Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - "In That Moment, I Knew I Was Going To Die." – Abduction Escapee Midsi Sanchez

Episode Date: October 1, 2021

When we were kids, we were always told not to talk to strangers. But you never think something bad is going to happen to you…until it does. Midsi Sanchez was walking home on her 8th birthday, when a strange man stopped her and asked her for some help. This was the moment that the man pushed her into his vehicle, chained her leg to the gear shift, drove away, and sexually assaulted her for 3 days.She survived.On today’s episode, Alex Clark sits down with Midsi Sanchez to share her inspiring st...

Have you ever heard of the show America's Most Wanted? The original show was hosted by John Walsh and launched in 1988 until it was canceled in 2011. And it was the longest running TV show on Fox, even surpassing The Simpsons. The show did reenactments of dangerous fugitives using actors. They encouraged viewers to call this phone number if they had tips on certain cases that they were covering. And by 2008, the series actually helped capture 1,000. and fugitives around the world. What a lot of millennials and definitely Gen Z don't know, I'm sure, is that the host of America's Most Wanted, John Walsh, was the parent of a missing child. Actually,

it was one of the first big missing child cases in the country that everyone was talking about, and it sparked the entire stranger danger movement, if you remember that. On July 27, 1981, six-year-old Adam Walsh was at Sears with his mom in Hollywood, Florida. His mom went to ask someone a question and let Adam play video games at an Atari display with several other boys who were taking turns playing. Then another employee told Adam's mom that the boys had started fighting over the game, so he asked them to leave the store after asking if they had a parent with them, to which they said they didn't. Unfortunately, Adam was too shy to speak up. Adam's mom called the police after about 90 minutes of searching for him. A few days later,

his head was found in a drainage canal. The rest of his body was never found. Adam Walsh's case changed the way we look for missing children in this country forever and inspired his parents to get involved. His case sparked the formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I wanted to tell you that story because every year, 800,000 children go missing. Thanks to technological advances, predator awareness and changing the way searches are conducted, more than 99% of missing kids now return home alive. Midsey Sanchez is one of lucky ones. On August 12, 2000 in Vallejo, California, eight-year-old Midsie Sanchez was walking home from school when a child serial killer, Curtis Dean Anderson, spotted her and kidnapped her.

It was the day of her birthday party, which she was so excited for, and she was just two blocks away from home when the kidnapping occurred. Anderson held her captive for an excruciating two days before she bravely escaped. Today, we'll hear her harrowing story. And I also want to note that This episode contains details about sexual abuse and listener discretion is advised. I'm Alex Clark. In my exclusive interview with Midsey Sanchez happens next on The Spillover. It's The Spillover. I'm Alex Clark and I'm here with Midsey Sanchez, which is such an honor.

Midsey, go ahead and just start us off at that day in August of 2000. Thank you. Alex. So August 10th, 2000, gosh, it's been 21 years since the day. that I was abducted by Curtis Dean Anderson. He was a serial killer and rapist that loved little girls. And my mom had already warned me about this kidnapper because Zeanna Fairchild was missing from the city of Aleo.

It had been eight months and she was nowhere to be found. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. My mom would sit me in front of the TV and she would say, if anyone ever tried to take you, you kick and scream, punch, fight, do whatever you can to get away. And yet, I didn't realize that my mom was sharing some of the most valuable information with me. I didn't think that I was ever going to have to use it. You know, these things are what we see in movies. We don't think that kidnappings or murders or drugs. The street life is real until we see it for ourselves. And so August 10th of 2000, I was getting ready to celebrate my eighth birthday. And you remember

being a young kid and how excited you were the night before your birthday, you couldn't sleep from the excitement. That was me. And so I was ready to party. And my brother Ismail and I, we attended Highland Elementary School together. We walked home together every single day with a group of friends. We never walked alone. That's just not what we did. But this specific day was the day of my birthday party and I had a party to get home to. And so I left. left my brother behind at school when the bell rang at 3 o'clock that day. And the street that we walked down was, it's still aligned with all of these beautiful trees. And in the summertime, there were a lot of leaves that had fallen.

So I'd love to crunch them underneath my feet on the way home. And I remember doing that for the seven blocks that it took to get from school to my parents' house, which was on one of the most busiest streets in the city of Lale. And I was one block away from home when I noticed a man sitting in his car literally staring at me through his rearview mirror. I could see his bright blue eyes staring at me. And in my gut, in my spirit, I felt this, it was like this clear voice that told me to cross the street, warning me, like our intuition, that gut, that gut feels. that's the Holy Spirit and that's what was speaking to me and told me to cross the street and avoid this man and I did exactly what most of us do when we get that you know that that

gut-wrenching feeling we ignore it and so I did this was a normal day for me my normal route nothing seemed out of the ordinary other than that man and as soon as I approached the vehicle he got out of the car and he like walked around the back and stopped me and he said hey i need your help i broke my hip in a bike accident i can't bend over i need you to pick something up for me and as a kid you know my parents always taught me to be kind and generous and helpful and so when he asked me to help him i thought okay i'll help this man and be on my way and so I did. He opened up the front door to his beat-up Oldsmobile. And as soon as I reached over into the floorboard of his car to grab the duct tape that he claimed to not be able to pick up, I felt him lean over me from behind. He put all of his 200 pounds of body weight on top of mine and covered my mouth so nobody could hear me scream. There were two boys walking in front of me. And my brother was literally just a boy.

block behind me. And although my brother didn't see me get taken, he was, he was distracted because he was walking with our friend Tony. And Tony's mom picked him up. So in the short amount of time that it took Tony's mom to pick him up and drive off, that was how quick the kidnapper was able to grab me and throw me in his car. I remember feeling like I'm being kidnapped. I could I still couldn't register what was happening, even though my mom had prepared me. I had watched the news and had watched the young girl that had been missing for eight to nine months. It still didn't register right away. And he literally drove off with me and headed down one of the busiest streets in our city.

And nobody saw a thing. What was going through your mind as you're driving in this car with this strange man, and you're, I'm assuming passing people on the street, passing other cars, are you thinking, do I signal for help? Are you thinking about opening the door and jumping out of the moving car? So I actually tried to jump out of the car, but he rigged the lock. So I could not open the door from the inside. I was stuck. And so as he drove off with me, I could see my house.

I could see my dad's house. And he just went off into the opposite direction. And I remember feeling like, gosh, I want to be home so bad. And I remember asking him, I said, why did you take me? And he said, well, someone did it to me when I was a kid. So in my eight-year-old mind, I'm thinking, am I going to do this to kids when I grow up? That's what you were thinking in that moment? That's what I was thinking.

Yes. I, you know, we're kids. We don't know how to process serious things like this. We're so vulnerable, very naive. Like, we just don't know what the world really has waiting for us. And so, of course, I was in complete shock. And as soon as he drove off with me, there's like Highway 80 is just a couple of blocks away from where my parents lived. and there was a yard birds parking lot.

It's like a hardware store that I used to go to with my dad all the time. My dad's a carpenter, by the way. And he parked in that parking lot. He made me change my clothes, and he pulled out a bottle of alcohol and made me take a shot of the alcohol. And of course, I was like, no, I can't drink him all me eight years old. But he literally forced me to get drunk. and wanted to change my appearance from what I looked like when I left the house that day.

Were they new clothes? I don't think so. You think they were from another victim? You know, I have, they can be, because he had claimed to have done this to about 10 other little girls. And he did mention to me, don't try to escape, don't try to get away because I will kill you. I have a gun. I will shoot you. And no one has ever gotten away from me before, so don't even try it.

So at that point you're motivated, probably deep down inside. Do you think? I think, well, immediately I was already trying to plan my escape. And it seems like he was always one step ahead of me. We had pulled off into a rest area and stayed there for the first day, first night. And I remember having to use the restroom. And I thought, okay, maybe, just maybe if he lets me get out and use the restroom, I could try to run and get help.

No. He pulled out a Tupperware and made me go in the Tupperware. And that was when he pulled out the long chain that he used to tie me up by my left leg to the gear shift. And that's when I thought, okay, I'm not going to get away from this man. I'm pretty much done for. So you thought you were going to die at eight? Not yet. I still had hope. But that first night, I didn't know if my family was looking for me. I wasn't sure if anyone knew what had happened. I just had no idea what was going on outside of that vehicle. All I, my world was that beat up car. It was junkie. He had been living in it. That's all I saw for the next three days. But that night, we were still at the rest stop.

And by this time he had covered up the car windows with blankets and visors and towels so nobody could see inside. And I remember seeing a cop drive by and his lights were on. But he was just driving by really, really slow. And that was the first time that I had some hope. I thought that he was just going to miraculously come and save me. but he kept going and I remember feeling so helpless like I was never going to get away

I didn't think that I was going to die just yet but that first night that I was with that man in that rest area was when he began to sexually abuse me my parents somewhat sheltered me and didn't really

talk to me about sexual predators or the street life, drug abuse, you know, any of those things. And I unfortunately had to learn about all of that in three days from a strange man. And it was devastating. because my innocence was literally ripped away from me on the day that I should have been celebrating my eighth birthday party. It was a day that I was so excited to share with my family and my friends.

And I had no idea what I was going to be walking into that next day. But as, you know, time went on, and I'm still, with him now we're day two and we're still in Vallejo by this time I still don't know if anyone's looking for me but we're driving through this city making stops to get cigarettes or to visit people that he knew and it was it was hot as heck it was August it was a summertime he had me sit on the floor board and cover me with a blanket most of the time and we ended up driving after being in Vallejo for the first half of that day, we ended up getting on the freeway driving to, I have, you know, at that time I had no idea where we were going. But we ended up in another city. And he allowed me to sit in the passenger seat. He allowed me to sit up right and actually see cars and people. And so I desperately was looking at people around me trying to get their attention. And of course, no one was paying attention to me.

I doubt that they were looking for this, you know, missing kid. Did you have a plan? Like if somebody would have looked at you in the eye while they were driving past to start yelling, to mouth something? Help me. But no one even gave me the chance. No one looked at me. And so it was, as you can imagine, like, you're trying everything that you can. You're just so hopeful, but it's like that perfect opportunity hasn't.

hasn't come and hasn't come yet and we actually stopped at another store he smoked he was like a chain smoker we stopped at another store for cigarettes and that's when he came out with this newspaper and the newspaper had my face on it it was like my second grade picture i was in the third grade at the time and it said you know mitsy sancho missing child eight years old and that gave me hope It was almost like my second win because now I knew that my family was looking for me. They knew that something bad has happened. And so I knew that I couldn't give up just yet.

From the city of Vallejo to Santa Clara is about an hour, give or take. And that's where we ended up staying for the next two days. We were like in an industrial area. And later I found out that this was his old place. place of work. And he still had me chained up, still covered the windows anytime that we stopped. And he would go in and watch my family on the news to, I guess, just be sure that no one was onto him or keep up to date with the latest news on, you know, this missing girl that he had. Did you know in the moment that that's what he was doing or did you find this out later?

I found it out later. So what did he tell you? Just I'll be right back and just let him. left you? Yes, that was it. He didn't really talk to me much. We didn't have a lot of conversations. But he would just leave me in the car by myself for, you know, short periods of time. And later on, I found out that he was going into his place of work to watch my family on the news. And it literally would, I still have footage of my mom crying, begging for whoever had her daughter to bring her back. and it was like something that he got off on. This was something that he was proud of and apparently loved doing.

And he felt so prideful about it and didn't hide those feelings at all, especially in the interviews that I had seen after he had been incarcerated for some time. But, you know, that the second day that I was with him after he had watched my family on the news that afternoon, we went to, he went to go park the car in another, you know, kind of private area. We were parked near a dumpster of all places.

And that night I had, and I hadn't slept, I hadn't eaten anything. I was so weak and I was too terrified to sleep around him because I did not feel safe. I had anxiety. It was just, I was just full of fear of, you know, the unknown or what he would do if I even shut my eyes for a second. But throughout the, you know, the period of three days that I was with him, I was molested and raped and, you know, he had taken photos of my body and had just done vicious things to me that nobody deserves. And I remember specifically that night looking up at the stars, that was like my escape while I was with. with him. He was asleep, probably passed out drunk. And I remember looking up at the stars and just wanting to be home so bad. The following morning, we had taken the drive back to where he was working, or where he had previously worked, and left me in the car again, windows covered.

I'm still chained up. It's hot as heck. It's hot as heck. in the car. And I jumped from the passenger seat to the driver seat with the chain on, with the chain on my left leg. And I just, I had this overwhelming feeling of like, this is it. I'm going to die. Just a few months before my birthday, my uncle Reyes sat me down on his life. lap at my parents' house and he introduced me to Jesus. And at this time he had been reading his Bible a lot and studying the Word. And I'm grateful that he took that time out to speak with me. And he said, you know, this amazing story about this man named Jesus that died for our sins and, you know, just this, I remember feeling so just in awe, this great story that he was telling me.

And he said, we need to repent. and ask God for forgiveness so that we can make it to the pearly gates. And I remembered that conversation when I was sitting in the car, chained up, and I moved over into the driver's seat. And I laid my head on the steering wheel, and I thought, okay, well, since I'm going to die, I better start praying. And I literally asked God to forgive me for bugging my older sister. and that was the one and only thing that I had to get off of my chest

because I knew that if I did that I would make it to heaven that day, I just knew that I was going to die. And so about five to ten minutes after I prayed that prayer, I know that God knew that my heart was not just asking, asking him for forgiveness, I could make it to heaven, but he knew that I wanted to be home with my family. The kidnapper left the keys in the car and told me not to look there. And so once he left, of course, my curiosity got the best of me.

I found the keys, unlocked the chain that was around my ankle, and I rolled the window down of that beat-up Oldsmobile and jumped out of the window. and I was so weak and tired because I hadn't eaten or slept that my knees buckled and I almost fell to the floor and I literally had to walk away. I could not run. I had to walk away from the car and I was freed. Where did you go? So I didn't know where the heck I was. I just instinctively walked towards the street. And I heard him yelling for me to come back.

So he had caught me, you know, walking away from his car. And he was like, hey, come back here. And I'm like, oh, I don't know. Yeah. What does he think you're going to say? Okay. And so I, you know, I walked away and I got desperate because cars were driving by me. Nobody was stopping.

I had no shoes on. I probably looked like a mess. nobody was stopping, but this huge diesel truck hit the corner. And I was like, okay, either I jump in front of this truck and get hit by the truck or I go back into the hands of that man. And so I was willing to take the chance. I jumped in front of the truck. He stopped. He did not hit me.

Were you waving your hands? I was waving my arms like, hey, please, I hope you see me because this man's coming. And so the truck driver stopped. I ran up to his window. I said, my name is Mitzie Sanchez. I've been kidnapped. And there he is right there. He's coming towards us.

The truck driver got on his CB radio, took the guy's license plate number down, and the cops caught him seven to ten hours later that day. And so you're in this, it's like a semi-truck? Yes. And you're sitting with this guy. Does he know who you are? Yeah.

Yeah, so the funny thing is his wife had been watching my story for those three days. Oh, my gosh. And she had been talking to him about me and about this, you know, this crazy story. Bay Area, like I said, Vallejo to Santa Clara is just about an hour away. And so he knew exactly who I was. That day was his daughter's birthday. So he was supposed to be at home. Instead, he chose to go to work and was just supposed to come back.

He missed the birthday because he. he was at the police department with me. And his wife thought that he was cheating on her. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So when he came home, she, you know, was like cursing him out. And he's like, okay, when you calm down, I'll tell you where I was. And so finally, she was, he was able to tell her that he saved me that day.

They're an amazing, amazing family. They've got many, many kids. They're out of San Jose. And we still keep in touch to this day. Well, you know you're rescued, but I'm sure everything is just a blur. You're just like, oh, my gosh. Like, you know, you barely got out of this alive. And are you thinking about anything?

Just, I just want to get home. Are you thinking of your parents? What's going through your mind is you're sitting in that truck on your way to the police station. Gosh. So any stranger was a safe stranger to me at that point. I just felt so relieved that I wasn't with him because of the things that he was doing to me and making me do to him. It was horrific.

And although I was in safe hands, I still couldn't breathe easily. I hadn't seen my mom. I hadn't seen my dad or my siblings. There were five of us, by the way. And I wasn't able to to relate. just yet because I wasn't in the comfort of my family. It was tough, man. You know, after a situation like that, anytime there's, you know, a rape case or, you know, kidnapping or anything that has to, you know, do with a sexual assault, there needs to be a rape kit done by a nurse. And, you know,

there's a process that we have to go through as the victim to gather evidence. And, um, it was just this long drawn out investigation because you had to go through that before you were allowed to see your family yes yes it was it was pretty tough but one important thing I do want to share is you know and I used to work with abused kids and in a lot of these cases the offender actually gets to be free because there is usually no witnesses there are usually no witnesses in a rape case. And so literally all we have is that that rape kit, that DNA that we have as evidence to back us up. Otherwise, it's just hearsay or our word against theirs. And so if we don't get a rape kit done within the first 24 to 48 hours, we lose a lot of the evidence.

Saliva does stay on the body for about seven to 10 days. Just some, you know, fun facts to share. So really, I mean, So you're bringing up a good point. And I know this is that if you're ever in a situation like that with sexual assault, it is imperative, as hard as it is to tell the police, go to the police, let them do a rape kit because that could absolutely change, you know, your case and help them catch that person. And so after you go through all of that, you're reunited with your family.

And so walk me through the days after your. reunited, your returned home, what is, what is life like for you? Alex, my story was a nationwide story. Back then, as an eight-year-old kid, I had no idea what that meant. And so I was just coming home to be with my family and hopefully have some type of normalcy. But that was not the case. There were literally thousands of people outside of my home on, like I mentioned earlier, They're one of the busiest streets in Vallejo.

The entire city, and I'm sure people from surrounding cities, came by to see my family and I, it was not. It wasn't normal. It was not normal. No, and it wasn't a comfortable situation. I just wanted to hide under a rock and, you know, just sit in bed, maybe watch some cartoons or something. It was not something that I wanted to share with the rest of the world. I did get a lot of love and support from my community. And one thing that a lot of people did say to me repeatedly was that it was not my fault.

And so as a survivor, I never really had to deal with that guilt of, gosh, I messed up or if I would have done this, it would have been different. I never had to carry that guilt because a lot of people reassured me. And I had a lot of great mentors and supporters, even therapists. and the detectives that were on my case that really came together to help me recover. And that was a huge blessing because I was given, you know, some sort of just, I was given such confidence through them because they uplifted me so much and didn't make me feel like I was an outcast or this, you know, weird person that everybody was just pointing fingers at, although that did happen. It helped me prepare for the court case.

I literally had to face this man in court, point him out, and talk about all of the details from A to Z of what happened. And I'd gone over these details over and over again with a therapist, just to be able to say it comfortably in front of. of a courtroom full of people. And it was tough. It was such a rocky road when I initially first came back from the kidnapping leading up to the court hearing. So at the court hearing, when you testified, I always think about this in child cases like this. Was it retramatizing for you? Do you feel like to have to face him and recant everything in front of everyone? Or did it help you heal having to go through that? It was definitely traumatizing because there were more new things that I had to endure.

But when I did face him in the courtroom, I felt so empowered because he no longer had me captive. I was no longer chained up. I was no longer that desperate little girl with no hope. Did you say anything to him? While you were there? I didn't get to. I didn't get to say anything to him. I don't even think that I would have had any words for him.

And if he were still alive today, I don't think I would. Although I have forgiven him. But that took about 18 years. Yeah, because you went through, you know, you went through, you talked about how you had such an amazing support system and everything right when that abduction first happened. But then you went through a really hard time. your middle school in teen years, right? You went, you were in and out of gangs and stuff and struggled with addictions and it got to a place, a really bad place. So could you talk about

that and what the turning point was for you? Yes. So even going back to elementary school, I went to school two weeks after I escaped. Why was that so soon? I have no clue. Do you feel like that was the wrong decision for them to allow you to go back to school that soon? You know, being, okay, if it were up to me now, knowing what I know, I would have sent my child to a totally different school in a different city where no one knew my child. Because, you know, like I said, nationwide story, everybody knew about me being abducted. And so going back to school, in elementary school, being on the playground, I was getting surrounded by like 20, 30 kids at a time asking me, you know, questions like, like, Like, were you scared? What did you do to you? What was it like? How did you feel? And that's just kids being kids, but they don't understand. Right. You know. Exactly. And so you're just like, leave me alone. Yeah. Yes. But fast forward to middle school, you know, still in the same city.

Vallejo is such a small town. Everybody knows everybody. And sixth grade was horrific. Seventh grade, eighth grade, eighth grade. I just had a really tough time in school because everybody knew me and they crowned me the kidnapped girl. And people thought that, well, they had this perception of me as being stuck up or thinking that I was cool because I was on TV. We did Oprah and Montel and every single Bay Area news station. And although, you know, that's not something that I was proud of at the time. It was something that I actually wanted to hide and never ever talk about ever again. It was now bringing, it was now coming back up through these kids. And in middle school, we don't know who we are.

Kids don't know who they are. And so everyone's, you know, following what the crowd is doing. And unfortunately, I was, you know, the butt of their jokes. And, you know, I got picked on a lot. I got picked on a lot. And do you feel like that created a lot of anger in you? They created a monster. I had so much anger built up inside of me that I felt like I would much rather fight than to be picked on.

And they would say horrible things. You know, you should have died when you got kidnapped or, you know, just all of these crazy things. these kids would come up with. And there was just a time that came and I had had enough. And so I started fighting. I was a boxer. I loved boxing as a sport. I played soccer. I was a sporty team. But those skills I ended up unfortunately using on the bullies. And I realized that it was easier for me to fight and beat these people up than to let them tear me down with the most horrific thing that happened to me in my life at that point. And so the fighting just didn't stop. It would be every day. It would be some, you know, multiple times a day. And I had a certain group of friends that I hung out

with that respected me. They never asked me about my kidnapping. And any time that someone was bothering me. They were willing to fight with me. And so that's kind of how I got, you know, into the gang world was because I now had a group of people that were willing to have my back. Do you feel like that they were so accepting and understanding and everything with you and didn't judge you because they had also gone through their own childhood traumas? Yes. My best friends have shared with me even their stories of abuse. And you're still friends to this day, I'm still friends to this day. These have been my lifelong sisters.

Of course, we're all mothers and, you know, succeeding in this world, and I'm just so proud of them. I wish they could be here with me. But they're just amazing women, and they also have some amazing stories. And we just kind of, it was like this group of young teens that had gone through some horrific things. It's like the club that no one wants to be a part of, but it's like the club that no one wants to be a part of, but it's us. It's the breakfast club. But not the one that we saw in movies.

Right. Yes, they were definitely a unique group of young ladies. And, you know, we fought together. We went to Juvenile Hall together. We cried together, laughed together. Our families loved us. You know, like I said, they're like my sisters. They called my mom and dad, mom and pop, you know, and I did with them as well.

And so we just had a crazy young life. and so were they the people that you were with when you ended up in a life-threatening car accident? You know, I wasn't with those girls specifically, but it was another group of girls that I was with. There were four of us. And this car accident was a drinking and driving car accident. I wasn't driving. I was in the past front passenger seat, but I had been on this binge drinking hype for quite some time. And the reason why was because at that age, I was 16 years old. This was 2009. I had never talked about my kidnapping. I, you know, just kept that bottled up inside. But in 2009, I want to say it was March. There was a young girl that was missing from Tracy, California. Her name was Sandra Cantu. She was eight years old. She had been kidnapped. She came from a family of five like mine, a Latin family like mine. This beautiful, beautiful little girl. And I had gone to her city.

to attend a car show with my friends. And when we got there, there were cops everywhere. The city was like in shambles. And I didn't know why yet, but we had pulled over to like a jack in the box and you know, walked in to get some food. And as soon as I walked into the door, I saw a missing child flyer with Sandra's face on it. And it like clicked for me. And I said, okay, this is why the city's going crazy. They're looking for this little girl. And so I ripped the flyer off the wall and I took it home with me. And I just had this burning desire in my heart to do something. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I saw myself in that little girl on that poster and I just knew that I wanted to help. And so I took that flyer home. I got 3,000 copies donated. And my friends and I got together

and just went out into the streets handing out these flyers. And pretty soon, we were meeting with her family. We were doing interviews with all of these Bay Area news stations and reporters, newspapers. They all wanted to interview me, of course, because of my story. And so they wanted to know who I was and why I was helping. And I remember being in Tracy one night. Well, we were looking for about 10 days. And I just knew that she was going to come home alive.

That was, you know, what kept me going. And so I'm, it's dark. And there's like hundreds of people outside of the trailer park that she lived in with her family. And I'm doing an interview with Kron4 News. And it was like my little light bulb went off. And I thought, this is why I'm still alive. And it's to share my story and to work with other families who are experiencing the same horrific trauma that my family did back in 2000.

And at that time, Alex, I did not want to live. I was so over this world and over the depression and I just felt like the world was nothing but horrible events that happened. And so I didn't want to be here. I felt like I had no reason to live, like I had no purpose. And so when I was put in front of this young girl's family and was able to have a story to share with them, something I actually survived,

it was something that gave them hope. And it was something that even gave me hope. It helped me to help them. Yeah. And so I thought, man, this is why I'm still here. like, I actually have a purpose in this world. And so it was my second chance at life. And I got, I got sober for those 10 days that she was missing to work with her family. I was 16 years old. And so for the 10 days that Sandra was missing, I stayed sober. But when we found her body in the

suitcase, I went on a drinking binge. because I had no tools to deal with the pain and devastation that I was feeling. Because I was so hopeful that she was going to come home alive. And when she didn't, that was like the biggest letdown of my life. And I almost felt like I was giving her family false hope. And so I drank and I drank and I drank and I drank. And almost lost my life in a car accident. I didn't know then, but I was pregnant with my daughter.

I was in the first month of pregnancy. And I flew through the windshield, broke my nose, my neck, my arm, everything from the waist up was broken. And I was in a coma for two weeks. Oh, my gosh. I was unrecognizable. And by the grace of God, I do not look like what I've been through. and my daughter, you know, came into my life. I was now expecting this, this, you know, perfect creation.

And between being physically disabled and the pregnancy, that was when my life took a turn for the better. And having my daughter actually taught me how to love again. It taught me how to care for myself. because now I had this little human being to live for. And so that was when my life pretty much took a turn for the better. It was in 2009 after that horrible car accident and expecting this baby. And you became a Christian?

I sure did. Was it after she was born or while you were pregnant? Well, I accepted Jesus Christ when I was seven years old. That I shared with you earlier when my uncle introduced. me to Jesus. But I actually didn't start walking with Christ until about three to four years ago. But the evidence of God in my life from the time that I was a baby and all of the, I have many, many reasons to be dead right now, but I'm still here walking, living, breathing, talking, and in pretty good shape. You know, I just cannot do.

deny the fact that God has been cradling me all my life. He has done some miraculous work on my heart. Because of all of the crazy things that I had been through, I have every reason to be angry. I have every reason to be mad at the world. But when I gave my life to Christ, I was able to truly forgive the man that kidnapped and raped me at eight. I was able to let that go and actually be free. I'm like a thousand pounds lighter because of it. I could have never done that without God. You know, I feel like, I feel like one of the most blessed people

because I get to feel his spirit. That's right. Your daughter gave you purpose. Your relationship with Jesus gave you promise. Yes. Yes. Even my daughter has a relationship with the Lord. Like what? I never had that as a kid. But to be able to plant that seed in her and watch her live that out, that's a huge blessing in itself. And so with all of this that you've been through, you were able to even create a nonprofit called the Mitzi Sanchez Foundation. and you guys do a bunch of stuff. You talk to parents about what to do when their kids go missing, correct? And you also, don't you teach kids different things to look for when it comes to sexual predators and things like that also? Yeah, so the Midsie Sanchez Foundation was a desire put on my heart by the father. And, you know, it's always something that I've wanted to do. I just didn't know how to put that into play.

Mark Class, he's the founder of the Class Kids Foundation. Foundation, and he kind of paved the way for me and showed me through his organization how to do it. And so I started the Midsy Sanchez Foundation in 2018, and originally we started out to work with families whose children are actually missing. And although we don't have search parties, the Class Kids Foundation does a great job at that. But from my experience, I get to teach the families how to make a flyer. I get to teach them how to utilize the media and get their story out into the public. Because a lot of the times that these kids are, I want, you know, teenagers go missing, they don't get enough publicity. And that can be hard. So we get to teach them how to respond

in the event that their child's missing. And so one of the, you know, other great things that I love to do is get in front of the youth. I love to speak to the, the youth and really just sharing my experience, strength, and hope and teaching them how to recognize when they're in an uncomfortable situation. I have always talked to my daughter since the time she could, you know, speak. I want to say like three years old about her body and how to be aware of, you know, her surroundings and how to listen to that inner voice that could save our life. And, you know, she's even through these consistent conversations has saved herself for becoming victimized. Really? Yeah.

Yes, because I taught her how to say no. And that can be a really tough thing, especially when we're in that situation. We kind of go into like a fight or freeze mode and we may not know how to say no. Well, that's what I was going to ask you is because you have a daughter. You've been through this experience. This is what you do for a living is teaching parents and kids about what to do. So I was wondering, how soon do parents need to be talking to their kids about this and what do you tell them? What are tips to tell kids? Yes. So I would say speak to your

children as young as I'd say three years old. If they can speak, that's when we need to start teaching them because they can now speak up for themselves. And so, you know, I did it with my kid and I have to be honest and say that I felt like I, sometimes I felt like I was making her grow up too fast and I even felt guilty about it at times because none of the other kids her age can tell you what a sex offender is or name their body parts and my daughter was always taught those things but the day that she was able to protect herself from becoming victimized by someone who was close to our family that was when I had gotten the reassurance that I was doing the right thing all along. You know, a lot of people don't want to share with their kids because they think

that they're too young, but even babies get molested. That's right. And so we need to start teaching our children about the real raw and uncut world, because if we don't, somebody else will. And does your foundation provide those resources for parents on tips and how to educate and talk to their own kids? I work mainly with the youth in classrooms. settings. So I don't really get to get those opportunities with the parents. It's with the children directly. Okay. But I do share these tips with the kids that I'm put in front of. And I do get the amazing opportunity to talk to officers, doctors, nurses, people that come into contact with victims about how to be more mindful when they're doing their job and working with people like

us. And so that's pretty cool. I love, love doing that because it's not often that they get to speak to somebody who's survived. A kidnapping. And you tell the kids that when you're speaking at the schools? Yes, yes. One percent of people who are abducted by strangers come back home alive. And so, you know, it's just a rare, it's a rare thing to hear from a live person that has this actual experience and it makes it more real for them. Absolutely. And so if someone has more questions, maybe they've been a victim of trauma, they've survived something and they want to talk to you about it. What's the best way that they can reach out to you? I have people reach out to me all the time on social media.

I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram. My Instagram handle is underscore, stay alive, underscore. And, you know, I love getting those messages from women, men, young and old. And so it's just, it's a huge honor for me that someone even trusts me. A lot of people don't speak about their history. And so I like to provide them a safe space, you know, no judgment.

But I do love to hear from those people that are out there that are just dying to get this stuff off of their chest. And so Instagram, Facebook, midsy Sanchez.com. Well, I'm so glad that you choose to share your story. And I know that for a while in your life you were thinking, I never want to talk about this again. I never want to talk about it. but you decided that you were going to. And I am very confident that every time that you do this, you save so many lives that you don't even realize

because the things that you're teaching people about survival and how to cope with these issues, you never know how many people you're touching and also your testimony and your relationship with Jesus. I just want to personally thank you so much for sharing that. and your bravery and so encouraging. And so, Midsie, thank you so much for coming on the spillover today. I appreciate you.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to use your platform to be able to speak to the people. You know, there have been many, many, many times that I even try to talk myself out of sharing my story. But every time I do, it loses its power over me. And it's like the chains just keep falling off. And so I want to encourage people to talk about what they've been through and not bottle that up inside because that alone can be, it can be so painful. And so we've got to let it out. We never want to drown it at the bottom of a bottle. I love that.

Share your story. Break the chains. We'll be right back on the spillover. It's the spillover with Alex Clark. I still have goosebumps from hearing Midsy story. I don't know about you. I'm sure that you do also. I know that was hard to hear.

hear it some parts. But just like Susanna Hupp story, I feel like those types of stories that so many people are scared to talk about are so important. You know, I think that there are two different types of people in the world. There are people that really feel better when they pretend like bad things don't happen. It's easier for them to get through the day. And then there are people like me who really want to know the worst of the worst so that I feel like I can survive if I'm in those types of situations, if I'm ever in a situation like that or a loved one in. And, you know, and also just bringing awareness. There are so many parents and family members that are in care of children who would have no idea what to do if their child went missing.

I also think that it's important for kids of a certain age to hear these types of stories and hear how Midsie was able to survive. I started listening to stories about missing kids and survivors of horrible tragedies like that when I was a little older than Midsie when she got abducted. And I really do feel like that's helped me be more aware as I've grown. into my adult age. I know that my grandmother, I would always go stay with her for a couple weeks every single summer. And she would always talk to me about being aware of child predators, which sounds strange, but I'm really thankful that she did that. There was one day she was talking to me about how when she was younger, she had a parent who owned a movie theater and she would go and she would watch movies. And one day she decided she wanted to go to the water fountain,

take a break in the middle of the movie by herself. And so she went to this water fountain and there was a guy that she didn't know that came over to her and started talking to her and was trying to convince her to leave the movie theater with him. And while that was happening, another little girl went up to my grandmother and she said, hey, she was a little bit older and she said, do not leave with that man. That's not a good situation. You know, I don't know the exact quote, but she was telling my grandmother, that's sketchy.

don't go, you know, stay with me, come with me. And what I really love about that story is that was, you know, at a time in this country where blacks and whites were separated and my grandmother is white and the little girl who saved her life was an African American girl. And so my grandmother tells that story, she says, you know, I didn't, I didn't care. I didn't even think anything of it. You know, we were supposed to be separated and all this, but this little girl comes over to me and is telling me that she's, you know, I need to come with her and all this. And I didn't think twice. I just thought this is, you know, I didn't think. You know, I didn't think. about skin color or anything. I just thought this is a person who is my best interest at heart who is trying to take care of me. And I knew that even as a young child. And so that story always resonated with me for more reasons than one. But I just think it's important to talk about these types of conversations that sometimes nobody wants to talk about. And I think there's a right way to talk about them too. You know, I know that I've been hard on like conspiracy theories and that kind of stuff on Poplittics on my daily show. And I do that for a reason. And I think that a lot of that conspiracy theory stuff, you know, sometimes it brings light to good things like human trafficking and stuff like that.

But also sometimes it's just like it's way too sensational and it's not factual. And I don't think that it always helps sometimes. And so I feel like hearing from real survivors like Midsie Sanchez is helpful and also gives us resources so that we know what to do going forward, you know, helping with the Mitzie Sanchez Foundation, the foundation that she started. and just having tips and tricks and that kind of stuff to know what to do. So anyway, I hope that that story really resonated with you like it did with me. Like I said, every episode is going to be different of the spillover. Some weeks it's not going to be so serious. Some weeks it will.

And please let me know, you know, DM me on Instagram at Poplittics or at Real Alex Clark. Let me know what episodes of the spillover you prefer. Let us know what you're liking. Let us know what you're not liking. You know, leave five-star reviews, though, because if you don't like something, still leave a five-star review. You can leave constructive criticism, but that really helps us when you do that, and it really hurts us when you don't. So please leave a five-star review. They're on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you know, subscribe, all that good stuff. And then make

sure you're following Poplitics on Instagram. That's the Daily Show where I cover pop culture from a conservative perspective. So thank you so much for hanging out with us, as always. I love you. Mean It. Bye. Wee Wee Wee