We only had one sled and he was shivering and freezing. And I didn't know how much damage had been done,
Starting point is 00:21:40 you know, with how cold he was. The sled was frozen to the ice. It had been sitting there idling so long that the skis actually froze to the ice. So I had to get that unfroze and turn around. The relief I felt was like I had never experienced in my life. The three of us just hugged
Starting point is 00:21:56 and we just kind of savored that moment, but still we knew there was more for us to do because we still weren't safe. We still were lost and we knew we still had to find someplace warm to get Al warm. We opened up the hood of the sled. We tried to warm him up with the heat from the sled that had been running. And we tried to get warm stuff on him. We had him huddled over with our coats over his head while he was trying to get warmth.
Starting point is 00:22:22 I'd get some heat and it would be like the monster, let's go, we gotta go again. I'd be from going, ready to fall asleep to come on, let's go. Al had a vague idea where the shore was located. Al insisted on riding, Haley in the middle and I was hanging on the very end of like the little bumper and he took off like a bat out of hell and it felt like hours.
Starting point is 00:22:45 They rode a mile to the lake's edge searching for any trail signs. Al was just hammering that sled like nobody's business. We actually found a trail, worked our way around and sure enough I was never so happy in my life to see a trail signs and carry road on it. Once he found a trail and we saw signs, we were so hopeful, and I think that made him just ride it even faster. I was hammering it. I remember hearing Linda scream,
Starting point is 00:23:12 and I'm gonna fall off. And we just all locked onto this thing, and you could hear the poor sled, just the suspension just grinding on itself, because I was just pounding it. Maybe every 10 or 15, maybe 20 minutes or something like that I could make it before I just start shivering so bad and want to stop blacking out. I just would go to that mean I was driving, falling asleep, you know, trying to go, you know, off a bumpy trail through
Starting point is 00:23:36 the woods, still hammering it. Al fought to stop himself from slipping into a hypothermic coma. All of a sudden I'd be nodding off. I mean, I'd literally be driving the sled and nodding off. And I'd say, okay, I gotta stop. Al just had to keep stopping. We had to keep trying to get him warm because he would just start shivering and shaking and he just needed to try to get some warmth. She would jump off the sled, would stop, would open up the hood of the machine, and I'd just
Starting point is 00:24:04 lay my chest and my head right on the exhaust. Even with frequent stops to warm up, Al struggled to keep going. And I was freezing, I was shaking, and I remember telling myself, come on, we can make it one, let's go one more minute. It was about seven or eight miles down from the lake when we came across this little, little cabin,
Starting point is 00:24:26 and there was smoke coming out of the chimney, and it was probably the best sight I've ever seen. I was like, amen. Thank you, God. Two nurses were vacationing in the small cabin. These people just jump on me like a NASCAR pit crew just stripping me. Before I know it, I'm naked, I'm wrapped in a blanket. These total strangers are, you know, wrapping their bodies around my legs. And then I would
Starting point is 00:24:48 freeze them out and they would all just, okay, switch. They were like an emergency room ER, the way they just took Al's clothes off, got him warm blankets, had him in a seat in front of the wood stove and started putting their warm body parts against his cold flesh to try to warm him up. Despite the nurses' efforts, Al was still fighting for his life. By now I'm in this crazy shaking thing that I've never really experienced, like way past a shiver.
Starting point is 00:25:21 I wanted to just keep doing this and she'd grab me by the face and scream, don't shut your eyes. And I'm like, why are you screaming at me? And she was just insisting on me keeping my eyes open to apologize. She said, sorry for screaming at you. She says, but when people are shaking like that, you're one step away from just going into a coma.
Starting point is 00:25:38 And she said, we didn't want to lose you because you were just right on the edge. Because the next step from shaking the way you were shaking is just coma. I just couldn't believe our luck and what a miracle to find a place that had these people who were so qualified to treat him, because I don't think he would have survived.
Starting point is 00:25:57 You know, it's one thing to say to be grateful to be alive, you know, but to be that close to death, then it's grateful to be alive. We couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened. Everything could have gone so wrong for us so easily, and probably should have. Mostly I survived because God wanted me to survive. He has a plan for me.
Starting point is 00:26:18 It's not done with me yet. And He lined up just too many things happened that night for me to survive. Finding the one can feel impossible. And in today's world, it's even harder. False profiles, inaccurate pictures, incompatibilities, ghosting on dates. Is this sounding familiar? But if you're ready to make your move to a new place,
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Starting point is 00:27:09 your perfect home by using apartments.com. No more swiping and awkward first dates. Make it easier to get a place that gets you. Visit apartments.com, the place to find a place. It's October 1995 in Abbotsford, British Columbia. 16-year-old Misty and her best friend Tanya have been at a party. With three hours left before their curfew, they decide to walk to Misty's boyfriend's place. I told her that we could just walk there and then we get a ride back and make it back in time for curfew. Tanya and I used to walk around town all the time.
Starting point is 00:27:45 We would hang out with our friends till late at night. She didn't really want to go, but I kind of begged and pleaded. I was like, come on, let's go, it'll be fun. I was joking around. I was like, oh yeah, it's Friday the 13th, because that's when we were out. I said, watch, some guy's going to jump out of the bush and try and rape us, and we kind of laughed it off. We were walking by a parking lot,
Starting point is 00:28:08 and this guy comes out of the hedges. He's creepy-looking, and he looks at us and says, hey, you bitches want to party? We kind of looked at each other, no, thank you. I know I thought of him more as a creepy pervert, like, older, wanted to hang out with younger girls, just a creeper. We were turning around to leave and keep walking when he brought out the baseball bat and told
Starting point is 00:28:32 us to go through these hedges that were in front of a parking lot and take our clothes off. He was very vile, like he swore a lot and angry, very angry with us. I went as far as undoing my belt and as he was yelling at us and I'm looking at him, that's when I'm realizing I might not live tonight. I'm not gonna go down without a fight.
Starting point is 00:28:59 We were supposed to go through the bushes and he started pushing us through and telling us to take our clothes off. Both of us were questioning what to do without saying anything. I'm pretty sure that if one of us just would have said run, we would have, but I think we were too stunned. It was just surreal and it was almost like okay at any time it's going to a joke, right?" He was very angry to look at his eyes. I knew that there was something. I didn't think that we would make it through the night.
Starting point is 00:29:32 Fearing for her life, Tanya started taking her clothes off. I remember looking at him, then I looked at her. I said, don't take your clothes off. Don't do it. When I decided that I wasn't gonna go down without some sort of fight back, the first thing I started doing was just pleading for him to let us go.
Starting point is 00:29:55 We're just kids and you don't want us and we won't tell anybody, just let us go. We just wanna go home. Then I started thinking of other ways out, like what's my other plan gonna be? I can't just run, Tan is still gonna be behind so and I can't leave her. And so I started pretending to have an asthma attack,
Starting point is 00:30:16 I don't have it, but I acted it out so much so that I fell to the ground and you know, all out drama. He just looked at me he starts laughing he's like you think I'm stupid if you had asthma you'd have one of those puffer things as he called it. I was like okay well now I'm on my knees on the ground thinking now what. I didn't start off with screaming right away I wanted to find another way out because if I just started screaming, what is that going to do, right? Then I'm just a person standing there screaming while my friend gets raped.
Starting point is 00:30:52 He'd pushed Tanya onto her hands and knees. She had her pants off and her underwear off. She had these big green eyes. And they just looked at me like pleading to help her or something. I could leave. I could go get help now. This is my chance. I may be come back and she might be raped, but I could at least get her help before she
Starting point is 00:31:14 gets killed. Misty decided it was too dangerous to leave her friend behind. I don't know how he knew I wasn't going to run away or even if he cared. He got that one right. That I wasn't going to run away, or even if he cared. He got that one right, that I wasn't going anywhere. That's when he positioned himself behind her, was undoing his pants. He was getting ready to rape her.
Starting point is 00:31:35 That's when he's like, stop looking at me, bitch. You're going to find out what this is like later. And that's when I saw the baseball bat. He'd put it down. And so I scrambled for it. I thought, okay, I grab the bat. And I'm angry. And I'm thinking, I'm just going to hit this guy in the head.
Starting point is 00:31:54 I don't care if he dies. When I hit him the first time and he moved, I thought, okay, I'm good. I started yelling at Tanya, I'm like, leave, run, go, go now. And I was screaming for help because he's not going to let me go. He's angrier now. I just pissed him off. I kind of looked down and that's when I saw the bat and he stopped paying attention to me. I scrambled over and I grabbed it and I thought, it's great, great, the bat's there, I can get it.
Starting point is 00:32:27 I thought, okay, I grabbed the bat, I'm gonna hit him with it. I can't hit him in the head, because I'm shaking and I'm scared. And if I hit, if I miss and I hit Tanya, and she goes down, what do I do? I hit him in the back, at least to kind of jolt him back away from her.
Starting point is 00:32:47 And then I went to hit him again in the head. And that's when he caught the bat. I started yelling at Tanya, I'm like, leave, run, go, go now. She wasn't leaving, she was just standing there and I'm yelling, just leave, Tanya, just go, go get help. Tanya was too scared to leave. He was still on his knees. And he had it. knees and he had it. He had a grip on it and then he got up and that's when we started pulling on it. This would be the point where I
Starting point is 00:33:15 wished I hadn't done that and I began to plead and apologize. So sorry. I wish I could take it back. And I'm still holding onto the bat. And I'm thinking, I can't let go. If I let go, that's it. I'm done. The enraged attacker wrestled the bat away from Misty. And I let go.
Starting point is 00:33:37 I gave up. I did. I didn't have the energy. And I didn't have any more plans. I saw that I was backed into a corner and I had no way out. I turned around and I was looking through the hedges and I'm looking at my school and I kind of put my arms up to try and cover my head and my thought process was this is the last thing I'm gonna see. He started hitting me in the head. It didn't hurt at all.
Starting point is 00:34:05 And I was surprised. I remember thinking, I can't believe this doesn't hurt. I counted seven times and then I guess I passed out. When I woke up, hours later, I was on the other side of the parking lot. I was lying there and it was freezing cold. And I was confused. And then I started talking to Tanya, but she wasn't there. And I was confused. And then I started talking to Tanya, but she wasn't there. And I was confused.
Starting point is 00:34:28 I'm not sure what happened. I knew what happened, but I wasn't really cluing into it. And I started walking home, but I took a wrong turn. And then I thought, well, I don't know where I am now. I'm lost. Like, I took down the wrong road. I don't know where I am now. I'm lost. Like I took down the wrong road. I don't know where I am. So I ended up walking to the hospital. Bleeding severely, Misty stumbled into the emergency room. I looked up at the triage nurse and I just remembered the look on her face. Her eyes were huge and she was shocked. My head turned and all this fluid came running out of my ear. My skull was pressed against my brain and that's what was coming out of my ear was blood and spinal fluid.
Starting point is 00:35:16 So basically what they said is I had a hole the size of a baseball in the back of my head. Surgeons operated to pull Misty's skull away from her brain. When Misty woke up the following morning, her first thoughts were for Tanya. As soon as I woke up, I started talking about her, telling people, you need to go get my friend. She's in the bushes over there. And I tried to describe it.
Starting point is 00:35:41 I was trying, they didn't know where to look. Tanya's badly beaten body was discovered later that morning in a local fishing spot. I remember my mom sitting down saying, Miss, do we have to talk to you? Tanya didn't make it. When I found out she didn't make it, I thought, wow, I did all this thinking that I saved her, and I didn't. Tanya's death started one of the most publicized manhunts in Canadian history.
Starting point is 00:36:08 For seven months, Tanya's killer taunted Misty with phone calls. He also called the police to brag about his crimes. He called quite a few times and my family and I were put into witness protection for seven months. It's a terrible thing to do to someone who's been a victim, right? He took Tanya's gravestone and he defaced it, wrote across her face, you know, one day, Miss D, why haven't you done enough to her?
Starting point is 00:36:37 Why would you do that? Why? After a tape of his voice was made public by the police, the killer was identified by his mother and brother. They received a $10,000 reward. Terry Driver was convicted of murder and attempted murder and jailed for life. I survived because I didn't give up and now I have a purpose and that's to help other
Starting point is 00:37:01 victims. Tracker, FBI and SWAT all for free. You can't outrun this. Someone's gonna pay for all this crime, but it's not gonna be you. Take care of business, fellas. Watch all the cases all for free from all your favorite devices. We got you. Feel the free. Pluto TV. Stream now.
Starting point is 00:37:36 Pay never.

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