I Just Felt Blood Gushing Everywhere - podcast episode cover

I Just Felt Blood Gushing Everywhere

Dec 29, 202540 min
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Summary

Three distinct survival stories unfold: Dan and Danielle endure a terrifying abduction, rape, and shooting, battling the elements and their attacker's cruelty. Brothers James and David face freezing death after falling through river ice during a snowmobiling trip. Finally, Karli recounts two separate, horrific acid attacks and kidnappings, bravely fighting for her life each time. The episode delves into the sheer will to survive and the long-lasting impacts of such traumas.

Episode description

Daniel and Danielle confront a sudden, violent crisis together. Brothers James and David fight to survive a brutal encounter where escape seems impossible. Karli faces multiple terrifying attacks alone, relying on instinct and determination to live.

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Transcript

Listener Discretion and Introduction

This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. I just thought that I was going to die. I started to spit up blood and I could see it on the ground. And I suddenly just felt very tired. Real people. She pulled out a gun. She said, you do it again, bitch, and I'll shoot you. Who faced death. It was just a white...

frozen world. No tracks, no cars, no red lights, nothing. And I knew right then that I, you know, I was done. And live to tell how. He kind of looked over at me and kind of gave me this look and was like, so, you said you'll do anything. This is I Survived.

A Second Date Turns Deadly

It's January 2000 in Goldsboro, Pennsylvania. 18-year-old Dan meets up with Danielle for their second date. She had suggested that we just go for a walk because there was sort of like some nice scenic area right by her home. They walked to the bank of a nearby river. As we were at the spot at the marina, skipping rocks.

A truck pulled up and out came this guy. He opened up his passenger door and out jumped this big Rottweiler. And the guy was like, oh, don't worry. You know, he loves the water. I bring him down here all the time. After maybe about five minutes of chit-chat, he, uh... got his dog back into the truck, asked us if we needed a ride anywhere, and we said no, and he drove off. As we were walking out, I guess he turned around behind us and he came up behind us and blocked our path with his truck.

Kidnapped and Driven Remote

He opened the door and stepped out, and he was holding a gun. To be completely honest, it felt like I had kind of stepped into a nightmare or a bad movie. It didn't feel real at all. He just motioned with the gun, and he said, get in the truck. And Danny and I were both dumbfounded. It was a red Ford pickup truck. It had a cap on the back of the bed of the truck. He opened the rear trunk and...

told us both to get in, and as soon as Danny had gotten in, he changed his mind and told her he wanted her in the cab with him, but told me to get into the back with his dog. The dog was huge. And I've never had a dog before, and they've always made me pretty nervous, but he seemed really friendly. I did have a cell phone, and as soon as we started driving, I got the phone out.

And I tried to call 911, but it simply didn't have any coverage down there. I remember just very clearly and vividly thinking, I'm going to die today. Today is the last day of my life. At this time, he started saying stuff to me like he was kidnapping us because my dad owed a whole bunch of money for this. drug company and that he wasn't paying, so he was kidnapping me for ransom money. And I completely did not believe anything that he was saying.

He actually passed right by my house, which was another thing. He didn't tell me to duck or anything. So obviously I knew that he did not know me at all. He didn't know where I lived because we passed right by my house. As we were driving by, I saw actually my stepdad and my brother were standing out on the porch. My brother and I made eye contact with each other, and I put my hand up like this so he would see me, and my brother actually waved back to me.

So I knew that he had seen me. And I don't really know what was going through my head at that time, but it almost felt like that was the last time I was going to see my home. A man has forced Dan and Danielle into his truck at gunpoint.

Threats and Forced Assault

They're driven 12 miles to a remote area by a river. He told us to walk down to the bank, and he just walked behind us and had us stand next to each other right by the water. kept trying to express to us how helpless he was and how bad he felt about the fact that he would have to do this, that he would have to kidnap us, and that he would have to kill us.

To emphasize his points, he would shoot the gun into the river. And he shot it like two or three times to kind of emphasize his points. And that was the first time that I had heard the gun go off. So that made it even more real. It was extremely terrifying. And the longer we stood out there, the longer we realized how desperate and dangerous this situation was. So we really just started to... To plead with him Dan like the whole time was like

Like pleading stuff like, you know, I'll give you my wallet. I even have like a laptop at home. I have my car. I'll give you my car. I'll give you whatever you want. Just please let us go. Don't hurt us. He said that we'd seen his face and there was no way that he could ever let us go. At that point when he turned us around and led us back to the truck, I was pretty certain that we would die. Either this man was crazy or he really was on some sort of a mission to kidnap and murder us.

he wasn't going to stop until he was done at that point when we got back into the truck you know because of course we were both pleading like you know um we'll do anything just please don't hurt us um it kind of looked over at me and Kind of gave me this look and was like so he said you'll do anything At that point it hadn't crossed my mind at all That it really hadn't

But I knew exactly what he was talking about. And I thought, okay, I'll do this. Then, you know, he'll let us go. He'll have gotten what he wanted. And that'll be it. It'll be done with. and it'll be over, and we'll be alive. I kind of just, you know, nodded my head. And he was like, take off your clothes, and that...

At that point, he raped me. And actually, in the middle of that, Dan, I remember this, Dan actually lifted his head up. Dan was in the back cab of the truck. And I was trying to look through the back window. When he noticed me, he said, Keep your effing head down and so I just I realized what was going on and I I just buried my head and And just prayed that Danny would be taken away from that I just

I felt terrible, but I didn't think that there was really anything that I could do. You know, I wasn't even there. It was just my body. It's almost, when I think about it, like... It's almost like third person watching it, you know, in my memory. What I remember next is that He basically, you know, he started pulling on his pants and he was like, just get out of the truck. And he instructed me to get out the back again. Again, I had to climb out. And at this point, I was like, okay.

Shot and Left for Dead

He got what he want from us. He's just going to let us go. Everything's going to be fine. We'll get back home. And this will all be just like a bad nightmare. He told us once again to walk down to the bank. And Dani asked him, she said, Now you're going to let us go, right? And he said yes. He said he was going to let us go. I was just praying with all my heart that he would just get into his truck and just leave us. At some point...

I must have tried to turn around to see what he was going to do. And I just felt this tremendous force that was so powerful and so fast that... My mind couldn't even keep up with it, and everything sort of slowed down as I fell to the ground. Dan had been shot in the neck at point-blank range. He was lying on the ground. I saw blood coming out of his mouth. And at that moment, I was like, I'm going to die. That's it. I could tell that I was bleeding, but...

I wasn't sure from where. I just thought that I was going to die. I thought there was no chance. I started to spit up blood and I could see it on the ground. And I suddenly just felt... Very tired and that's where I saw You know the blood coming out of his mouth and I And I turned to the left and I kneeled down at him so we could talk

We were saying goodbye to each other. You know, I love you. And then he closed his eyes. The next thing I remember is hearing some loud bangs. And, I mean, the next thing I remember was... Danielle had been shot in the face. As it hit her, she fell backwards into the water. After she had fallen into the water backwards, he fired again at her.

Icy River Survival and Rescue

The gunman pushed Dan into the icy river. Then I hit the water, the frigid water, and I immediately woke up. I was immediately coherent again and wide awake. and somehow realized exactly what situation I was in and exactly where I was and exactly what had happened. I came to and I was actually floating in the river and at that point I realized that I actually had been shot.

I actually had been shot through the jaw. I couldn't move my left leg either, so I figured that I had been shot in my leg also. In the river I started, I was spitting out like pieces of...

You know, I could feel my tongue flopping around in my mouth. The bullet had nearly severed Danielle's tongue. As I'm in this frigid water, I realize he's... standing at the bank looking at me and so I did my best to play dead and just try to float along with the current and just let him believe that okay he had shot me and I had died and now my body was just gonna float down the river.

We were actually like in the middle of the river, staring towards shore, watching the sky, staring at us. When I woke up in the river, I actually remember seeing... Dan further out in the river. And he actually was alive, so he hadn't died. I just remember thinking, you know, my gosh, we're both so alive. As I'm floating, I realize that I can see Danny too. She realizes that he's still back there as well. He was just standing there staring at us.

And I remember Dan saying to me, he was like, just don't move. If we don't move, he's going to think that we're dead. We couldn't believe that that had just happened and that we were still alive. And we were terribly frightened that he was going to try to come and finish us off. Eventually, we watched him get back in his truck, and he left. And that's when Dan was like, okay, we got to swim towards shore. I mean, Dan, like, I wanted to just...

fall asleep, pass out. I mean, I couldn't talk. I couldn't move one of my legs. I was just exhausted. So Dan was just, like, guiding me this whole time. We started swimming towards shore, and that's actually when we saw a guy, like, sitting up there on a chair, like, up on this hill. and we were trying to call out. Every time I would talk, I'd feel my tongue bouncing in my mouth. I don't know how he understood us, but we kept saying, we've been shot, we've been shot, we need help, we need help.

As we got close, the older man was coming down to us, and he said, there's a pickup truck coming. I'm going to stop them and get help. We saw a red truck again. And of course, the first thing that went through our minds was like, oh my gosh, he's back. When we had screamed at him, we were like, no, don't go up there. Don't get that guy. He's the one who shot us, but he either didn't hear us or didn't understand what we were saying.

And so as soon as he ran back towards this truck, we tried to get back into the water and decided we were going to try to swim away. We swam back into the river and then... As Dan looked back, he said, no, that's not him. Those are other people to save us. That's when he came back with two other men and asked us, why are you back in the water again? He's like, get back up here.

The men helped Dan and Danielle out of the river. One of the other guys kind of dragged me up further onto the shore, and he put his coat over me and put his hat on me to keep me warm. I felt safe at that point. I did.

Attacker Convicted, Survivors Heal

Two days after Dan and Danielle were rescued, an arrest was made. William Babner was convicted of kidnap, rape, and attempted homicide and sentenced to 117 to 235 years. In some ways, initially, he took away my faith in humanity. And that was probably the hardest thing. My friends were going out to parties and, you know, seemed like they didn't have a care in the world. And at some points, I was afraid to go to the library by myself at night.

It was just across campus. So I had to learn how to do all that again. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. what would have happened if either one of us wouldn't have made it, but I think we together, you know, we just, I don't know, we just have a strength that just unites us, you know. I think that I survived.

so that Danny would be all right. And I think that in some ways she survived so that I'd be all right. Because I don't think if either one of us were in that situation by ourselves, we'd still be around today. Danielle has since married and had a child. She remains close friends with Dan. From homes with pools to poolside loungers. When you book a Verbo, you don't have to reserve any loungers. They're all yours. Get that early booking deal at Verbo.com.

Brothers' Snowmobiling Disaster

It's February 2005 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Brothers James and David are looking forward to snowmobiling. We'd spent the whole winter without any snow, just cold weather. And to wake up in the morning and see this... blanket of white fallen fluffy snow was awesome. I mean the first thing I thought is how we get to go snowmobiling today you know. We are fortunate because we live on the frozen river and there's snowmobiling and ice fishing and we took off right from our homes.

went up the river. It's very common to ride on a river in Wisconsin. A lot of the trails are on the rivers. When we got to the trail system, we found out that nothing was marked. And since it's in a remote wooded area, It's really hard to find your way around. So we decided to go back to the river because it's a lot easier to navigate that way. The recent snowfall concealed a dangerously thin layer of ice covering the river.

So I took off and a couple seconds I was out into the middle of this river and the whole river just exploded. I saw his sled turn on the side and go straight down and I saw him in the water. fighting to stay afloat if you've ever jumped in ice water it just sucks the life right out of you i mean just all your air leaves your body and uh it's it's it's painful i had a helmet on

aviator style helmet on my head so I couldn't see anything. I was in a tunnel already. And the weight of my clothing and the boots and everything was like pulling me like a tow cable to the bottom. David had fallen through the ice 100 yards from shore. I immediately got off and ran to his position on that side of the shoreline where I could be parallel with him. I yelled his name.

and I screamed as loud as I could scream. But I knew somehow that he couldn't hear me. I thought, you know, there's only 15 minutes. I'm going to get hypothermia, and I'm going to die if I don't get out of here. Hypothermia is a severe and rapid drop in body temperature. It can cause organ failure and death. So what I did was almost immediately I looked at the sky and I could see the... two treetops off in the distance and they maybe were 100, 200 yards away. I took off kind of in a backstroke.

throwing both of my arms over my head at the same time because I couldn't lean forward. I couldn't breathe leaning forward. I had to go backwards. David was heading towards the middle of the river. He just was doing everything he could to break the ice to keep...

James's Perilous Rescue Attempt

to try to go the direction he was started, which was the wrong way. He just continued to go further out into the river. From the side of the river, James had seen a house half a mile away. I thought I better get on my machine and... head south to where I thought was good ice, get across a river and get to that house to get help. Just as I thought to myself, you know, you should probably pick up your speed, the river took me too.

My machine sank and I was struggling for my life. While snowmobiling, David has fallen through ice into a river. He has been in the water for 20 minutes and is almost 200 yards from shore. I had shot my mittens off my hands now, so my hands were open. It was painful, you know, they were frozen and they were like axes breaking this ice. The helmet was so tight.

around my throat with the buckle. I didn't have the ability to hardly breathe, let alone go underwater and try to get my helmet off i could barely see out of it you can only see forward you have no lateral vision it's it's like it's like a tunnel right right here by looking up and back he could see trees

I couldn't hear my brother. I didn't know if he was in the river. And all I knew was the tops of these two tall trees, and that was where I was going. Trying to save his brother, James had also fallen into the river. I went into the river about 100 yards offshore, about a half mile south of my brother. As every minute passed and I was fighting to bust my way to shore, it felt like I had moved like 50 yards and I turned around and I saw where I had gone in.

and the small track I had made towards shore, and it was like 15 to 20 feet. It came to a point where I didn't think I was going to make it because I was really getting cold. 15 minutes of exposure to freezing temperatures can lead to organ failure. An hour can be enough to cause death. And I took my helmet off and I threw it towards shore in an attempt to say, you know, this is where I went in.

I said, if they find my helmet, then they'll know where to start looking for us. Took off my gloves and I started kicking off my boots because I thought I had to lighten myself to get up on the ice. And that's when I saw my... Wedding ring, yeah, on my left hand, shining, you know, it was, my hand was up on the ice and I, everything just started swimming over me and emotional, my kids, my four children, my wife.

I switched to that survival mode at that point and just said, I have to get out. I finally got up far enough on the ice where I could shimmy my way up onto the ice, and I did get out of the water, finally. And I laid there on the ice and I just started to cry because I had no boots. I had bare feet. I was just real cold. I couldn't feel my legs below my knees and my arms below my elbows. Nothing was really working.

And I laid on the ice, and I just cried and said, what am I going to do? At that point, the guilt came over me again, saying, you're safe. You need to save your brother. And I got up, and I started hobbling back towards where my brother had gone in. David was in the icy water 100 yards away. I thought I heard my brother calling for me, but I just couldn't see him and I didn't really know if I was hearing him. I didn't know. It's like, you know...

Is this a fairy tale? Is he really there? Am I, you know, are you going to survive this? I started inching my way out on the ice on my hands and knees. The ice groaned and creaked under me and cracked. So I laid down on my belly and I started... inching my way out on the ice and I got halfway across the ice and the ice was just so thin I could see the water under it I froze halfway across I just froze in fear

The cold was getting so deep into my body and my ribs wouldn't expand. David's core temperature had fallen to below 83 degrees Fahrenheit. The heart stops functioning at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The next moment I really remember is being under the surface of the water and looking up and everything was blurry and my helmet was full of water and I don't...

know how I got down there, but I was at the bottom of the river. It's like 12 feet deep there. Right then I knew I was, you know, gonna die. An hour after falling through ice into a river, David is close to freezing to death. Too weak to unbuckle his heavy helmet, he sinks to the bottom. My helmet was full of water and I don't...

know how I got down there, but I was at the bottom of the river. It's like 12 feet deep there. And I saw the surface and I swam up for it. And I was furious. I was absolutely positively as mad as I've ever been in my life. I dropped all my adrenaline into my bloodstream because it was the last ditch. It was, here's the last boost of energy. When I came up, And I saw the tree and I started busting the ice again and it hurt so bad. 150 yards from shore, he could only see the tops of two trees.

I remember looking at the trees and saying, OK, I can look now. And if I'm going to live, there's going to be EMS, a fire truck, a helicopter, guys in fireman suits. And I remember looking. at the tree and following it down to the base with my mouth underwater and seeing there was nobody there. It was just a white, frozen world. No tracks, no cars, no red lights, nothing. And I knew right then that I, you know, I was done.

100 yards away, David's brother James was trying to crawl across the ice. He needed to reach shore to get help. It was so thin. No idea it was that thin under that snow. I froze. And then those emotions flew over me again, saying, my brother's still in the water. He's holding on, and you're alive. Get yourself. Get some help.

I had gone another 50 yards or so, and then I broke through again. And I was probably 25 yards from shore. And I worked my way to where I could get up on the ice again and got out.

James had seen a house half a mile away. And I started running and it was more of a shuffle through the snow with my bare feet and I was throwing up. Running is an arduous task when you're... hypothermic and your suit is frozen solid it was it was frozen like a steel suit it was so heavy drenched with water that I would fall down and just try to get back up but I was so exhausted

I finally ended up taking my suit off and what I had underneath was long underwear and that was a lot easier to run. When I got to the house, I... I told him to dial 911 that my brother had died in the river. He's been in the water an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and a half, and there's no way he's still alive. The owner phoned 911 for help. I just took off running again.

towards where my brother's last position where i knew where he was i couldn't see any of his body i thought it was just his helmet i thought he had got his helmet off and then he had sunk or something and i started inching my way out to my where my brother's helmet was

A Brother's Unyielding Love

Then I saw his hand moving just below the water surface, and I said, oh my God, he's still alive. My throat was frozen. My ribs were frozen. I was breathing with my stomach muscles. Right when I was gonna quit right when I you know I tried to reach my hand up and touch the ice and it snapped off and That's right when my brother said hang on Dave. I'm coming and You know

couldn't believe it, you know, that he was actually, you know, he was coming. The next thing I remember is my brother grabbing me by the chin, by the... of my helmet and yanking me out of the river and saying, you know, Dave, I love you. I love you so much. Hang on. At the same time, I heard the ambulance coming. I could hear it off in the distance coming down the road. And the joy that I felt from that point, just thinking that we had both made it, you know, it was pretty elating, you know.

David was in the hospital for two days having surgery on his hands for nerve and tendon damage. It's the most beautiful thing. My brother could go through what he went through and pull me out of there. If I didn't think he was coming to save me, if I didn't, I never would have paddled as hard as I did for as long as I did. I knew I had to give him time. I knew he would do it.

He was in an incredible shape, and I think that helped him. And not only that, his drive to live. James received a medal of bravery for the rescue of his brother. It's just a love for your family. I love my brother and you can't imagine the horror of watching a loved one die slowly in front of you. It was very humbling and it was scary, but... It's the instinct you have for family to do what you have to do to make sure that they survive. It's March 2006 in Chicago, Illinois.

Karli's First Terrifying Attack

Leaving her apartment for work, Carly goes to the parking garage. I just went down to the parking garage. It was some levels down. And as soon as I got through the door, I noticed that... There was a car full of guys. They looked like Hulums and they looked like they didn't belong there. And I was scared. I was really afraid because...

As soon as I looked at them, they looked at me, and I knew that I was suddenly the center of their attention. And there was no one else around, so I was trying to think of how I could escape. As I started running towards my car, they started running towards me, and there was one big guy, and he just ran up and just punched me in the face.

So I had my hands up. I said, what, what, what do you want? I was trying to give them my car keys and my purse. He punched me so hard, I fell backwards. And then I just felt blood gushing everywhere. I was panicking, jumped up, and that's when they started to pick me up. Each one of them had a limb and they were carrying me over towards my car. So...

I was kicking them, scratching them, punching, doing everything that I could. I was wiggling around. I was just doing everything that my mom had taught me to do if anyone ever tried to kidnap me. She said that if... Someone ever tries to kidnap you and they try and take you to another location You need to do whatever you can to get away Because nine times out of ten you're not coming back alive

I thought they were going to kill me because they kept saying that. They kept saying, shut up, bitch, before we kill you, and just punching me. So I thought that it was over for me. They carried me to my car and popped the trunk. So I was, you know, trying to grab onto the bumper, anything that I could to not get my body entirely into the trunk I was doing. And eventually they pushed me in and he closed it.

moment of panic but I realized I still had my phone and it happened to flip open and when it did that the light automatically came on and it was able to kind of illuminate my trunk and I realized that Most new cars have a trunk release button. So I popped it, tried to hop out. They all came rushing back, punching me in the face, and I felt a splash in my face.

It smelled kind of like ammonia, and it was burning really badly. So I was panicking, like, oh, my goodness. I can't see. I'm blind. And he took my phone away and stuffed me back into the trunk. Turns out that it was acid. It had burned through my winter coat, my pants, everything in my trunk was burned. And I started to cry, but I think my tears ended up helping me because it ended up...

Escape and Lingering Threat

be flushing the acid out of my eyes. My mom passed away in February of 2005, and she was a Chicago police officer for about 14 years. And I honestly I heard her voice. In that moment when I was in the trunk, I heard, Car, you better fight and you better get out of here. And that was enough for me to just say, okay, I have to go. or else I'm gonna die. I heard one of the guys jump into my car and I had actually tried to pull the centerpiece down and I was able to see him in my driver's seat.

So I couldn't figure out if I was going to try and push through the middle part and climb through, or if I was going to jump out of the trunk again. I decided to pop the trunk again, but I kept it closed. as tightly as I could because the other guys had jumped into a car that was trailing my car. So I kept it closed and I knew it took exactly four revolutions down the ramp.

I just held tight, and I knew that every time we were going around, I kind of went to the right. So I just counted and waited. And as soon as I saw the light, I jumped out of the trunk. I actually rolled into the other car and the other car immediately pumped the brakes and stopped so I could hear it go. That's when I knew I wasn't hit because the bumper was like right above my head.

I jumped up and I realized that one of my neighbors happened to be walking either in or out of the building and I screamed and asked him for help. The cars just took off and I ran inside and I... I'm like, please call 9-1-1. Some men just tried to kill me and kidnap me, help me. The police came almost immediately. I was a mess. The jacket that I had on was...

eaten away by acid. There was blood everywhere. And that's how they knew that something is really wrong here. The police investigated the case, but Carly's attackers were not identified. Her car was not found, so there were no fingerprints. And the parking garage surveillance cameras were not working. There was no physical evidence to convict any of them on the kidnapping.

Auto theft, the assault, all of these things that they did to me. The police also uncovered that Carly's boyfriend had a criminal record. I think that these people targeted me because I was... Dating someone who was not the person that I thought he was. And, you know, later found out that he had an extensive criminal record. And police have told me that he may have...

you know, done something to these people to make them really upset. And instead of them going after him, they went after the closest person to him. I moved back. to the suburbs where my dad was living. And that's where I felt safest. Since none of them had been arrested, I was afraid that something else might happen to me. And unfortunately, something else did happen.

Second Violent Acid Assault

Carly has been attacked with battery acid in a parking garage, and her assailants had not been caught. A month later, Carly returns to her old apartment for some clothes. I noticed a guy and two girls coming into the lobby. And I looked at the guy, and he was the same person who... had punched me in the face and tried to kill me. So I looked at him, he looked at me, I panicked. It was at that moment that I knew either he lived in the building or he was a guest of someone in the building.

That was shattering for me that this man who had attacked me could possibly live in the same building as me. It was very scary. Carly's attacker and the two women left. I called the detectives I'd been working with. And they actually had me come in a week later to identify him. And I did. When the police went to serve him his warrant and arrest him.

He was caught throwing drugs over his balcony window. The police arrested Carly's attacker on a drug charge. He was never charged for his assault on Carly. There was no physical evidence to connect. him to what had happened to me. So that was a huge disappointment for me. Carly had moved 20 miles away to live with her father in the town of Evanston, Illinois.

Two months after the attack, Carly visited her cousin, who also lived in Evanston. As I left her apartment, I started walking towards my car. I think it was like 10 o'clock at night. So there was no one else on this residential street. Then I noticed, just like a few cars away from mine, there were two women standing outside. And again, they just...

didn't look like they belonged there. And the two women started walking towards me, and one of them said, hey, can you give my sister directions to Dempster? And... I was like, well, if you're in this small town and you don't know where Dempster is, you aren't from here or you don't belong here. So again, I started running towards my car.

Survival, Justice, and Healing

They started running towards me. I had on flip-flops that day, unfortunately. I made it to my car, and I had gotten in, but one of the women, she pulled out a gun. So she's trying to get her hand with the gun into my car, and I'm using one hand to try and figure out how to start my car, and the other to slam her hand with the gun in my car door.

Eventually, she got the gun all the way in. She said, you do it again, bitch, and I'll shoot you. Put my hands in the air, and I said, here, take my car, take my purse. And then that's when suddenly I felt a huge splash into my face. Same smell, same burn. It had happened all over again. Only this time... It was way more powerful. It was way worse. So I had my hands in the air, and you can see that I had burns. I was in a surrender position.

jumped out of the car screaming for my life and my clothes were just melting off of my body. So I'm screaming and I see them looking at me, just looking at me. I didn't know. if they were just waiting for me to die or, you know, they were that sadistic or they didn't realize the power of what they'd done to me. So I ran quickly up the stairs into my cousin's house.

I kept feeling like I was going blind almost. But what happened was the acid got into my eyes again and my contact had almost melted onto my eye. I remember my cousin calling 911 and... I kept saying, those girls, those girls. These were the same two women who were in the apartment building walking into the lobby with that guy. Carly's first attacker, Gabriel Morton, was arrested on an unrelated drug charge and sentenced to eight years in prison. Carly believes the two attacks were linked.

My attacker had been arrested about a month after he first attacked me and after the second attack When I saw the two women, I knew, you know, they know each other somehow, some way, so he must have sent them after me. After you've been through something like that, you suddenly have a new identity once you're burned. Carly was in the hospital for six weeks with third degree burns. Over the last two years, she has undergone 12 surgeries. I don't just have physical scars. I obviously have...

a lot of emotional scars too from this. I'm careful about who I allow to come into my life and it's just taken me a long time to even move out on my own again. just trust people the same. I survived because I listened to that little voice inside of me that told me I had to get away and I had to fight back. Nicole Baker was convicted of heinous assault and jailed for 15 years. Her accomplice was never charged.

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