¶ Intro / Opening
The new College of Pro Football season is upon us and Bed Online has you covered with the best odds in live and in-game betting on all your favorite teams. Head to Bed Online today to stay updated on all the action. Bed Online, the game starts here. Hi, I Survive listeners, I'm Marissa Pinson, and before we get into this week's episode, I just want to remind you that episodes of I Survived as well as the AE Classic podcast Cold Case Files
City Confidential and American Justice are all available ad-free on the new AE crime and investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus for just four ninety nine a month or thirty nine ninety nine a year. And now onto the show. This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. He said, you know, I've committed the perfect crime. They don't have any idea who I am, where you are. And he was proud of himself.
Real people. When this lifeboat hit the water, then I was scared. That's the point where I really, really felt in fear of my life. Who faced death? And he said, God told me to kill you. And then he slashed my throat almost over and back, ear to ear, twice. And lived to tell how. But I found that when I pleaded with him to stop, he laughed. And he just continued. So I learned early on that this is a an evil man and that I had to just take it. This is I survived.
¶ Home Invasion and Initial Assault
It's April 1998 in Millsboro, Delaware. Debbie lived in a quiet suburban neighborhood, working as a hospice nurse. It was a spring day, I decided that I was going to plant rose bushes. When Nino arrived home, We parked the car and And he was so pleased that I was planting the rose bushes because I'm I'm really not a gardener. So he went on into the house and then I said, Hey Nina, would you please call out to me about
So I can go in and call my nursing supervisor to get my assignment for the night. I sensed that it was getting very close to four and And thinking nothing of it, I then you know, brushed myself off, walked into the house. And all of a sudden, and I didn't see this person, but I was Attacked viciously by someone striking me on the left side of my head, I fell to the ground. I was not knocked unconscious. However, I knew that someone was in my home demanding where is your money?
I I was frozen. I I could not believe this was happening. I was in shock. I had no idea where my husband was. And I was wondering, why isn't he coming to my rescue? But at the same time, I'm thinking, Nino, help me, Nino, stay away. I don't want him to be involved in this. I was only on the ground uh for a few minutes because he then immediately started to tie. He bound my my wrist, my ankles. And at that point, he moved me, kind of dragged me down probably 15 steps.
And at the bottom of the steps we have a concrete floor and he threw me face down while I was lying on the floor. He started to pull down, I had sweatpants on. He pulled my sweatpants down and my underwear, and then he raped me from behind. Debbie's attacker dragged her back upstairs and covered her with a quilt.
¶ Abduction and Repeated Assault
And I remember thinking to myself, thank God it's over. Because I heard the footsteps. Moving away from me, I heard the door close, and then of course my ther first thought is where is Nina? All of a sudden I'm being gathered up in the quilt and now I'm looking up again, seeing this person And he's not speaking to me, but he's carrying me into the foyer of our home where I could see a car backed up to my front door. He held a knife to my throat and he threatened me.
He did not want me to scream. Debbie was bundled into the trunk of his car. When I heard the car moving, I thought to myself, Debbie, the only way you will have any hope of surviving is to totally try and get the ties loosened. Because when he stops the car. What I had to do was to try and make a run for it. So I'm I'm I'm in the car, I'm loosening my ties with the plan of escaping when he lifts the hatch back.
I thought, okay, he's going to open that trunk and I'm going to do everything I can to kick and scream and run. He opened the hatchback and I realized that I'm in a garage. I don't know where. But I'm trapped. And now he's carrying me. And the next thing I know, he's throwing me face down on a bed. He noticed that my hands were untie. He could tout that I was trying to escape. And so he punishes me. Again. He pulls my pants down again, and this time he sodomizes me. He then
turns me over, rapes me vaginally, and I pleaded with him. But I found that when I pleaded with him to stop, he laughed. And he just continued. So I learned early on that this is a an evil man and that I had to just take it. He was not a person that I could talk to. He was angry. And it appeared to me that he was under the influence of drugs. He he took ropes and banned my wrist.
So I could not move them. He bound my ankles. He put ropes above my knees. And then he placed another tie from my wrist to my ankle. He placed a washcloth in my mouth with duct tape going around my head. He blindfolded me and left.
¶ Learning of Husband's Death
As as the night went on, I heard two gunshots. And I did not know that he had a gun. He had held a knife to my throat, but this was when I learned that he had a gun. The next morning he said to me, Oh my God, he said, I thought that the cops had found me. He explained to me that There were headlights that had shone into the front window, and he assumed that it was the police and shot two gunshots, shattered the front window, and all he could think about was
I don't want the neighbors to see. And he went into another room and turned on either the television or the radio. I did hear and I get goosebumps, but we're now on the second day, Tuesday, and I heard an announcer say that Anthony Poglisi had been shot and killed and his wife is missing. And as I was trying to even absorb the fact that my husband is dead, because it hadn't even occurred to me that this Murder had happened. The door opens.
And my husband's murderer opened the door and said, I'm sorry I had to kill your husband. Shut the door and left. It to me, to have a person do what he did to me, to learn that he had shot my husband, now I'm convinced. that I'm next. I knew that I could not cry, even though the tears weren't coming, if I were to be a blubbering person This evil man would hurt me more. So I held my emotions in, and it wasn't long afterwards that he opens the door, he comes in.
He releases my ankle ties so that he can rape me yet again. Immediately afterwards, he replaced the washcloth in my math with duct tape, blindfolded me, retied me, and said to me, I really should go to work. Debbie had two kids in college. While he was gone, all I want to do is get back to my children. I knew that. They had to be agonizing. Number one, they're they're grieving for their father, they're they're wondering about mom. And my heart was bleeding.
I I I can't even describe as a mother how I felt and all of my thoughts were with them.
¶ Strategic Conversation and Dehumanization
As the night went on, and I'm wondering what to expect when this person returns, the door opens. And He did something out of character. He took my ties off, he removed my blindfold, he took the washcloth out of my mouth.
turned the light on, and at first, of course, I'm stunned because I really hadn't seen light. So he s started to talk to me, like a person. And he said to me, I'm thinking about letting you go, but I'm afraid to let you go because if I do, you'll be able to just describe the house to the police. And I said no sir, and this is when I started calling him sir.
So I said, sir, you put me in the trunk of your car. I had no idea where you were taking me. I can't describe the outside of your home, the area. where you brought me. And I offered him a suggestion. I said, Why don't you Just blindfold me again, put me back in the trunk of your car, and just drive off and leave me. And he said, I can't do it. And of course, hearing that was so discouraging. But what he said to me was
you'll be able to describe my flocked wallpaper in the dining room. And then he made a statement that didn't make sense. He said, You know, If I get rid of all the drugs in the house and the police do fine me, then I won't get more than ten years. And kind of bells went off and I'm thinking, I'm not dealing with an intelligent person here. Because if he thinks he's going to get ten years for murder, for kidnapping, for rape, then he's not a bright person. And I kind of switched to survival mode.
I allowed myself to think maybe you can, maybe Debbie, you can get out of this. I wanted him to like me. I would always refer to him as Sir I tried to show him respect. I tried to let him know that I would be a good girl, that I wouldn't try to ex escape. I would give him time to reconsider letting me go. That night, Debbie's kidnapper did not gag and blindfold her. He put me on a king-size bed that I assumed was the bed that he sleeps in and laid down next to me. And I had to sleep next to him.
Nino's murderer. On Wednesday morning, Uh he took my ties off and he said I would like you to take a shower. But of course by, you know, Wednesday morning I I've been in these clothes, I've urinated in these clothes, and um I mean this is again, dehumanizing. So I told him, I said, I'm too weak to stand in the shower. Is it okay that I take a bath? He made me undress in front of him and I got into the bathtub.
And I was so weak, but I washed my body the best I could. And then he said to me, Aren't you going to wash your hair? And I said, Sir, I said My h my wrists are so sore that it was difficult for me to raise my arms to do that. Well, he washed my hair. And to have my husband's murderer just washing my hair, it was it was horrible. It was just horrible.
And then when I got out of the tub, I had to put his clothes on. I had to put his sweatpants, his t-shirt, because of course my clothes were destroyed. So now I'm cleaned up. And he rapes me again.
¶ The Perfect Crime & Escape
On Thursday morning he got up and he surprised me by saying he wanted to feed me. I said, you know, why don't you while you're out getting the food, buy a newspaper so we can see what's going on. And he agreed. So we ate and I was careful about how I talked to him, but he showed me the newspaper. The newspaper said it was uh it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, they had no clue. Which was of course very upsetting to me, but I didn't want to let it show.
And when he read it he said, you know, I've committed the perfect crime. They don't have any idea who I am, where you are. And he was proud of himself. And also in this article, it mentioned that I was a suspect. They had suspected me of killing my husband and running off. On the fifth day, Debbie's wrists are sore and swollen, so her kidnapper replaces the ropes with handcuffs. He didn't blindfold me, he did put the washcloth in my mouth with a duct tape, and told me he was going to work.
And my gut said, because of the type of person he is, and because this is different, he might not believe. that I wouldn't try to escape. So I decided to wait about an hour because he made a point of saying, I'm leaving now, and the door shut. So I'm on the bed, lying, trying to lie very patiently, and it was about an hour, and I heard the door open just slightly and the door shut.
And I thought, okay, I've passed the test. Debbie, now you have to make a decision. You have to try and get out of this. So I shuffled and I don't I don't know how but with my hands cuffed behind my back I opened the door not knowing if he would be on the other side. I went through the door, into the hallway. The house is totally dark. And I knew from being able to walk around the house that his dining room was to the left. So I shuffled and again God was with me.
On the dining room table was a phone. A coidless phone. With my hands behind my back, I can't explain it. But I picked up the phone and as a hospice nurse I was very familiar with using the phone a lot. I knew where the nine one one was and I actually punched nine one one. Police fire ambulance. Help me. Help me for police easy.
Please help me. Okay, what's the wrong man? This man kidnapped me, killed my husband. Okay, where where are you now? I'm in his home. My little embells on my hands and on my feet. Oh Lord, have mercy. Oh my God. I want my food. So he was ninety six and up. Where is he now? Please come Yes, where is the man now? He's at work, I think. But he might come back. You're there you're there alone now? Yeah, but he might get here before you.
Police traced the call and arrived at the scene in less than six minutes. Okay, we still officer pulling up outside now. So if you hear something, that'll be one of the officers. Yes, ma'am. Okay man, just just stay calm. Just stay calm. He know he knows you're there. All of the emotions that I had suppressed through the week just came I I lost it.
¶ Survival and Lasting Scars
Debbie's abductor, Donald Flagg, was sentenced to eight life sentences, plus 166 years. Each year on the anniversary of her ordeal, he spends five days in solitary confinement. I survived because I was a smarter person than my assailant. Also because of my experience as a hospice nurse, I had the life experiences. I had just the ability to be able to befriend him and make him believe. That I was someone who he could care about.
And I am left with some scars on my wrist from the ropes, but as time has gone on, I've actually considered them my badge of career. This time of year gets crazy. The kids are back in school, the afternoons disappear into carpools and after-school activities, and dinner, it often gets lost in the shuffle. That's where tempo saves me. Tempo has created chef-prepped dietitian-approved meals that show up at my door fresh, not frozen, and all they need is two minutes before they're ready to eat.
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¶ A Dream Vacation Turns Perilous
It's September 2000 in Athens, Greece. Christine and Heidi were traveling together. We traveled in Israel for a couple of weeks and then down to Egypt. And our treat was we survived the Middle East. We're gonna go to Greece, find a beach, get some Uzo, and not leave for a week. That was the plan. We spent about two days in Athens, and then we were gonna go out to the islands for anywhere up to the whole remainder of the trip for five days.
At 5 p.m., they boarded the ferry Express Semina for the five-hour trip to the island of Paros. When we first got on the ferry it was just a beautiful day and we were walking round and and checking it out and you know, here this is my dream since I was a kid to like take the ferries in Greece. In my mind it wasn't specifically a safety check, but that is how it evolved to
It was us looking around, oh look, there's a lifeboat. Look at the propeller of the lifeboat. It's very small. It's not even as big as a dinner plate. Hope we don't need to take that. Anna she looked at me and said, Well it's a good thing there's no icebergs. So that just kind of set you know I didn't I didn't know at the time but it really set the tone for later on. We left about five o'clock and uh walked up to the front of the ferry and uh
There's a guardrail but you can look in and see the area where the all the control panel is and and the the captain is supposed to be and and there was nobody up there. And I looked at Christine and said, You know, nobody's driving the boat. I guess we're on autopilot. The captain was asleep in his cabin and the crew were watching soccer on TV. There were a lot of people where we were at the beginning of the trip when we were on the top level of the boat.
And I didn't see anybody inside because I didn't think I was supposed to be inside, and it was a nice day, so we just stayed outside. I had this this thought in my head that because Christine and I had purchased these m less expensive third class tickets that we couldn't go inside. There were 540 people on the ferry that day. Probably about six or seven it really the wind started picking up.
It was incredibly strong winds. You almost couldn't walk from place to place. So we just um curled up and and I started to get a little seasick. Uh I tend to in in strong waves. So I decided probably about nine o'clock that I was either going to be sick or I was gonna take a nap. So I curled up in all my clothes and hunkered down and and drifted off to sleep. At ten fifteen PM, the ferry was just two miles from the island of Paros.
¶ Shipwreck and Rising Panic
Then I heard the engines change, and that's what made me look up from my book, and I saw that there were I saw the lights. Um and I assumed we would be docking soon, so I put my bookmark in my book. and I stood up. She said, You better get up and get your backpack. So I started to get up and stand up and I was still a little groggy and and looking at Christine and
And then we see this big huge rock come out of nowhere. It filled my vision. I I was watching this rock that was Taller than the boat I was on, and it was crushing down the side, scraping with the I'll never forget the sound. It was it was horrific. And the rocks when they hit, y we could have reached out and touched them. And it was amazing. If I would have walked five steps forward, I could have touched these rocks. I I was I was dumbstruck. I knew instantly that the ship was going to sink.
And we looked at each other and Heidi says, we're going down. And she looked at me and said, Well, it took the Titanic four hours to sink. And I said, we don't have four hours. This boat's gonna go down fast. Pretty much as soon as we hit the rocks, I just had this Amen. rush of adrenaline and my my heart was racing and I had butterflies and I I was terrified. I mean I immediately my thoughts were
The ferry's gonna sink, we're gonna be out in the water. What's gonna happen to us? Who's gonna come save us? Does anybody know what's going on? I never saw any crew. I never heard any instructions in Greek or otherwise, and people were asking us what to do. Fairly immediately the boat started to take on water and the whole boat started to roll to the right side.
At this point the lights start to flicker on and off, and everybody starts to panic. When I could hear people start screaming and running, it it just sunk in even more. And at one point I just I kind of stopped and thought to myself, you know, if I die What didn't I do? What didn't I say? And I I every one of my family members um came into my head and I just said, I love you. Somebody set up a flare. And that made the scene look almost like a carnival. For me, it was so strange.
There was there was a large amount of people now starting to accumulate at the back of the ship and people were screaming and you could just tell that there was there was a lot of people all in one area. There was absolute panic. The crew was abandoning ships.
people started running up the stairs and and there was some men, a group of five men that that came running past me, going towards the rear of the ship, and they kind of knocked into me and And I fell and I hit my head and and I I hit my head pretty hard on the railing and and I started to black out and I was like, Oh no.
If I black out, you know, Christine's not I was thinking Christine's not gonna be able to drag my body to shore from here, you know. I have to I have to stay with it. I have to breathe and I just thought back to my yoga teacher and and how to breathe and And I I told Christine, I'm like, they're gonna kill us. There's these people, they're running, they're pushing, they're shoving. I'm I'm still dealing with the fact that I'm trying not to black out.
I was like, I looked at her and I said, they're gonna kill us. I'm looking at the people and I'm thinking, I don't speak Greek. These people are panicking. I don't want to follow them. Because if I follow this crowd of panicked people, any information
That they receive, by the time it gets to me, it'll be useless. And I pushed her up towards the front of the boat, which was The highest part of the boat, the boat, the part of the boat that was farthest away from the water, it was not where the exit was.
¶ Lifeboat Struggle and Unexpected Rescue
It's not where the people were going. That's all that mattered to me. There's no light there, it's completely dark, and we have to h hold on to the railing because the boat is tilting s at such a d severe degree that If we were to let o let go, we'd slide right into the water. They were sixty feet above the water. I'm scared to death of the dark. I mean that's one of my my biggest fears is just darkness.
Dark water in particular really scares me. So I thought, you know, if I have to swim in this, I'm gonna be absolutely petrified, but if I have to do it, I'll fight like hell. And Heidi turns around and says, Nobody's there and I look over her shoulder, and there's a little old man waving us on. And I push her. I said, go. And I look out.
And there's a lifeboat hanging out on the side of the ship, but it's it's been put out and they're starting to lower it down and there's like five feet gap between the lifeboat and the ferry and I Okay, great. Now I have to jump into this lifeboat. And so we just kind of looked at each other and and jumped. When this lifeboat hit the water Then I was r scared. That's the point where I really, really felt in fear of my life. the waves were so big, and when the lifeboat hit the water,
It fell apart. The bench that I was sitting on broke and my foot was underneath it and and we fell forward. We kind of there was still half of the bench, but half of it had broken and my foot was pinned. And then my other foot went through the bottom of the boat and so it was in a hole, which I was able to to pull out, but there was this hole I kept sticking my foot in. Heidi told me that she put her foot through the bottom of the boat.
I couldn't even process that information at that point. I had to not think about that th that this boat was gonna sink now. So there's this barnacled rusty metal bottom of the ferry and and our lifeboat's being thrown against it and These were big, big waves, so it's not we're not just bumping into it. We're being thrown up on to the bottom of the ferry and then rolling back down it and hitting the water. And just as soon as we hit the water, we get thrown back up on the ferry again.
The ferry sank in just forty minutes. Some people towards the end had tried to make it up to the front of the ferry and uh and as it uh as it sank the uh the rear of the boat went down a lot faster and and it the front had raced up and so people slid down the decks, um were stuck in the railing. Um and uh it was a pretty horrible sight. One man behind me leaned forward and showed me how to turn a light on that was hanging from my life vest.
And he told me, now you show everybody else. Over the next few minutes we started seeing these strobe lights flickering all through the water and and you could see that there was there was a large amount of people. There was well, there was hundreds of people. that had gone off on the back and the lower side of the ferry and they were all swimming. We were probably
six hundred feet at least away from these people and the waves were crashing and I was terrified. I was I mean I I couldn't speak. I was so scared I could not speak. I mean these waves, even in our lifeboat, it was it was almost impossible to keep your head above water and and I mean I was exhausted. So I thought, what can I do to help the situation? And I just was saying, don't tip the boat over.
Don't rock the boat. Don't tip the boat over. And well, that evolved into me singing rock the boat. And um that kept me. there. It kept me positive. I I could see that there was, you know, there was maybe one or two other lifeboats. I didn't know if anybody was in them. I could just see these strobe lights in the water. There was These people were all, you know
just swimming and and there was nobody there was nobody out there, there was nobody helping And then I was I was on the edge of the boat and I saw someone swimming towards us and so I th We have to get him, we have to get this man, there's somebody in the water and I reached out and
I grabbed him and I'm holding his arm and I I can't, you know, it's I'm not able to pull him out of the water. I mean my foot is still stuck. I'm twisted in the boat, I've got his arm. But in Greek we heard not No no no no and in very broken English we heard too many people on the boat now. And Heidi said, I'm not letting go.
And I yelled, she's not letting go. I mean, I had this man's hand and and that was, you know, if I had to just hold on to his hand until somebody came and saved us, that's what I was gonna do. Um, luckily we were able to pull him in the boat. I just s started ov saying over and over in my head, you know, please let them be okay. Just save them. You know, there's there's hundreds of people and and they're too far away, we can't get to them.
And I don't know if help's coming. We don't know what's going on. And at that point a light shined on us and there was a fishing boat and um I was the best thing ever. I believe there was three fishing boats and all came up and they got one in front of us and two behind us and they just escorted us to shore. Seeing the fishing boats really
made me feel confident that we were going to see the sunrise. And when we finally made it We were probably a hundred feet away from shore and I looked up and and the traditional white with the blue domed church is right there on shore and I just I finally thought that's it. We made it we're gonna be okay. We we're here We're alive.
¶ Aftermath and Shared Strength
Eighty-two passengers died in the sinking of the Ferry Express Semina. The captain and the first mate were found guilty of criminal negligence and serial manslaughter. They were sentenced to sixteen and nineteen years respectively. Christine and I are always we've always been kind of opposites. What what I don't think of she does. Um I might react one way and and she's the opposite. And so I mean there was moments where
You know, like being terrified in a lifeboat and then she's singing a song, just uh i we compliment each other very well. We may have survived without each other, but I was stronger because Heidi was there. Hey, this is Adam Corolla from the Adam Corolla Show. The NFL playoffs are here, and BetOnline gives you more ways to play. With Bet Online, you get the latest odds, breaking news, and live scores with BetOnline's in-game betting. You'll never miss a moment.
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Serious players. Head to BetOnline today because at BetOnline, the game starts here. What if the stories of gods, angels, and ancient technology weren't myths, but memories of alien contact? On ancient aliens, we investigate the evidence. From mysterious ruins to strange celestial alignments, asking bold questions about humanity's origins. Could visitors from the stars have influenced our greatest civilization? Journey into the unknown and challenge what you think you know.
History in episodes like secrets of the Sumerians. Mysteries of the Mayo, or The Chosen. Download Ancient Aliens every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
¶ Neighbor's Unprovoked Knife Attack
It's February 2002 in Rockford, Illinois. Jim has just finished his workout at the local YMCA and is walking home to his apartment. I tried to exercise six days a week. It was a Saturday morning, and I was coming home from the lie. My neighbor, Tom, caught up with me on the sidewalk. and he said, I need to talk to you about some things. And I thought, Well, seeing as how it's February, winter, a little chilly. Rather than to talk outside, come on upstairs.
He is 20 years younger than me, so he at the time was 34. So I brought him upstairs, and when he got up there, he looked at a number of pictures on my wall, blow-ups of vacation pictures. And he said, What are these? And I explained him to him one by one. And then this it was kind of odd. He didn't say anything. And I thought That's kind of strange, because his reason for coming up here was to talk to me about something. He's not talking. Something's wrong.
For a few more seconds he stood there and did nothing, and then I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he reached into his coat pocket. and he pulled out a utility knife. He snipped my phone cord, and then slammed me up against the wall with his arm under my chin, and he said, God told me to kill you And then he put his arm under my chin and slammed me up against the wall.
And then he jerked his arm a few times till my nose was pointed straight up in the air, and the skin on my neck was pretty tight. And then he slashed my throat almost over and back, ear to ear, twice. He said during the attack, today's the day you die, and then a little later he said, I'm going to stand here and watch you die. After he did this
Of course, suddenly I was bleeding very profusely, and I my thought was Tom, what are you doing? That was the only thing that I could think of to say. He said, I need two hundred dollars. I said, Tom, I don't carry$200 with me. Well, you have a checkbook, he said, right? Yes. Go get it. So I went and got the checkbook. I wrote the check for$200, brought it out to him. He looked at it and he goes, oh man, you got blood all over it. He knew he wouldn't be able to cash it.
He didn't get angry. It was that same demeanor that I had seen with him before. No smiles, real serious. It was just, this is what I need to do today. Tom was a crack cocaine addict. I had my arms out like this, and my hand drifted across the tea kettle on my stove. I picked that up. And hit him as hard as I could, right about in here. He never even flinched. He never felt it. At this point I was wondering what is wrong with this guy? He should be out cold,
I don't remember feeling angry toward him. I remember feeling very confused. I couldn't understand what was bringing my neighbor to do this to me. I had really covered the floor with my blood. And I at one point slipped in my own blood on the linoleum floor and then fell on my hands and knees. and that's when he took the knife and slashed down in the lower part of my back and across my left kidney.
The one on my back was the one that I really remember as hurting. The others were so sharp that it was like shock. But that one I really remembered. And I kinda yelled out when he did that one.
¶ Wounded Escape to Hospital
He had just told me, maybe less than a minute before, I'm gonna stand here and watch you die. And it was like I heard myself saying, You get out of here. And without another word, this guy that had just told me he was gonna watch me die very quietly walked down the steps and out the door. and I was amazed. I thought, you know, I might be living through this after all. When I heard the door shut, I got up and Thought what do I do now? I can't call the hospital because he snipped my phone card.
I don't have a cell phone. Guess I'll have to drive to the hospital. The thought popped into my head, I need to let the police know who this is that did this to me, so that in case they find me dead, They'll know who to arrest. My intention was to write Tom Roach Did This. But when I got done writing Tom Roach, I was starting to feel woozy, so I thought I'd better just leave it and get to the car as quick as I can. Jim's car was parked outside on the street.
So I leaned against the wall and kind of stumbled down the steps. and out to my car, I was wondering where Tom was. Was he going to run up beside me? Throw the door open? I didn't know I didn't have any idea where he was. During the attack, my glasses had been knocked off, so my vision was bad anyway. But it was made much worse, I guess, because of the significant amount of blood I had lost.
I could not see the stoplight. My it was like I was driving through a very thick fog. The light was red. Finally I honestly thought that I saw the light change to green. So I drove across and ended up in the circle drive of the hospital. At that time of the morning, on Saturday, the door is locked. But the amazing thing was, a security guard jumped out of his van and said, hey, you can't park there. When I got out of the car, he saw my blood-soaked shirt. And that's when I said, Can you help me?
¶ Miraculous Recovery and Fitness Impact
And he leaned me over the hood of my car and applied pressure to a gusher in my neck. Jim had extensive surgery and remained in intensive care for four days. I ended up with 118 staples and 53 stitches. I was later told by a doctor friend that in the slash across my n throat, he missed my jugular vein by less than an inch. Tom Roach was sentenced to 25 years for attempted murder. Police discovered that Roach also murdered another neighbor in 1999.
The same thing happened. He attacked him, demanded money. The thing is, I survived. This other man died. And the doctors gave my level of fitness, probably from being a member of the Y and using it five or six times a week, for having a very good heart. Which kept me conscious long enough to get to the hospital. Otherwise, I probably would have passed out and bled to death. This October, Fear is free on Pluto TV with horror movie collections from paranormal activity, The Ring. You will die in
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