Morbid - Episode 656: The Attempted Murder of Alison Botha

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

On December 18, 1994, twenty-seven-year-old Alison Botha was abducted from the parking lot of her apartment in Port Elizabeth by two men she didn’t know and had never seen. After forcing her into her car, her abductors drove her to a remote field, where she was sexually assaulted, stabbed dozens of times, nearly decapitated, and left for dead.Miraculously, Alison didn’t die in that field, but instead managed to get to a nearby road, where she found help and was transported to the nearest hospital where she received life-saving treatment. Because she remembered everything about her attackers, Alison was able to describe the men and they were quickly arrested and confessed to the assault. Since enduring her horrific attack, Alison Botha has become a symbol of endurance and for decades her story of survival has inspired and empowered young women across South Africa and around the world.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesMarianne, Thamm. 2018. I Have Life: Alison's Journey. Cape Town, South Africa: Penguin Random House South Africa.Reddy, Tash. 2006. "Alison has life - and she truly cherishes it." Pretoria News, December 2.—. 2006. "Miracle survivor Alison inspires." Weekend Argus (South Africa), December 3.Sanpath, Arthi. 2010. "Will to survive triumphs incredible story of courage inspires all." Daily News (South Africa), August 23.Thamm, Marianne. 2024. "Alison Botha health update — Reunited with family and fighting for recovery." Daily Maverick (South Africa), October 27.The Mercury. 2023. "Rapist pair get paroled after serving 28 years." The Mercury (South Africa), July 6.The Star. 2012. "Rape victim's parole shock." The Star (South Africa), January 19.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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That's audible.com slash wonder ECA. Hey weirdos, I'm Alina. I'm Ersh. I'm Ash. And this is Morbis. I wasn't ready for that. I liked the pause. I went to grab my coffee and I was like, oh, so full of... It's early. Felt right. I think we were listening to the affirmation song with your kids today. Yeah, we were. And there was like weird ass voices and that, so I think I just became one.

It's true. You know? Yeah. Today's gonna be an amazing day. There's no one better to be than myself. It's true. My feelings matter. Yeah, I get better every single day. Listen, if your kids are having a bad day, the affirmation song is great. It is. It gets them pumped up for the day. It does. And I dance silly to it. And I think that's the funnest part. It's true. Because sometimes, you know, it's hard to go to school sometimes. Because especially when your parents are so fucking awesome I know and your auntie you know like me and John so you don't want to leave them so they just didn't want to leave but we did the affirmation song got him laughing and got him ready for the day and I did sick braids today on them it's true you know on one of them yeah I was pretty excited

about that tis true it is true we have a cute little fam bam it gives full fullwives here in the morning. I'm just like Uncle Joey over here. It's true. Maybe a combination of Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey. Yeah. My Gemini nature. I like that. I don't know. Just ranting over here. We did yoga this morning. We really grounded ourselves. We really did. It was so nice. I know. We're getting back. I think spring is coming, so I feel like we can get back into the swing of like, I really fell out of my workout routine in the winter. Well, it was so nice driving today and not having it be pitch black.

It was getting light out. It was like 530 probably when I left the house and it was already light out. Yeah. Which was sick. And then on my way home today, on my way. See, I said to myself, this is why you gotta wake up early, because you just don't know what's going on around you. You don't know what you're gonna run into. You just don't know. This morning, I'm coming back from my yoga class and I passed a farm and there was cows that

escaped this farm and they were on the front lawn of the neighborhood. I love this so much. And there's just a cop standing on this guy's front lawn and I'm like, what's a cop going to do about a cow? He just hang out with him. He's been trained in the matter. Is that something? He's been trained in bovine matters. Do they tell you what to do with a bovine escape?

Maybe. I don't know. Possibly. That's crazy. That's crazy. It was so funny. I was laughing so hard. I was like cry laughing by myself. I love it. I think it's very small town vibes. It really was. I was like, am I just in the Midwest? Where am I? Where am I? It was cute though. Cows across in the

road. Just like three big ass cows just in somebody's front lawn. Hell yeah. I'd be pissed if that was my front lawn. Yeah, I also. I feel like they'd fuck up your lawn real bad. I would kind of love it though. I would love it, but then afterwards, I feel like I'd be like, oh. Yeah, but honestly, their manure is some of the best soil.

That's true, but I would not want to leave that on my yard. Cause that'd be big stank stinky. It's very true. You know. I'm just trying to think of it silver lining. But look at you looking through the bright side. You're all grounded in shit. I am. I'm very grounded. I love that. I had a good coffee. That's good. I had a great coffee. There's cool things happening. Yes. But um. I think you'll know about them by now. Yeah, I think. Listener. I'm gonna stop teasing these things because um, I'm so confused about what episodes come out when. It'd be super dope if we could just like put them out when we wanted to.

I just like don't know where or when these come out and I apologize for that. Yeah. We won't be confused forever but it's right now I just don't know what episode is coming out. So if the bonus episode already happened, wasn't that fucking cool? And if it hasn't happened, exciting. So there's that. God. Christ Almighty. Christ on a cracker. Christ on a biscuit. Jesus was a biscuit. Was a biscuit. Who said that on Drag Race? I have no idea. Oh my god. Everyone's screaming it. Who's a drag race fan? La la la la la

Like he's not here today. I know or mikey would be screaming the trees. Oh, there you go You know when it's like right in the forefront of your face and you're like, oh god. Yep. All right Well, we we yoga'd we cowed we jesus was abiscated We did it all the important thing. Yeah, we affirmated. Yeah. And now we're going to talk about a wild survivor tale that I think is probably one of our most requested cases. Yes. It is. This is a doozy.

This is a doozy of a case. And a doozy of a human. I mean. In the best way. I don't think there's a single person more resilient. Bionic woman. Yeah, truly there is. I mean, I think there's a single person more resilient.

I think there's a single person more resilient. I think there's a single person more resilient. I think there's a single person more resilient. I think there's a best way. I don't think there's a single person more resilient. Bionic woman. Yeah truly unbelievable tale. Yeah so this is wild. Let's get into it. We're going to be talking about Alison Bofa today. Alison Bofa she was born September 22nd 1967 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Brian and Claire Collier or Collier. According to Allison, her house growing up was a place of unconditional love which she got from both of her parents. She said, often as we were growing up I loved this. My mother would take us aside and tell us how special we were. She would always add though that this

did not mean that we were above or better than others but we had our own inner value. Oh my god I love that. I'm gonna do that shit when I have kids. Just like take your child aside just to be like I love that. Like you're so special. Yeah. But like you're you're not above anybody you're not like more special than somebody else but you are so special. Like I love that. That's great. Sadly despite the love and support and the happy household that they had, 10 years after Allison was born, Brian and Claire did end up divorcing. It was about 1977 when the divorce was finalized. And Allison and her brother, Neil, continued living with their mom. But luckily, they still saw their dad on a pretty regular schedule.

Oh, good. The divorce obviously created a pretty like less than ideal situation to raise two kids. But it sounds like Brian and Claire really made the best of it. They made sure that Allison and Neil always had what they needed and were always thriving. Good for them. Yeah, very mature. Allison led a pretty normal life in Port Elizabeth, where she went to collegiate high school during her senior year in 1985.

She was named head girl, which is an honor that kind of came as a shock for her she really expected this at all damn she said I was always considered bright but I knew I did not apply myself to the fullest in my last few years at school I wasn't good at any sport and I didn't really shine in any one area so I guess I thought I wouldn't be good enough to be head girl but whether she realized it or not the teachers and the headmistress at the collegiate at collegiate high school thought very highly of her yeah they Damn. But whether she realized it or not, the teachers and the headmistress at Collegiate High School thought very highly of her. Yeah.

They described her as a mature young woman of the utmost integrity and sound moral values. Like the term head girl, it makes me think of like Harry Potter. Yes. And it just sounds so prestigious. It does. That I can't fully comprehend it. Like I want to be head girl. I think I'm just-

Imagine being head per anything. Yeah. In school, like wow. That's like really, really impressive. Yeah, that shit did not happen for me. I made you head bitch in charge at my wedding. You did, that's true. Yeah.

So I got to do that. Instead of maid of honor, I said head bitch in charge. Hell yeah. Well, when Alison graduated from high school, she felt that the honor she'd earned in her final year gave everybody this impression that she was a high achiever and would continue her education and pursue a very impressive career.

But she said, the truth was, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Which I feel like a lot of people feel that way when high school is over. It's really not, like, that's not unheard of at all. No, you're 18 years old, like most the time you have you're still a baby. There's so many options at your fingertips. I feel like people are like expect you to have like exactly what you want to do figured out.

And for a lot of people that's just not the case. Yeah, for sure. When she was younger, Alison had always dreamed of becoming a writer or maybe a poet. But now that she was in a position to pursue whatever goal she wanted she just couldn't figure out which direction to go in. Well because it it really can feel like the whole world is your oyster. Yeah. Like you know what I mean like when you're that young and you're just like starting you like I can choose anything. Which is awesome. How do I narrow it down? That's the thing. Like it's too many options. It's awesome but exactly it's overwhelming. It's a great problem to have. Yeah. Well, as always, Claire supported her daughter,

suggesting that she just take a secretarial course while she considered some of her options. And she said, if nothing else, you'll learn some new skills that will apply with whatever you do. For sure. And it turned out that that course was a really good decision for Alison's future career, because when she finished it up, she took a job as an insurance broker, a job she enjoyed and was really good at. Although she hadn't pursued a high-stress career as like a doctor or a lawyer, as several of her teachers and classmates thought that she might, by the time she reached her mid-20s she was building a respectable career for herself and she was really happy.

Good for her. So she was like living her best life. She was just going for it. Yeah. Well, on the afternoon of December 18th, 1994, Allison met up with her friend Kim and Kim's son Devin and Jared for just an evening on the beach in Port Elizabeth, just like a nice little friend hangout. They hung out at the beach for a little while and then they went back to Kim's apartment that night and they were joined by their mutual friends Phil and Richard, who just stopped by unannounced and Allison said, it had been one of those wonderfully spontaneous evenings.

Which I love. I love that. They chatted for a while, they enjoyed the nice weather. And then they decided to go to Alison's apartment where they ordered a pizza and played a board game. Just like cute little night. Friends being dudes. Sounds like a fun night to me.

Yeah. When the night finally came to an end a little after midnight, Phil and Richard left and Alison had promised Kim that she would drive her home that night. So she was driving Kim back to her apartment, and then she got back to her own house a little after or a little before, excuse me, one in the morning. She circled the block a few times looking for a place to park, and the place where she

usually parked wasn't open, which was like very close to the apartment. She finally spotted an open space just a few dozen feet from her front door. Now the neighborhood that she lived in wasn't like a rough area but the spot was further from her apartment than she preferred. Yeah. And it was in a dark part of the street there was like a tree covering the lights. I hate that you have to worry about this. Yeah you shouldn't have to worry about that at all. So she hesitated for a few seconds and was like maybe I should find something better but she was like whatever like I should she really wanted to go in and take a shower. Yeah you just want to go to your house. Yeah so she pulled in the spot put her car into park.

She said later, I had just turned off the engine and flicked off the headlights it was so routine I did it all in one swift movement. Before opening the driver's side door she reached over to the passenger seat to gather up a pile of clean laundry. And she suddenly felt a gust of warm air rush into the car as somebody opened the door. Holy shit. She looked up just in time to see what she described as a scrawny, tallish young man with white blonde hair. Just push his head into her car. No.

She also noticed a long, thin knife in his hand. I hate this. She also noticed a long thin knife in his hand. I hate this. He immediately put the blade up to her throat and said move over or I'll kill you. And she said his voice was quiet and controlled. She'd never seen him before but he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. So she just without thinking slid over to the passenger seat and he got in behind the wheel. That's horrifying. Which I feel like she did the best thing you could in that situation. You have to try to be as calm as possible.

What are you supposed to do? He's got a knife to your throat. I don't know what I would do. I don't either. So as he drove, he kept the knife close on the seat next to him, close to the door. He fumbled with the dashboard trying to find the control for the lights and then asked her how to turn them on

and told her, don't worry, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to use your car for about an hour. I'd be like, then I'm not saying I would do this. I'm saying like, when he says something like that, you just want to be like, then take the car. Yeah, like, why do I have to be here? You can just have it. Well, she you can take it for more than an hour. She basically said that. I was going to say, I'm sure she was just like, you can take this. Yeah, eventually she said that, but when he said it, she was so confused and also completely terrified.

This is a horrifying situation. I can't even fathom your brain working in that situation. No way. So she just didn't say anything. She was just sitting there like stunned. And she contemplated opening the passenger door and jumping out, but she said she felt strangely immobilized and just couldn't bring herself to do or say anything.

Of course. Now, they hadn't been driving long when he broke the silence and said, you live in number one, don't you? So he knew exactly where she lived. What the fuck? And she said it was less of a question than a statement. Like he was clearly letting her know that he'd been watching her and knew exactly where she lived.

Like, oh, I know you live here. That's horrifying. He asked what her name was, and thinking on her feet, she told him her name was Susan. She didn't give him her real name. Even that is- I don't know that I would think to do that. I don't think I would think to do that.

I really don't. No, because you're just like- Because I'm nervous just listening to this. You can't imagine being in it. And to think on your toes like that already, I'm like, damn. Just smart survival skills, you know? So he said his name was Clinton, which was not true. But hoping to appeal to his humanity, she started asking questions about him, figuring that if he could see her as an ordinary person and they could just strike up a conversation, he would let her go

without hurting her. Another smart tactic. Very smart. That takes a lot of like... Wherewithal control and like keeping yourself calm to do because otherwise you're just gonna freak out. I mean my voice would be shaking. I'd just be crying. And I don't think I'd be able to yeah I would definitely be crying. Like that's just out of fear. And I wouldn't know what questions to even ask. That's the thing. Well unfortunately that plan didn't quite pan out because in a harsh tone he answered her and said,

I'd rather not tell you anything about me. Ugh. Just wouldn't say anything. I hate that. So when that didn't work, she did what you were just saying and said, why don't you just take my car? I'll go, I'm not gonna say anything to anybody.

Just take the car. Yeah. But he told her no and said he just wanted company. I hate this so much. Terrifying. He explained to her that he had a friend who stole his TV and he said he was driving to go find him and get some money that he owed him, which is just, that story is strange.

Yeah. So she grew increasingly fearful as they just drove further and further away from her apartment and further from the city proper until they ended up in a part of the city that she hadn't been to in several years and was almost entirely unfamiliar to her. They approached a large group of people on the sidewalk and quote-unquote Clinton slowed down and started scanning the crowd, clearly getting more and more agitated and muttering under his breath like he was looking for somebody. And obviously he hadn't found whoever he was looking for, so he jerked the car down a side

street and did a loop around and then slowed down to scan this crowd a second time and then it appeared he found whoever he was looking for. So he slowed the car to a stop and a short man dressed in all black approached the driver's side. Neither of them said anything to each other, but Clinton slid the driver's seat forward and the second man climbed into the back seat. And Clinton- I would be so scared. Oh my God, I can't imagine.

Because now there's two men- Now there's two men in this car. In your car. I hate this. And it's like 1 a.m., it's after 1 a.m. So Clinton told the other man, meet my friend Susan, and just started driving back to the main road.

Fuck. So he gestured to the man now riding along with them in the back seat and told Allison, this is Tians. And the two men talked as Clinton drove, but Allison was too nervous to even follow what they were saying. She just caught a few words here and there. Yeah.

And instead she was trying to keep her attention focused on the landscape outside of the car and was also hoping at the same time that she might catch the attention of another driver. But nobody seemed to be paying any attention to what was happening outside their own vehicles. And even if you saw this, you might not think anything's weird because it's just three people in a car driving. And a lot of people don't want to intervene with that stuff. Oh, yeah, that comes up. Which is really scary. It is scary. So eventually it occurred to Allison that they had been driving for

quite some time and they seemed to be headed along the beach towards Summer Strand, a suburb of Port Elizabeth, about five or so miles outside of city limits. So they were kind of just like in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. As they got further from the city, they stopped talking. The two men just stopped talking completely. And the car was filled with an unbearable silence. In her head, Alison convinced herself that they were just taking the long way to visit this friend, as Clinton had indicated earlier.

But the further and further they got from Port Elizabeth, the less likely it was all seeming. So finally, when they put the lights of Port Elizabeth behind them, Clinton broke the silence and told Allison, Tians doesn't speak good English. Okay. Who doesn't love the good things in life? Even though I enjoy a little bit of luxury, it doesn't mean that I can always afford it until I discovered Quince.

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beach, driving the car right up to the sand until they reached a dark, isolated spot among the trees about 300 feet away from the road. The fear she must have felt. As this car is just slowing down, you're in the middle of nowhere. Incomprehensible. Two strangers who are just being weird, like obviously they've abducted you at knife point, first of all, and they're just being weird. Like, obviously, they've abducted you at knife point, first of all. And they're just being weird and creepy and quiet. And just as a woman, being alone with two men, you don't know, is this regardless of whether they're being threatening or not, I'm sorry. Automatically, automatically is very, very scary.

Yeah. For them to be this weird and threatening and to be driving you into an isolated area of a wooded area would be I Mean like my nervous system is in orbit right now Just thinking about it even just being like not even like completely alone with two strangers that are men Being like with friends and then two strangers that you don't know that our men is scary Like I've had that experience you don't know what they're about. Yeah, you don't know. What's going to happen. Exactly. I just, I do want to, I mean, some, I think a lot of people know this story, but if you don't, I do just want to forewarn you that there's going to be talk about a very intense sexual assault and rape.

Yeah, it is extremely graphic. Yeah, very graphic. I did my best to make it a little less graphic, but it's kind of impossible to take it fully away. And we got to tell the story for what it is. So Clinton brought the car to a stop under a cluster of trees and Tianz got out, leaving Alison completely alone now in the car with her abductor. And Clinton sexually assaulted Alison at this point. Piece of shit. And this was all while Teyon's was just like sitting on the head of the car. Just like got out of the car, knew that this was gonna happen. Foggy monsters. And then when Clinton was finished sexually assaulting Alison, he called Teyon's into

the car and Teyon started to do the same thing, also sexually assaulted her, but moments later he shouted, no I can't do this, and he got out of the car and sat back down on the hood and just smoked a cigarette instead of like trying to stop this at all. What the fuck? He couldn't bring himself to continue assaulting her? But he wasn't gonna be a good person and try to stop it. No, no.

So when he finished his cigarette, he hopped down from the hood and looked back at the car and looking at Clinton, he yelled, Franz. Oops. Yeah, not his real name, Clinton. cigarette he hopped down from the hood to forget his name, but almost as if he knew what she was doing, Franz looked over at her and said, if we take you into town now you're going to go to the police. It was almost like he could sense it. She tried to assure him that she wasn't going to say anything to anybody, but neither of them would be convinced. And one of them then said to the other, what do you think Umnick would want us to do with her? What the fuck? Umnick, Alison recognized as another name for Satan. What the fuck? Umnik, Alison recognized as another name for Satan. What the fuck? Um is like a South African word. It basically it's akin to uncle for us. It's like a sign of respect. So

umnik they were referring to Satan. Satan's also known as Oldnik which I didn't realize. That is weird. But I was looking into it the other night. Or like I don't mean weird I mean that that's different. Yeah it's different. So he looks at the other guy. Or like, I don't mean weird, I mean that's different. Yeah, it's different. So he looks at the other guy and he says- What do you think Uncle Satan would want us to do with her? Yeah. He doesn't exist.

She's sitting there. I don't think he's gonna give you- Yeah, exactly. I don't think he's gonna weigh in here. Well, and she's sitting there and she said she thought to herself, like, what does Satan have to do with this? Like, what the fuck?

Like, what the fuck are you talking about? But she didn't know what to do. So Tien's answered, I think he wants us to kill her. They're just having this conversation. Yes. And they're just acting like this is all normal. They're not acting freaked out or anything like that. They're acting just like this is another Tuesday.

A casual conversation. Yeah. So Franz then instructed Allison to get out of the car and remove all of her clothing, which she did, because at this point she's just, I would do the same thing. I was going to say, I just don't know what else you would do. And remember, he has a knife and the two of them have just... Yeah. ...broke her.

So when she'd taken off all her clothes, he gestured at the rings on her hand and told her to even take those off. And Tianz quickly grabbed them, like snatched them out of her hands. The next thing she knew, she was knocked to the ground and Franz was choking choking her. they made her take off those rings so she couldn't be identified. later she said, I was surprised by how strong he had become. this man knew what he was doing and he was determined to do it. and we will find out he knew what he was doing because this was not the first time they had attacked somebody. Allison managed to get a few words out while he was choking her, just begging him not to kill her.

But all Fron said was sorry while he continued violently choking her until she lost consciousness. So he's standing like straddling over her choking her until unconsciousness and apologizing. But still doing it. But like that adds such a layer

of just like of terror to this whole thing. Apologizing while you're doing this. Yeah. And just continuing to do it. But not stopping. It's horrifying. So she regained consciousness just a short time later and realized she was still on the ground and she's looking around and she sees that she's surrounded by trash and broken

bottles. One of the men was crouched over her and she couldn't see what he was doing. All she saw was his arm swinging wildly back and forth in front of her face. Oh god. But then it occurred to her and she thought, my god he's slashing my throat. Holy shit. She couldn't see really what was happening obviously because it's like she can't look down and see it. And she didn't feel any pain in this moment but she quote could hear the flesh split oh my god yeah what this woman has and this isn't this is just the tip of the iceberg oh this is just just that going through that i don't know

what you do after that but like oh my god. It would later be determined that they had slit her throat 16 times and she was almost like she was nearly decapitated. The fact that this woman is alive and what beasts. It's truly. Like just fucking wait. But that's just unthinkable. This entire crime is unthinkable and it only gets worse. Humans man sometimes it's like what happened? And major these two just decided they wanted to do this one day. They just decided that they wanted to do this together. That's wildly fucked up. Just came up with the idea. And for two people to get together to do this kind of shit always really throws me off.

It's scary enough when one person is able to do this kind of thing. When they can get a team together that all, because it's like, and we've said this before in other things like the Hillside Stranglers and all the other kind of teams that team up and do this, like Ian and Myra Hindley, where does that conversation start? That's the thing that you have to sit there andley. Where does that conversation start?

That's that's the thing that you have to start. And where does it start? And what has already happened? The other person runs. What has already happened to make you feel confident that they're going to be cool with you? That's the thing, because you have to feel real confident to say to somebody, do you think you'd want to just like randomly kill someone for sport with me?

Yeah. Like you have to be very confident to do that. I would think. And it's like because otherwise, like, what are you going to be very confident to do that. I would think. And it's like, cause otherwise, like, what are you going to say? Like, no, I was just kidding. JK. Like then the person's going to be like, you're, that's crazy, bye.

Yeah. Like I just, I can't. I just don't know where you, I don't know where you find one person who's capable of this, not that I'm looking. And then where do you find two? Yeah. And how do they find each other?

Like what fucking evil has to happen in the world for these people to be guided to each other? Seriously, like what ancient tomb was opened up that released the kind of evil that allows this to happen? It's so true. So she could hear her flesh being split open. And I don't know if I said this already, but it was determined later

that they had slittered through it 16 times. 16 times. 16 times and that's not it. Suddenly the attack stopped and her attackers moved away and she could hear the two men muttering and pacing around near her and then she turned on her stomach in an effort to protect herself and she said, I tried to hold my breath but I realized I had no control over my breathing. I moved my hand up to cover my neck. My whole hand disappeared into it, but it seemed to have worked. The sound was silenced." Oh my god. I can't. Like this is so horrifying. It's insane. These people are depraved. This poor woman. So she lay on the ground now,

playing dead. She's completely, she has the, this woman has, her throat has been slit 16 times to the point of near being decapitated. And she has the wherewithal to play dead. That's the thing. It's like this woman throughout this entire thing, the sharp fucking mind on Alison is un fucking matched. And just the will to survive. Like she's, I can't say enough. Like I just, I'm, I'm astounded. I'm astounded. She is.

My flabbers have been gassed. There's not a word to describe how incredible, how incredible she is. My timbers have been shivered. Yes. Just, I'm shook by her. All of the above. Like she is, to have that kind of brain, I can't even.

Every statement you think of, like I was just going to say she's a force to be reckoned with. That's not even it. That's not enough. That's not enough. So she just lays there on the ground pretending to be dead. She can hear the two of them talking over her and they're talking in Afrikaans at this point and they're rummaging around through her car and one of them asked the other, they're do you think she's dead and the other one responded no one can survive that. Wrong! Except Allison! Wrong! Bitches! Motherfuckers! Now a few seconds later she heard the engine start and then rev a few times of course yeah you gotta of course

you gotta as the car just reversed swing it around kids yeah swing... As the car just reversed. Swing it around, kids. Yeah, swing it around. The car reversed and drove back out onto the main road. She was finally completely alone, but she was obviously in very bad shape. Such bad shape she didn't even know that she was in at this point. And she was almost sure she was going to die here. So wanting to do anything she could to help the authorities catch her killers, she started writing in the sand as she's laying there nearly decapitated. And there's other stuff that I'm going to get into that happened that she hasn't even realized yet. But she's laying there writing in the sand. She wrote Franz,

then underneath she wrote Teens, because I don't know if she knew how to spell Teens or... Yeah. I mean, she's in a state right now. Yeah. And then just before losing consciousness she wrote I love mom oh my god and traced it in a square so that it would be like very obvious oh oh my god the strength that that must have taken her body is actively shutting down and you're trying and she's writing down valuable information for

investigators so that they can't do this again to someone else. Exactly. Like exactly. So later she said she would remember this moment with remarkable clarity. She said it was as if I'd cut moorings feeling like her spirit had left her body just floating. She said as I hovered there I recognized the person down below. I knew it was me. And I felt such a strong connection to that bleeding mangled girl lying on her stomach. Wow. And in that moment, she said it occurred to her that she'd only just started her life because she was 27 years old. Holy shit. She hadn't achieved really any of the things that she hoped she would do. So as thoughts just raced through her head, she suddenly caught a glimmer of lights out of the corner of her eye. During the

attack, everything obviously seemed so far away, but it turned out that they actually weren't very far from the main road at all. She remembered the headlights were enough of an inspiration to try for me to try to reach a place where someone might at least find me even if I was dead. Wow. So despite her absolutely profound injuries, she managed to push herself up onto her knees. How? As soon as she did, something felt very wrong.

She reached down to her stomach and felt something she described as something tepid, wet, and slimy. Looking down, she could see that her intestines were exposed and hanging out of her stomach. Holy shit. Her intestines were literally falling out of her stomach. She said, it was horrifying. There was just so much of me on the outside. I tried to scoop it all up with my hands, but everything just slithered away again. Because you your litter. How do you survive this? How do you survive this? Oh I'm just like I'm holding my own stomach just

sitting here like I- And how do you do that to somebody? Stab them to the point that their intestines are pouring out. By the way, so in addition to her her throat being slashed 16 times, they stabbed her in the abdomen over 50 times to the point that her intestines were now spilling out of her. How were they ever let out? And she's alive. How were they ever let out? Oh yeah. Because spoiler alert. I think you should know right off the bat that they got let Like, they got let out. How were they let out? I'll get to it. I think they served 17 years, maybe a little more and got out because there was a, it's similar to what happened here with the constitution where, um, life

sentences became unconstitutional. Yeah. It was, it was, I think it was literally the same year, 2004. We'll get to it, but yeah. Holy shit. Yeah. So she's crazy. She must have just been in complete shock and there must have been like so much adrenaline coursing through her veins because of this. Like that's what your body does. So she still wasn't experiencing any pain, but the sight of her intestines and the considerable wound in her stomach unnerved her. And for the first time,

the gravity of the situation struck her. Yeah. So she starts groping around with one hand, just trying to find something, because she had taken off clothes, so she knew maybe they were right there. They had left her shirt. Wow, that's lucky.

I know. So she found that lying in the sand and used it to tie around her abdomen, just to keep her insides in place. Literally tourniquets herself. Holy shit. To keep her intestines in place. Oh my God.

And then she just started crawling toward the road. All the while debris and bits of broken glass are cutting her knees and hands open as she's crawling. And her intestines are still spilling out of her and she's having to like push them in place. Oh and she's't forget, she's yeah exactly in case you forgot she's also nearly decapitated and that's not hyperbolic. No like medically she's literally like like her half of her thyroid was sitting outside of her her neck. I swear to you the next time I have a fucking complaint, some dumbass complaint, punch me in the fucking face. I probably won't do that. Because my god.

But I'll remind you of this story. My god, the the perspective that this will give you is beyond. It's beyond. I get to the point, like I got to the point reading this, I was telling Drew about it when I was like putting it together. I was like telling him about it and I just got to the point where I was like, I don't even have words left. That's a thing. Like you really don't. I don't even have words left to describe this story, describe this woman. Like yeah, it's truly unthinkable. I can't believe what she survived. And what she was able to walk away, like not walk away from, but you know what I mean. Yeah.

So badly injured and only having one free hand at this point because one of them is keeping her neck together. Oh yeah. And realistically only, she doesn't even have a free hand because she's keeping her intestines together and trying to keep her head together. So her progress was slow and exhausting because again again her body

is shutting down. But when she reached the clearing where the attack had first started, she collapsed on a pile of rocks and felt like she couldn't go any further because like you can't imagine what this had to have done. She's rapidly losing blood at the same time. So then it occurred to her though she wasn't even thinking of herself in this moment. She said it occurred to her that if anybody found her there, like so far away from the scene, there would be a large trail of blood behind her and they would know that she struggled and suffered and she didn't want that for her friends and family. Alison, are you a real, are you a person?

She's a like a saint. Like what are you? She is a goddess. I'm so impressed with her mind. To think. That mind of hers and that, I don't know. I don't know what she is, but that mind and soul is something that I don't think you come across often. No. To have the capacity to think about the reaction of your friends and family and like just that you wouldn't want them to be that heartbroken and know you had suffered.

And to know what you went through. Wow. Insane. Like in a good way. Yeah. Hey, weirdos, if you guys know one thing about us, it's that we love a deep dive. Well, if you're looking for a limited series that will completely consume you, we've got you covered.

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Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Hey, weirdos! I'm Mike Corey, and like you, I'm drawn to true crime, creepy history, and all things spooky. If you particularly enjoyed Ash and Elena's coverage of the USS Indianapolis, where 900 sailors battled rough seas, sharks, dehydration, and madness in the open ocean, you need to

check out my podcast, Against the Odds. We dive deep into this survival story across four full episodes, revealing details you haven't heard yet. Each week on Against the Odds, we put you in the shoes of real survivors. From the Thai Cave Rescue to Somali Pirate Hostages to the Donner Party. These aren't just headlines, they're incredible stories of human endurance. Follow Against the Odds on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to both Against the Odds and Morbid early and ad free.

Start your free trial in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify today. So the crawling at this point was taking too long and she knew that if she was going to get to the road she had to move faster. So it took some time but eventually she did manage to get to her feet. But as soon as she was upright everything went black. Now this moment was deeply confusing because she hadn't lost consciousness. She was still completely conscious. But for some reason everything was completely wrong. She said, my head I realized had flopped backwards and almost rested between my shoulder blades. Oh my god. She said, I hadn't I expected to feel something but was completely taken aback when my hands seemed to almost disappear inside

my body as if I had swallowed myself. So what most likely happened there, Elena and I was talking to Elena a little bit about the details of this, something had to have happened where the nerves that like help give you sight were so messed up in that moment that when she flopped backwards, they weren't like maybe registering backwards, like pinched the occipital or like, you know, any kind of nerve that makes it so you can see. And the lights literally just went out because there was a kink in the line. Insane. Like that is... And when she says her head is resting between her shoulder blades. When you said I'm literally like I keep grabbing my neck because I'm just like oh god. Same.

I can't... That's like if you put your head back and look at the sky, hers was almost in between her shoulder blades. You couldn't physically do that because you're not decapitated. I ask my kids to look up at the ceiling when I wash their hair in the bath and they act like I am asking them to do just acrobatics. The Lord's work. And this what? Yeah. Oh, so that's when she real cause that's so that's why she had one free hand at that point because she didn't realize how bad it was while she's crawling. So when she was crawling, she was crawling with one hand, the other hand was keeping her intestines together. Now at this point, she tries to stand and that's what happened. So now she has no free hands. Now she's got to hold her head. She's literally holding her head

and her abdomen. So yeah. Holding her head forward with one hand and pressing her intestines into her abdomen with the other. We're both. If you could see a picture of us right now, I am clasping my neck with one hand and I have the other hand on top of my head stabilizing my own head. I'm holding my stomach. And Ash is holding her stomach and the top of her head. Yes. And we are both just nodding at each other being like, wow. This is what she had to do but with everything spilling out of her. And this is just listening to this. I am holding all of my body together. Yes. Yeah. So now she's got, that's the other thing. Now she, like,

she's lost all this blood. She's nearly decapitated. Her intestines are spilling out and now she's standing and has to have the balance to walk, putting one foot in front of the other. Keep the lights on. I could barely do that. And I'm fully here. Yeah. So she very slowly swung one foot in front of the other, just slowly moving in the direction of the main road. She said at various points, she felt like she was just going to lose consciousness again.

And after what felt like an hour, she considered giving up. But when she raised her eyes forward, she realized she made it to the road. Allison. But. Fuck yeah, Allison. Now she realized she'd reached her destination road. Allison. But. Fuck yeah Allison. Now she realized she'd reached her destination which was incredible. But what now? Remarkable in like beyond. But now she needed to get somebody's attention. Every fiber of her being just wanted

to lay down right there where she was on the pavement. But she was on the side of the road at this point and she knew that by lying on the side of the road, she might not be seen. Yeah, exactly. So instead she took even more steps and made it to the middle of the road and just lay horizontally down across the road, ensuring that a driver coming in either direction would have to stop or intentionally drive around her. But literally thought that was like, I'm just going to, first of all, laying in the middle of the road, scary. Horrifying, scary. She didn't even think of that at that point.

All natural instincts. She didn't even think of that. She just said, they'll have to swerve around me or they'll see me and they'll stop. Because she's also thinking like, people are humans. Yeah. They're not just going to run me over. Luckily, nobody runs her over, but people aren't humans. But I'm surprised after what she has been through

that she can still trust in humans enough to be like, honestly, it won't just run me over. Honestly. So at this point, she's just relieved to finally rest. This has taken everything and more out of her. So she laid down for an indeterminate amount of time until finally she heard the hum of an engine from off in the distance and the hum grew closer and closer until it finally stopped and she could see the headlights

from the car bearing down on her and it was just sitting idle in the road but the driver wasn't getting out. She said I frantically waved as fast as I could I wanted whoever it was to see that I was alive and needed help but the driver driver didn't make any moves to get out of the vehicle. And for a moment, a terrible thought flashed through her mind. What if this is them? What if this is them returning to make sure I'm dead? Luckily, it was not. But what felt like 15 or maybe even 20 minutes later, the engine revved slightly, and the car just drove around her and continued down the road. Whoever that was. How do you live with yourself? Whoever that was. I hope you stub your toe every morning. I hope you've never had a good coffee since. I hope you have every shit-tastic thing

happen to you every fucking day. I hope it's always raining on your side of the street. I hope that you don't like rain. I'm without words. I wish you the worst. Rarely am I speechless. Person who just sat there for however long they did because obviously she had no concept of time at this point. And obviously took a look at her. I wish you the very worst, which is exactly what you deserve. All you had to do was call the police. Or just get out and comfort the woman in the middle of the road. Like, hello? That's what, like call the police.

All you have to do is- And get out and wait. All you have to do is be a fucking fellow human. Like, holy shit. Did you just like go have dinner with your family after that? Who knows? Like, what'd you do the rest of your day? Who knows? Did you tell someone? Did you go somewhere and just be like, oh yeah, I saw this crazy thing? You hope that that person called the police,

but it doesn't sound like they did. Jesus. So her heart is just broken. She's watching her what she feels is like her only hope drive away. But yet the more she thought about it, she had the wherewithal to have compassion, everybody. The more she started to consider why a person might not get out under these circumstances, she thought perhaps it was a woman on her own who was scared to get out of her car. Maybe the driver sensed danger and thought it was an ambush and thought I was some sort of decoy. She still was able to have compassion for this person. And come up with like, like, not that it's by no means okay that that person. But valid reasons. But to come up with valid reasons too to like excuse them of their actions is... This girl just looks for the best. I mean, I just don't

have words anymore. I've lost vocabulary words for what she is. This right here is an eternal optimist. Truly. And just like, she's like, Oh, you know what, I'll give you the excuses. Yeah. That I hope you needed. Yeah. So as she just lay there in the middle of the road, nearly decapitated, intestines filling out, she just considered all the reasons why the driver had left. And then she started hearing the sounds of another approaching car. And then she heard voices. When she opened her eyes, there was a woman standing over her who just started screaming when she saw Alison's injuries, which you honestly can't even blame this woman. I think that was just like an instinctual response.

I don't blame this woman in the least because I know that was probably awful for Alison, which I feel awful about, but like, I mean. You can't conjure this image in your mind. And to see a human, a fellow woman like that lying in the road, I can't, that would destroy me. No, it's like horrifying. She said later, it was the kind of scream you hear

in some cheap horror movie, and then I realized how awful I must have looked. So the women's screams eventually stopped and Alison started to hear other voices. And then she saw the face of a young man who was a literal motherfucking hero kneel beside her. This man forever. He looked her directly in the eyes and was talking but she couldn't really understand what he was saying because she's going in and out of consciousness at this point. And she opened her mouth and tried to speak but obviously no sound came out.

And the young man responded telling her just to relax as best as she could and reassured her that help was on the way. I love this man. It was 2.45 a.m. by the time she was discovered in the street, meaning this entire course of events from her abduction to her discovery had taken no more than 90 minutes. Oh my God.

All of that happened, abduction to this point. 90 minutes? That is an hour and a half everybody. I cannot con- I can't conceive of that. They were able to do that to her in 90 minutes. That must have been- That's how much her life changed. That must have been frenzied, that attack. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And even more badass of her. You got all the way out there in that little of time. Yes. And it probably, which to her felt like hours. Oh, I think it felt like days probably.

But she was zooting out there. Yeah, yeah. In this fucking economy. Yeah. Like in this situation, she's just zooting out to the road. Holy shit. Yep. Now, Tian- I didn't know that. Wow. Yeah. Incredible. 90 minutes.

Wow. So Tian, different than Tion. Tian- Oh, this is a different- This is a different person, Elard, had been out with friends at a bar that night and was just driving home around 2.m. when he came upon Allison lying there in the street. He was a veterinary student, so he was familiar with anatomy and immediately started checking her vital signs and he also recognized the severity of her wounds and did everything he could to minimize any further risk. He gently tucked an exposed piece

of thyroid back into her throat and then using his own shirt, he applied pressure to her neck to slow the bleeding. By then other cars had stopped and there was a great deal of activity in the road. Other drivers were directing traffic around them. Somebody brought a flashlight to Tion. Oh, thank goodness people. Yeah, people people did a good way. So there was only one people who peopled in the bad way. Yeah. Outside of the attackers obviously. And even Allison was able to give them an excuse. Even Allison gave them the excuse.

So somebody brought him a flashlight, and he was able to get a good look at her wounds, seeing for the first time that her intestines were exposed. He said later, I was utterly amazed that this person was still alive considering the second major injury. Wow. So while they waited for an ambulance, Tian continued talking to Allison, both to keep her calm and conscious until the ambulance arrived.

And meanwhile, one of the other drivers massaged her legs to keep the circulation going. Oh my god. Yeah. Oh, I love this. I love this part. This is humanity. I'm like, okay. This is where the humanity is at. Oh man, she saw them. She saw the opposite ends of the spectrum. Yup. That night. Yup. So they could finally hear the siren of the ambulance wailing in the distance, but it still seemed so far away. But finally the EMTs were beside them

and they loaded Alison onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. And instinctually, Tian followed them in and climbed into the ambulance. Oh, Tian. Under the circumstances, nobody bothered to ask what his relation the ambulance. Oh, Tian. Under the circumstances, nobody bothered to ask what his relation was. Come in, Tian. So he rode all the way to the hospital holding her hand the entire way. I hope Tian became a vet. Yes. I hope he became something

that cares for something. Because clearly that is his nature. That is your soul, sir. Yeah. Oh my god. It wasn. Incredible. I love him. Beautiful. It wasn't until they arrived to the hospital and a doctor appeared that anybody even paid any attention to him. And they just ushered him out of the way because she had to be brought to surgery. He finally let go of Allison's hand,

but not before he leaned in and assured her he was not going to leave her alone. He would be there when she woke up. Oh my god. Yes. I know. I love this. Years later, Allison would credit her survival

in large part to him, who she described as her lifeline that night. My God. I know. So by the time the surgeon arrived at the hospital, the other doctors had managed really only to get Allison's name and her mother's phone number before she lost consciousness again.

Based on the extent of her trauma, Allison's name and her mother's phone number before she lost consciousness again. Based on the extent of her trauma, the surgeon, Dr. Volodya Angelov, was stunned that she had even managed to stay alive. Oh yeah. After checking her vital signs, he did his best not to reveal a surprise to the patient who was just slipping in and out of consciousness. And according to Dr. Angelov, Allison looked like a quote, creature straight out of a Dickens novel. She looked like a corpse. Because you have to think the amount of blood she lost. She must be gray and just yeah dead.

Literally. Like on the brink of death. Yeah. Once they cleaned her off and moved her into surgery, they could see the extent of the wounds. Dr. Angelo said her neck had been split open almost from ear to ear. I've seen many injuries as a doctor, but the severe cruelty of the wounds really shocked me. Wow. Her thyroid had been sliced nearly in half and had Tian not thought to push it back into her throat, she would have died.

Tian. If he hadn't done that, she would have died. This is teamwork. Her larynx had been separated from her trachea. Oh my god. Most of the muscles and tendons in the front and sides of her neck had been sliced and just retracted into the base of her skull. Holy shit. And the wound to her abdomen was equally horrific. Like we said her intestines had been exposed and you probably weren't even thinking now they're covered in sand dirt and other debris

I actually as soon as you said she was crawling in the sand my first thought was like, oh my intestines are covered and just Shit, but her intestines had also sustained several stab wounds her actual intestines Which is so fucking so bad. Oh, yeah, you could go into a septic and a hot second. It's incredible that she did it. I'm astounded she did it. Yeah. Additionally, the stab wounds to her stomach had caused her abdominal muscles to collapse

around the area of that wound. Wow. But after three and a half hours of cleaning and stitching wounds, they finally had stabilized Alison and she was taken to the intensive care unit. While the surgeons worked to close Allison's wound, other hospital staff had contacted her poor mother, Claire. I can't imagine getting that phone call. But Claire started a kind of phone tree to inform everybody

in Allison's life of what had happened. And finally, when she was out of surgery, the family was allowed to see her and Claire rushed to the hospital to be right by her side. And when she entered Allison's room, she said she was shocked by what she saw. Claire said she looked frightened. She was filthy. Her face was swollen. Her eyes were filled with blood and bulged out of her head. And she had tubes and pipes everywhere. There was a cage over her lower body keeping blankets off of her. And there was this massive bandage across her throat. Imagine seeing your baby like that. Like somebody did that to your baby. There wouldn't be a safe motherfucking corner of this earth. In the galaxy.

No. You can't even. You could go light years away and I would travel there and find out the atmosphere without me following. Yup. Like that's... I feel immensely for her mother for having to see that. So despite her injuries, Alison was awake and did her best to talk with her mom.

Because she's got to entertain her visitors because she's a good hostess as well. That's Alison. Laying in the hospital under all of those circumstances and is like, hi mom. Hey. The fact she could even fucking talk is. Like her larynx was separated from her trachea. Yeah, yeah. And she's like, hey mom.

Hey. So she tried to explain. She tried to sit there and explain what had happened to her mom, but her voice was too hoarse to say much. Gee, I wonder why. But she just insisted that the police needed to catch the men who had done this to her. And it took more than a few minutes before she realized that in addition to her mother, there was another young man in the room. It was Tion. Tion! It was Tion. The man who

stayed with her while they waited for the ambulance. So she just thanked him profusely and did her best to hug him. Oh my god. Outside the room the attending physician Dr. Coleman detailed the extent of Alison's wounds to her family explaining that her head, like I said, had almost been severed from her body. She had also, remember, been sexually assaulted. Oh yeah. He said, I fought in the Rhodesian Bush War and I've never seen anyone with injuries like this survive. Those wounds were gross beyond belief. My goodness. Hey, weirdos. I'm Lindsey Graham from the podcast American History Tellers. And if you're still reeling from Ash and Elena's episode on the Boston molasses disaster and you want to dive even deeper, you're in luck. My show doesn't

usually venture too far into the spooky or creepy, but we've dedicated two full episodes to uncovering fascinating details about this bizarre molasses catastrophe. From the company's negligence to the victims' harrowing stories, we explore how this strange event reshaped industrial safety laws and left an indelible mark on Boston's history. And the Boston Molasses Disaster is just one of many fascinating stories waiting for you on American History Tellers. We take you to the events, the times, and the people that shaped our nation and show you how our history affected them, their families, and affects you today. Follow American history

tellers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to both American history tellers and morbid early and ad free. Start your free trial in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify today. He explained that her outlook was not good because even if she survived the first few days there was still an incredibly high risk of infection from all the debris found all along her intestines and the injury to her throat was equally serious. It was very possible for the wound to develop a thick scar tissue that could potentially choke her airway.

So even though they were able to get everything back in order. I didn't even think of that. Scar tissue could have formed and choked her. On the inside and literally pushed back into her airway. Yeah. My God. Yup.

You don't even think of that. No, although the outlook was grim, Claire was confident that her daughter would survive. She said she was confident that God had not allowed her daughter to make it this far, only to take her a few days later. Wow. Within a few days visitors started to show up to Allison's room every few hours including of course her father, her brother, and a ton of friends and family. And when she

was finally stable she was visited by two police officers. Now that she was out of danger and she was able to speak more clearly she described her attackers to the police and told them that their names were Franz and Tians. Fortunately, one of the officers, Nadia Swanpole, thought that she actually might've had an interaction with these two men at a shopping mall a few days earlier, which was confirmed the following day when Alison identified them both in a photo lineup. Holy shit. What are the odds? Cause these are, they're just out here being fucking yeah. Genesis in every way you can think.

A few days later, another police officer, Melvin Humphel showed up at Alison's bedside and he explained that he was now the lead detective on the case and wanted to inform her that they had arrested Franz Du Toit and Teon's Kruger and they'd found her car. Wow. They were already out on bail pending a trial

for another rape charge. So Humphle assured Alison that neither man would be eligible for bail now. So they attacked her when they were already out on bail for raping another woman. So they're just fucking monsters. Monsters. Pure monsters.

Monsters. By that point, Alison had been in the hospital for almost two weeks, and news about her attack had spread throughout the country. The press was obviously eager to talk to her and had been harassing Claire, which I'm like, really? Like, come on. Yeah.

Day and night they're harassing her. In most cases, you would assume somebody in Alison's position would probably just want to avoid talking about this ordeal at all and not want to be anywhere near strangers. Yeah you would totally understand that. Yeah you'd give her every grace in the world but she felt compelled to tell her story. She was still in such a fragile condition though that interviews had to wait but she was willing to give them. Holy shit. Just to make sure that like every word got out about this. That the story was told yeah. So she remained in the hospital, obviously,

for several more weeks, and during that time, her attackers were arrested and prosecuted for her attempted murder, which honestly, they should have just been prosecuted for murder, because that's what this would have been. I hate attempted murder. We've gone through that before, but this is murder. Yeah.

This is murder. Yep. They walked away from somebody they thought was dead. After decapitating her and slashing her throat 16 times and stabbing her in the abdomen upwards of 50 times, exposing her intestines after raping her violently. Yep.

And choking her as well. To the point of unconsciousness. If you tell me that is not murder, that's stupid as fuck. No, that is. That is murder, but Alison's just stronger than they are. She's just better than them. And she should not be punished for being stronger than they are. Exactly. Because it's like, that's not attempt, that's not like, oops, I didn't do it right.

No, they did it right. Yeah. Alison's just stronger than them. She's just an anomaly. It's like they did it. They overdid it. In fact, they over killed her. They did. And for them to not consider that like there needed to be some kind of break from precedence. Yeah. Where they sat there and said, this is murder. Because this case itself is a break from precedence.

Doesn't mean that this is not murder. Yup. Let's be real here. It drives me fucking nuts. It has always pissed me all the way off. Attempted murder drives me nuts to be in with, but when it's this flagrant, it's a whole other level. There needs to be a different precedent. There just needs to be. There absolutely does. Because this makes me so angry. Yeah. Fuck. So she's in the hospital, she's reading updates in the papers, and she was surprised by how quote disheveled and terrified they both looked in the photographs because when they were around her they were acting completely normal but now they look like shit. I was like you're not scared you're just gonna get caught.

The press had dubbed the pair the Nord-Holk Rippers which is like don't give them a nickname. And of course there was reports that they claimed to be Satanists. To Alison, the claims of Satanism seemed like a ploy to lessen the severity of what they had done. Like they weren't acting of their own free will when they very much were. I am 100% with her on that. Yeah. 100%.

Now, if friends and T. Unns had hoped to influence the court with their claims of Satan, you know, Satan's influence, Only the press seemed interested in their religious or spiritual beliefs. The judge and the prosecutor couldn't give less of a shit. They had no interest in their beliefs and remained focused on the cruelty and the utter brutality of their crimes. After multiple days, the two finally went before the court, where they pleaded guilty to eight charges, including kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder. During all of this she learned, Allison learned various things about her attackers

from the papers. Franz, she learned, was the son of a police officer, which naturally came as a surprise to her. Wow. The son of a police officer. She also learned that they had attacked another woman on December 4th, but according to Franz, the urge to kill her had passed once he raped her. Wow. So he would have killed that woman. It was just the urge passed when he was done assaulting her. Wow. From their statements in court, she learned that they had just been out drinking earlier in the day and decided to prowl the streets looking for a woman to attack. Tian said, we wanted a nice car and a nice woman.

Our goal was to find the woman, take her car, kidnap her, rape her, and then kill her. And he said this like he was just like rattling off items from a grocery list. Well, like what we planned to do that. Like, yeah, I was just gonna go to the bar. I was gonna run to the grocery store after, grab like apples, bananas, and oranges.

Yeah. But he's like, we were gonna kidnap a woman, rape her, and then kill her. What? Like, what? You just sat around and shot the shit about that? And we're like this, you know what we should do tonight? Instead of literally anything else? What? I can't. I, yeah, not in my wildest, like, I, my brain just will not even attempt to comprehend that. No. So both men seemed arrogant and cruel to Allison and me, but she was determined not to let them dominate her life going forward. The judge did sentence them both to life in prison without the possibility for parole, and Allison was released from the hospital with a new appreciation for life and a determination to

tell her story of complete resilience. In the years following her attack, she focused on recovery and on processing the trauma that she experienced. She said, the one thing I do have control over is choice. I have the freedom to choose how I will respond to it. I have the choice to make of it what I must and learn from it." Wow. She also recognized the role that she played in her own survival, focusing on her will to survive

rather than the randomness of luck. She was like, nah, I did that shit, which I love. Yeah, cause that was not luck. No, that's not luck. That was 100%. She is a strong anomaly of nature. Yes. That I don't know if there's enough, like, how many Alisyns are there in the world?

One. How many Alisynbosas are there in the world? Not many. Truly. So she told a reporter in 2006, believing that I could live the night of my attack and seeing the miraculous result of that belief is a great achievement for me. Yeah. Like that's an understatement.

You can do fucking anything. Mm-hmm. Once she had physically healed, she started giving interviews and speaking publicly about her experience and the path to recovery. She said, "...when I first started speaking publicly, I noticed that most people were interested in my amazing survival and physical recovery. But as the years have gone by, I have found more and more people have become interested in my mental and spiritual rejuvenation." For I can imagine. In time, she became a symbol of hope and resilience to countless young women across South Africa who themselves had experienced sexual violence but were denied justice or were unable to tell their stories. And it's those women that Alison wanted to make a difference with, and they became the central premise of her story. She said,

you must know that you are special and value yourself. It's what got me through my attack. Wow. And that was, and she said she grew up being told pulled into the other room and said, like, you're special. That stayed with her. That was a foundation that her mother laid. Wow. Yeah. I love that that came back around. We do. Yeah. That's stuck. That was a foundation that her mother laid. Wow. Yeah. I love that that came back around. Yep. We do. I love that. Yeah. That's amazing. Now this I love. In 1997, her life changed dramatically for a second time in a good way. When she married Teeny Botha, they met years earlier and had lost

touch actually, but they reconnected at a party one night where they ran into each other unexpectedly. Oh, I love it. So they got married in 1997, February, 1997. And despite being told that she would likely be unable to have children due to her abdominal injury, she has since given birth to two children. Holy shit. She said, maybe I survived because I was meant to bring these two boys into the world

for them to grow up and to become special people. And what makes that even more amazing and special is that during the attack, one of the men said to the other one while they were stabbing her almost 50 times in her intestines and abdomen, they said they were purposely trying to mutilate her reproductive organs and destroy them. This is a two-pronged response. One, how fucking diabolically evil do you have to be to be purposely mutilating someone's reproductive organs while in the course of killing them on another level? Like just because that's the other thing they're trying. They thought she was dead. Yeah. So they were just doing that. They were adding insult to injury. Like literally, blatantly.

And then two, for her to go on to have two beautiful kids despite every odd despite that fucking asshole being like I like trying to mutilate her reproductive system Yep, and then a doctor telling her like truthfully like with all the injuries that this may not happen for you that is a Miracle What two miracles? What is this story? This story is unbelievable. This story is straight up inspiration. Yeah. Yeah. If you ever… To do the most menial things at this point. Literally.

I'm like, this story is inspiration to wake up and do my workout routine. Yeah. To do anything. To do anything. To wake up. To do anything. It's literally like, holy shit. Wild. Now, despite her miraculous survival story and seemingly indomitable spirit, Allison spent years of emotional turmoil fighting to keep her attackers in prison, which is bullshit that she even had to do that. That's bullshit. Yeah, that's disgraceful. Because even though they were both sentenced to life in prison, I touched on this in the beginning, they had no possibility of parole. As early as 2012, there was talk of one or both of them being released. And people were saying

they had earned their release. How? In 2012, a new legislation was enacted in South Africa that allowed for any prisoner who received a life sentence prior to 2004 to apply for parole after serving at least 13 years of their sentence. By that time, Franz and Tianz had been in prison for 17 years, so they were eligible for this. The potential release of these fuckwads, or really any potential killers, came as a shock to Allison. Of course. She told a reporter in 2012, can you imagine if just 100 lifers are released into society who are not rehabilitated? Yeah, like what? What do you do? What? What do you do?

Prison is supposed to be all about rehabilitation. If you have already sent in somebody to life in prison without the possibility of parole. You've said they can't be rehabilitated. You've said exactly. You've said exactly that. And allowed back into society because you are literally saying they should never be allowed back into society. But now we're just like reneging that. But now we're being like, well, that wording makes me sad. So like, let's, let's change the wording. Like, like, nope. What? That doesn't change what you did.

No. That doesn't change that you sentenced them to be imprisoned for life because you didn't believe they could come out. What the fuck is that? But now all of a sudden we're being like, yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah, it's fine. We decided that's unconstitutional.

When I said life, I meant a handful of years. When I said life, I meant like less than a, than a whole adolescent. Yeah, it's fine. We decided that's unconstitutional. When I said life, I meant a handful of years. When I said life, I meant like less than a than a whole adolescent. Yeah. The fuck? Like they can't even drive yet. Yeah. So after hearing the news that they had both applied for parole now, Allison immediately spoke out against their release and used her platform to urge the government to keep them both in prison. Good for her. Her activism successfully kept them both in prison for another decade after the Correctional Services Act passed in 2012. But in the summer of 2023, so recently, she received yet another shock when without any notice to her, both men were released on parole. The fact that one, they released them at all and two, that they did not notify her is fucking shameful. Like, what if she wanted to make plans to leave the country?

That's shameful. Because I would wanna leave the fucking country if those men had done what they did to her. Yes. And were now just out. Just bopping around? You think they give a fuck about being on parole? No.

They literally took her intestines out of her body and nearly decapitated her, and intentionally tried to destroy her reproductive organs. And you don't tell her that they're back out on the streets quote unquote on parole. That's the least you could do. What does parole listen to them? Are you fucking kidding me? In a message on social media, she addressed the news saying the day I hoped and prayed for would never come. When I was asked how you feel if they ever get parole, my immediate answer was always I'm hoping I'll never find out, but today I did. Now I'm sure them being released on parole caused this next thing I'm about to tell you. More tragedy struck when in September of 2024, Alison suffered a massive brain aneurysm

and was rushed to a hospital in Cape Town. The surgeons were able to stop the bleeding in her brain and they were able to relieve the pressure that was caused by a buildup of fluid, but she was expected to face yet another long road to recovery. Oh my god. No stranger to adversity, she met the challenge head on. Of course she did, because she's Alisimbota. And she's been exceeding her surgeon's expectations. Alisimbota. But her mother Claire released a statement in October saying, I'm beside myself that my child, who was afflicted by a second death blow has exceeded all expectations and has lived, talked, and remembered. And I agree with you that the stress of having them out. Absolutely. I guarantee you had something

to do with that. Absolutely. Whoever signed the papers. Because that stress must have been immense. Immense. Whoever. The kind of stress I can't even quantify with words, we'll never know hopefully, thoughts or creative writing. I can't do it in any space. No, whoever signed the papers that let them out of prison should be ashamed of themselves. I don't know how you lay your head on a pillow at night. But yeah, despite their positive outlook and determination, the medical emergency put a huge financial burden on this small family. Allison doesn't have any medical insurance and has accrued a significant amount of debt since undergoing the surgery.

Of course. That's how the medical system works. And as of now, both the family is relying on the generous support of public donations made to a trust account set up with her name in Nedbank in South Africa. So there is a fundraiser that you guys can donate to and we're going to donate to as well. I'm going to share the link but it's backabuddy.coza.com campaign slash help dash Allison dash botha dash in dash her dash time dash of dash need and I will post that link in the show notes we'll post it on social media you go to that and it might look like you can only donate in like a czar south african currency but if you scroll next to the amount there's an option for us dollars

yes so definitely consider donating. We're definitely donating. She is halfway to the amount that they were trying to raise. And as of today, March 4th, it's back-a-buddy, which is basically kind of like a GoFundMe, it seems. Okay. And it's got 13 days left. 13 days.

The fundraiser. Okay, well, I mean, by the time this comes out. days left. 13 days. The fundraiser. Okay. So, I mean, by the time this comes out, we'll post on social media before this episode comes out. Yes. So that if you want to, if you are able to, and if you want to take part in that, that you can. So just in case the timing doesn't work out, I don't want to miss our window to be able to help here. Exactly. So we'll post it Definitely consider donating because this woman is Yeah beyond she has survived so much the fact that these two men were let out these I don't even want to call them men Monsters, yeah pigs fucking swines were let out of prison. I am sane. I'm astounded by she deserves the world For what she had to face and now now she must, and that's the thing, like,

she probably had this brain aneurysm because she's sitting there every day looking over her shoulder, I bet. Yeah, oh, I can't, yeah. Who wouldn't? How did they get let out? How did they get let out? How did this happen?

And again, she's not the only, she's the woman that they attacked in such a brutal manner, but she's not even the only woman that they's the woman that they attacked in such a brutal manner, but she's not even the only woman that they've ever attacked. They attacked a pregnant woman. A pregnant woman. My God.

Yeah. They are- That's horrific. They are filthy. Truly. It's insane. It's unthinkable that they got let out. So we will post those links for sure. Cause I mean like hearing this story and what she's been through. It's unthinkable. that they got let out. So we will post those links for sure. And-

Cause I mean like hearing this story and what she's been through. It's unfathomable. I mean, damn. And she just has such determination to live. Yeah. And she has empathy. Yeah.

And she had empathy in some of her darkest moments. And so I think this is- Time for us all to give that a good back. This is a call back to it for sure. For sure. Yeah. So with all that being said, please consider donating.

Please share the link if you're not able to. Obviously not everybody will be able to. And of course, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you lack the humanity of those two motherfucking trolls who are just walking the streets now. Yeah, fuck that. Take care of each other. You lack the humanity of those two motherfucking trolls who are just walking the streets now. Yeah.

Fuck that. Take care of each other. I'm going to be a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. Are you captivated by the dark and mysterious world of true crime? Wondery Plus offers you the ultimate true crime experience with early access to new

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