need to add title here

The One Who Got Away

July 23, 2011 7:45 PM

A young woman accepts a ride from a kind stranger who is really a serial killer. "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Susan Spencer reports.

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by EM1970 January 30, 2013 9:48 PM EST
Omg this is so horrible, I can't begin to imagine the terror she felt. So glad she was able to get away. I don't understand our justice system, there has got to be a place where we can torture and burn these monsters alive!!!
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by WakeUpPeople001 August 7, 2012 12:54 PM EDT
Hey, CBS, why won't you allow readers to comment on "A Killer Defense" (July 26, 2011)? Social engineering?
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by robinson46 August 2, 2012 12:10 AM EDT
This is really horrible. It reminds me of the lady in the Movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre where she was running for her life being chased by a deranged killer with a machete. I believe that stories like this can save peoples life an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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by barlee82 February 8, 2012 10:24 PM EST
Put him to death... Stop letting him and other Murderers etc. to manipulate and use our taxpayers money!!!! Maybe we could use the money for something besides a worthless soul! Say ,, maybe a sick child, disabled adults, abused victims.. MAYBE the ones that were his victims!!!
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by capitainealain February 4, 2012 4:31 AM EST
Please kill him California !!
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by sntia84 December 22, 2011 4:55 PM EST
I hope he gets the death penalty in California. He is a monster, and doesn't deserve to live.
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by rhendrich December 20, 2011 10:48 PM EST
Well first off, I cannot even imagine the horror of such a brutal crime. Awareness is key, but let's face it even being aware is not enough. I can remember being 19, I probably would have never got in a car with a stranger but I did plenty of other things that could have landed me in the same position. Being young is a vulnerability in itself, just a sense of invincibility to everything. This could happen to anyone even the most savy, smartest person. Evil comes in every shape, color, size and form. It is such a tragedy that people are so evil and would commit such an evil act, but they do. It is sad to say but trust is something that has to be earned and not just in personal relationships. My heart goes out to every family that has suffered here.
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by jbgood75 December 15, 2011 1:01 AM EST
This is like a thing of nightmares. When she was accounting the tale of what had happened to her it reminded me of a horror movie. She breaks out of the trunk only to have him chase her with a machete, what??? I couldn't imagine living with what she has gone through.
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by sarajsh October 27, 2011 2:02 AM EDT
In college, I locked my door and went to sleep in my flannel nightgown (it was winter.) I woke up with three guys holding me down and raping me, taking turns. For over five years afterwards, I had what was then called Rape Trauma Syndrome, now a subcategory of PTSD. Everything, absolutely everything terrified me. I didn't even answer or talk on telephones. I couldn't even make a call for a pizza or to ask what time a movie was playing. I was hyper-alert at all times. My clothes became oversized sweatshirts and loose jeans and sneakers. I always dressed to run, and never carried a purse. My hands were free to fight and my feet ready for flight. For about 18 months of those five years, I also carried a gun, illegally. A 9mm SigSauer in a leather holster. (I learned decades later that the very kind of gun I was carrying was the then official gun of the U.S. Secret Service.) Even though the attack took place in a room, the fear extended EVERYWHERE. Before the attack, I was 14 credits away from graduating with a double major, honors in both. After the attack...I dropped out of college, and told no one why. To this day, I watch movies and TV to learn how to fight, how to get away, what not to do, what to do, etc. I did get married, eventually, but it didn't last, and it wasn't my husband's fault. Men who attack women cause immeasurable pain and that pain extends to every single person she knows, whether the other people understand why or not.

I never knew who my attackers were, only that they were fellow students, and were still free and roaming around...that's why I didn't return for my last easy semester to graduate. I didn't want them to get me, again. I never finished getting that double major in those fields I loved. To do so at another university would have required at repeating at least two years worth of classes...and I just didn't have the money or the inner strength to retake classes I had passed with honors because three men raped me. It would have been raging through my mind every single second why I was there, re-doing my life.

A Jodie Foster movie came out years later, called something like The Brave One, I think. It was like someone had read my diary, had I written one. Her reaction was EXACTLY like mine, right down to walking the streets at night with a gun, just wishing someone would look at me the wrong way. I *WOULD* have blasted a guy if looked at one second too long, or if he said something even slightly *off*. Luckily, in my case, no one got shot. I think I remember in the movie she shot someone. I don't really recall...my memories and the film were too intermingled to remember if her character shot someone. All I know is I didn't.

The lesson from all this...please, please, please be careful out there, girls and women. NEVER get into the car of a stranger. When walking, turn around to see if anyone is following. ALWAYS trust your guts....if you feel nervous, leave, cross the street, change WHATEVER your situation is to get that *alert* in your brain to go away. NEVER ignore your senses, either. Don't think, "Oh, I'm just being silly." Pay attention to what your body/mind/senses are telling you. And even if you do everything "right," like locking your doors and sleeping in flannel nightgowns (i.e. not 'flaunting' it), ****** things can still happen, but always know that it's not your fault. I knew it wasn't my fault in any way, but that knowledge doesn't make Rape Trauma Syndrome disappear just overnight.

Oh, and be wary of vans parked next to your car, too, in parking lots and garages, A cousin of mine was grabbed...she broke free and ran, but that's just one of the many ways they try to get you.
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by lance_smith2001 September 8, 2011 7:25 PM EDT
Amazingly she kept her wits and survived this nightmare. This guy is evil and empty as a person; he was predator and a sadistic sociopath. I feel sorry for all the trauma she has endured; like being in your own horror movie. If anyone should be executed he is at the top of the list. There are some good lessons from this story; never give up if you are in a bad situation and never-ever get in the car of a stranger.
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