The Survival of Jennifer Schuett

In the victim's own words, I woke up to him dragging me by the ankles through this field, and he dropped my legs. I heard him walk off, and heard his car door slam and him drive away. I realized I couldn't scream, and I couldn't figure out why. I had just enough strength to throw my right hand on top of my neck, and that's when I felt this gaping wound. And I looked at my hand and it was full of blood. I was eight years old. I was just left to die in a field. I'm Nicole,

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Have no chick, but I am drinking whiskey.

You are, actually, so today we're sharing. We will be sharing Jennifer Schwitt's story. Now trigger warning. As I mentioned the intro, this story does involve a little girl who is eight years old, which is real shitty.

Yeah, but I'm.

Going to be nice and tell you right off the bat that this is a survivor story, so you may want to stick around to find out how incredible this little eight year old just is.

I'm I know this is not going to be a fun one, but I'm also very anxious because I want to hear the story and I'm super pumped that it is a survivor story.

Well yeah, see, like if it was an eight year old involved and it wasn't a survivor story, it would just be shit.

Right Yeah, Like, I know we're going to go through some depressing shit here. Oh yeah, but I know the light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm like looking forward to getting to that light part, you know.

Yep.

Okay, So in August ninth, nineteen ninety, in Dickinson Texas Dick Dickinson. Like Charles Dickinson, Jennifer Schewett was home with her mother, Elaine. Elaine was a single mom, but she was doing everything she could to make sure that Jennifer had a good childhood and didn't miss for anything. And Jennifer, even though at that very young age, understood what her mother was trying to do and what she was trying to give her, which I'm like, that's impressive, that is awesome.

I can't blame her.

I mean, I'm kind of afraid of it.

I still am. I Okay, I'm going to admit something here. Mirrors in the dark. Yeah you read that fuck out of me?

Yeah you hate it.

Yeah. So when I go to the bathroom in the middle of night, that light is getting switched on, or I do not make eye contact with the mirror. I like talk to myself my head like it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. And I walked by it really quick.

I mean even outside, like in the dark when I get home and i'm and I'm from my car to the house, like I almost to seel like running like shit, yeah, like I mean, it takes away one of your five senses. Oh yeah, right, you can't see very well.

And there's this saying that I heard not too long ago. Actually, it's that you're not afraid to be alone in the dark. It's that you're afraid you're not alone in the dark.

Oh that's it. Yeah, that's terrifying, isn't it. Holy shit, I haven't heard that.

That's fucking horrifying. And that nails it.

It does, and I hate that. Oh gosh, Now I

Wow, I know, way to tug at the heart strings.

She is like a little sweetheart, and I just feel it's kind of rare at that age to kind of be showing your parents like appreciation. So it sort of just shows like what an absolute gem she is.

I think so. And I don't know if i'd say it's rare, Like I think a lot of younger kids do show that love and appreciation. I think it's just how they show it, to be able to show it on the level that adults generally communicate it, I think that that's pretty rare.

It almost just seems like she understands what her mom is like. I don't know if sacrificing is the right word, but doing for her, yeah, which is really cool.

She has that compassion.

Yeah. So Elaine kissed her daughter good night, and Jennifer headed to her room, where she turned on her lamp, which was shaped like a light bulb that she just loved so much because it lit up her entire room and she didn't have to be afraid of the dark in there.

Right.

The lamp itself was shaped like a big ass light bulb.

Okay, so it was like a light bulb and a light bulb. Okay, Yeah, I thought it was weird that you described that the light was shaped like light bulb.

Well, it was like I have a picture in my head, but it was a lamp that was shaped like a light bulb and it was super bright.

No, I got you now. Yeah, it took me a second, so I had to clarify.

So after spending some time reading, Jennifer was able to fall asleep. Now fast forward to the following morning, as Elaine was waking up for the day. Within minutes, she realized that something was horribly wrong. She hadn't heard anything unusual during the night, nothing that woke her up, but when she went into Jennifer's room to check on her, there was no Jennifer. Her bed was empty, and her bedroom window was wide open. Fuck, Like, that is not something a parent would ever want.

Any parent, that would be your Whether it's sea, yeah, that's that's where you're immediately going.

And you're like no, because whether they were stolen or like the kid just kind of like snuck out somehow or got out, Like, that's fucking terrifying. So Elaine immediately contacted the police, but by then some of the worst things imaginable had already happened to her daughter. Jennifer had woken up in the middle of the night, and she was no longer in her warm bed, but in the arms of a man who was running away from her home.

Wow.

Jennifer had no idea who this man was or what he was doing with her, as she went to scream and get the attention of anyone who may be awake at this time. The man realized Jennifer had woken and clamped his hand down around her mouth and her nose before she could even make a noise. As they approached his car, he stuffed her inside, making her sit on his lap, and sped away from her home, her safe place. But Jennifer wasn't going to make things easy for him.

Well, I mean, he's throwing out like you can trust me. Any little kid who are that?

Who can they trust the police?

They trust the police, right, Yeah, So that's what he's doing right right there. He's trying to gain her trust with the first person a little kid.

Could so disturbing. And I wonder if even like had that plan. Well I don't. The whole thing really wasn't planned. So he was just throwing out shit to try and make her calm the fuck down.

I guess probably. I bet you if he planned it, he would have had like a fake badge or something, because little kids, no cops had their back.

Actress and she'll ask about this here. So so Jennifer believed him, at least enough that she stopped fighting to get her way to get away from him. But she was a bright kid, and something about all this just didn't sit right with her. She kept or asking him questions like where they were going and what was going on, and eventually he pulled into a dark parking lot outside her elementary school and killed the engine of his car.

She's definitely bright if she's thinking.

She's literally eight yeah, like that's I don't know, she blows me away like that's just the icing. Well not, that's just like the tip of the iceberg.

Wow, Okay, So she's really like analyzing this, like yeah, like.

Esse, you wait, dude. So Jennifer pushed him a little bit more, asking him to prove that he was really a police officer, but the man only told her that his name was Dennis. That was enough for Jennifer for a while, but then she wanted more proof that he was what he said he was. She asked him where his gun and his badge were, and Dennis told her that they were in the back seat of his car and she could actually see them if she knelt on

Wait, his real face?

Was he like true colors?

Okay? Gotcha?

Yeah? So Dennis then drove just a few blocks away. It was a dead and gravel rolled rode, and he pulled off into an over grown field. Jennifer, at this point was panicking. Dennis then had a knife, held a knife to Jennifer's throat and said, am I scaring you? Little girl? Am I scaring you?

Fuck?

Like that's enough to give you goosebumb say? He attacked Jennifer both physically and sexually. He choked her, tried to break her neck, viciously raped her, slit her throat open, all before dragging her by the ankles through a field and leaving her for dead.

Fuck this guy, oh yeah, shit, he.

Is the epitome of like a nasty motherfucker.

Oh beyond beyond like when you first started describing his assault on her, like beyond disturbed and then having the audacity to continue and do those things. And am I scaring you little girl? Oh yeah, Like, holy fuck you are, Like.

Obviously you're scaring her, you piece of shit.

Yeah, well he's getting off on it is what it is.

Yeah, Like it's very disturbing. Oh fuck, Like it's so disturbing that people like this exist in the world.

Yeah.

Oh So, once Dennis left the crime scene without being caught or even seen, he was essentially getting away with a truly terrible crime. He had no connections to Elaine and Jennifer. He'd just seen Jennifer through her bedroom window and sense an opportunity, and unfortunately for so many people, his moral compass didn't lead him away from taking it.

So he just happened upon seeing her through a window. That's it. Yeah, really, I see. I was assuming since he took her specifically to her elementary, that he would have seen or known well.

I think it was like a relatively small town. Yeah, but it could have been like the only elementary.

I didn't look up or just so happened to be the one nearby or whatever. Yeah, but I was thinking there was something to that. But okay, coincidence then.

So when he'd sliced Jennifer's throat and left her body in that field, he was killing the only witness to his crimes, essentially guaranteeing that he would get away with it. But that morning, as it became light outside, though by just a thread, Jennifer was still holding on. Fuck yes, she remembers not being able to move her body. She tried to lift her head but couldn't as she went in and out of consciousness every time she would come too. She was in absolute disbelief that she hadn't died yet.

And this is coming from an eight year old girl.

Yeah.

Wow.

She laid there that entire day. It was right before dark when Jennifer she could hear kids playing a game of tag in the field she was in when one of them actually tripped over her foot and she was discovered.

Oh I don't think so. No, could you imagine? Wow?

Well, and you know it wasn't even touched on like the kids that found her, Like how traumatizing for them? No, kidd, I mean Jennifer, it's like much worse her trauma, but like she would not have looked well oh.

No, right, no, the only thing that they would have is the only consolation to it is that she lived through it.

Yeah, but.

Wow, Okay, sorry, my head's just going a million different places with this right now.

I know it's very sad. So Jennifer was covered in blood, her body abused and covered in what looked like a horrible rash, but when first responders got to the scene to start cornering it off, they were in disbelief that she was still alive. She'd actually regained consciousness all the way back when Dennis had dragged her across the field, and somehow she'd kept it together and realized that her best chances of surviving this was to play dead. So

Oh yeah, And can we just talk about that for a sec. Because sure, it's probably kind of obvious that playing dead is your most likely survival point in this.

But I don't even think many adults would think to do that necessarily.

Let's just assume everyone would think that. Okay, okay, just for the sake of this conversation. Here, now tell me you are conscious being dragged through a field.

In immensible pain, slit throat, terrified as an eight year old, and you have the whereabouts to control your fear, your pain to play dead.

Yeah. Like it's like she is one hundred and ten percent like a badass of the day.

Oh no kidding. I can barely hold back tears if I stub my toe.

I know, Yeah, it's it's unbelievable, and it gets even more unbelievable, like it really does. This case is mind blowing to me. It's mind blowing.

Okay, well we'll continue to blow my mind though, Like, yeah, I am going to so as I was saying, her playing dead saved her life in my opinion, very much so.

And that rash that was all of her body was actually a whole bunch of fire ant bites. So Jennifer said that whenever she started to fall asleep or lose consciousness again, the fire ants would bite her and wake her up. So doctors believe that those constant bites throughout the night had kept her body producing adrenaline and kept it from giving up from the loss of blood that she was suffering from, which is like wow, yeah, wow wow. Like if he would have just left her in a

Holy shit.

Yeah, but Jennifer was determined not to make this easy for Dennis. He'd somehow managed to miss all of her major arteries he had sliced through her vocal cords. But even nat wasn't enough to stop Jennifer from telling everything she could remember about the man who kidnapped and assaulted her. She was, of course terrified of most men, especially the officers who came to speak with her and regarding her room right, being that he said he was a police sir. But once they gave her a pen and a pad

You're probably gonna touch on this. I'm sure did he give his real name?

He did? He did?

What a fucking idiot? Good?

Yeah, it is good. I think regardless of that, they would have we'll touch on that, okay. And on the top of it all, she sat down with a sketch artist and through her pen and her pieces of paper, she described exactly what Dennis looked like.

Wow.

Yes, like amazing.

I'm sorry, but I don't know if I sat down with a sketch artist tomorrow, I don't know if I'd be able to describe them what you look like. I've been married to you for over a decade.

I know. Like, honestly, it's just it's kind of it's unbelievable. I don't even know how to describe it. But how like she's eight years old.

That's incredible, like absolutely incredible. There's no words that can describe how someone can have that consciousness to put all that together. In a situation like.

That, when you're scared to death at.

The age of eight, Yeah, like, holy fuck, I.

Know, I know, I'm blown away. So the police and the media made sure that the sketch of Dennis was put up everywhere, but unfortunately, the case still went cold.

Oh dang.

Really, Jennifer had to live with the terror of knowing that Dennis was still out there somewhere, and if he came for her again, she wouldn't even have a voice to scream with. But that eight year old girl was determined to make sure that Dennis got what was coming to him. One day, when she was still in her hospital room, Jennifer cleared her throat and she managed to make a sound.

Fuck.

Yes. Her doctors were amazed. Dennis had sliced all the way through her vocal cords, and her doctors didn't think there was any way that they would ever heal again, but Jennifer once again proved them wrong.

Fucking go Jennifer, I.

Know she's badass. Slowly but surely, she kept working at it, and she got her voice back, And in her own words, she likes to think that she hasn't stopped talking since, which is a good thing. Because she'd have to stay stronger than most people ever have to be for another eighteen years. That was until a new detective, Tim Chromy, took over her case and told her that he was determined to make sure that the man who did this to her was finally brought to.

Justice eighteen years later.

Teen years later. Holy fuck, which is awesome.

I assume this guy was going to get caught within months.

Unfortunately, Wow, okay, no, So he began the huge task of trying to piece all of the evidence together after almost two decades of no breaks in the case. But in that time, DNA technology had come along in leaps and bounds, and something happened that blew this case wide open.

Block.

Yes, so at the crime scene there was pieces of clothing left behind. I think there was some of Jennifer's underwear, like a T shirt his the assholes underwear and his shirt or something. So using some of the clothing that had been found in that field, the investigators were able to extract a sample of her attackers DNA. They sent it away and it took some time, like I think about a year to get results. Being that this was an old case, it wasn't really like top priority, right,

That just like disturbs me that he was a welder.

What do you was a welder? That he's just like living a fucking normal life. And even without what he did to Jennifer the other shit that he had done. Oh, how the fuck is he just living a normal life?

Imagine being his wife and his being part of his family and then finding out this shit. Yeah, like I met you within piece.

Of they have known any of it.

I doubt it, highly doubt it.

Yeah. So the local police department pulled Dennis over on a traffic stop and arrested him on a warrant. Now I'm going to have a glimpse into how the questioning of Dennis went. It was conducted by Detective Tim Cromi and FBI Special Agent Richard Renninson. So agent said, you ever heard the name Jennifer Shwitt. Dennis said yes. He told them that he remembered the story and seeing signs back in the Dickinson Dickinson area. I just wrote, Dickinson,

I'm sure he fucking did.

So the agent then said, did you ever have occasion to come in contact with her? And he said yes. He then asked tell me about it, and Dennis said no, And apparently the way he said no was enough to send chills up your spine, like very just no, like no emotion kind of thing.

I'm surprised he admitted anything.

I know that even knew the name.

Yeah.

Yeah. So the detective then said, you don't want to talk about it, and Dennis said no. The detective said, is there a reason why. Dennis said, you did your homework. The agent you're right, we did do our homework. And then the agent said, if you're remorseful about this, people need to hear that. And the detective said, there's two sides to every story. It was explained to Dennis that he needs to provide all the details of the attack so Jennifer could have the closure that she needs after

Wow m hm. So I mean just like that detective said, there's two sides to every story here, Yeah, first and foremost, Dennis lowest to the low, absolute fucking scum. And I don't say this about many people, at most people who commit crimes like this. However, I will give him props for realizing how fucking scummy he is, for realizing what how disgusting what he did was. Yeah, and having compassion towards what he did.

I know, it's actually amazing because kind of how the interview was going, I didn't necessarily expect it to go any other way.

Yeah, So because most people would deny, deny, deny, go to court, not guilty, like you know. Yeah, And it sounds to me like he, yeah, I did this, and I was fucking disgusting for doing it.

And I think he had been caring it for too long that it almost like he needed to get it off his chest. And even after the attack, I don't have it in there, but he had tried to kill himself. So I mean, like he knows that he did something yeah.

Really wrong, So I feel for him for that, but that doesn't change what he did.

No, and the fact that he got to live eighteen more years and had two more victims that we know of. Yeah, right, there's probably more. Yeah, So his arrest was like lifting a weight from Jennifer's shoulders. She now knew that they had him, that he confessed, and all that was left was to take him to court for sentencing, and Jennifer was going to make sure that she did her part to get him sentenced to the full extent of the law.

Holy shit, Sometimes the universe just does some fun I know shit to you.

Hey, I think that they had a say in the date choice because like he was going to play guilty, so they could pick a dight and they want to pick like the anniversary dight, which is kind of which is neat. Yeah, but Dennis still had one more card left to play, and he played it. He was found dead in his cell one morning. He'd hung himself during the night, robbing Jennifer of the chance to tell him exactly how she'd been affected by the things that he

Wow.

Are you okay over there?

Yeah. I honestly think that his suicide says so much. I think that alone says that he knew what he put her through and he couldn't face her. It's not that he couldn't face the prison time. I think it'said he couldn't face what he had done to her.

Oh yeah, yeah. And I think that he took the easy way.

Out there, Yeah, definitely. So wow.

So all that was left for Jennifer to do was to officially start her new life free from the shadow that Dennis had cast over it. But there was something that she was still struggling to do, and it was all Dennis's fault. Against all odds, Jennifer had survived the assault and getting her throat cut. She fought the odds and got her voice back, and she'd been able to move on with most of her life, and she was

She became a mother, didn't she.

This was something that Jennifer was on the brink of accepting when a doctor saw her story on the news and reached out to her, volunteering his services. Dennis's actions at night made it so that Jennifer wouldn't be able to give birth naturally, but through treatments and another big batch of determination, Jennifer beat the odds again and now has two children of her own. Fuck yes, yeah, a little girl and a little boy. You could look at the story and say that Jennifer is one of the

Hell yes, major badass of the day.

I know, like she's an incredible human being.

No kidding. And that little uh irony moment of that fire and biting her on the leg of that last moment too, Yeah, that's that's something.

Yeah, I feel like that's definitely the universe saying something for sure.

I do. I do think that just like that. Detectives did say that there's two sides to this story though, and I do feel I know he's not the good guy, but I do feel for Dennis in this case, how dude, because he he's a fucking horrible person. However, I think he realizes he's a horrible person and it's very remorseful for that doesn't mean he's a good guy, doesn't mean he should be forgiven, doesn't mean he didn't do this

Oh yeah, I do think so. I mean, there was a I think it was forty eight hours did a documentary on this, which we'll have a link too because it was really well done and it shows clips of him in being interrogated right, Yeah, And like there's other clips on there too where it shows when he found out that she was alive, and it was just like like he was relieved, and like he was after he found out, he was pretty much like crying the rest of the fucking interview.

He's still there. He still is, don't get me wrong here, And I'm so happy for Jennifer. Her story is absolutely incredibly amazing. There's just that one little piece that I just kind of want to make sure I mention that is all it is.

But honestly, like, how could he have lived with himself? Like I think there was It just came back to me actually there was times where he had thought about confessing, but he like wasn't brave enough too.

Basically, yeah, well if you really if you were to do those sort of things, Okay, let's say he good and evil side of him. Okay, he was evil and he turned good. How difficult do you think would be to face that evil side of you and admit to people that that was you. You even said he tried to commit suicide.

Previously, basically right after it. Yeah, but I sometimes wonder if there's more to it because it seems so weird to me that this was just like a completely random attack.

I think you would have said, I one hundred percent think you would have said if it wasn't.

What the fuck kind of person are you? Though? If you're like, so she lived in like an apartment building, and like you're just cruising around and then you see this light and you look in there and you see a little girl, and then you're just like, fuck, I'm gonna go take this little girl and then I'm gonna like rape her and like pretty much leave her for dead, like because they were like, there's two sides to the store, and he's like, not a single day goes by where

Yeah. So I do just want to say I don't want anyone to misconstrue what I've been saying about about Dennis. I just want to make sure that people understand I think it's just worth talking about. That's it. I'm solely with Jennifer on this. She was a fucking badass. She was the one who was taken advantage of and fuck Dennis. However, it's just worth that discussion. Yeah, because most people don't have remorse. Usually they have remorse if they were caught, and I think.

And honestly, in a lot of cases, they don't even when they're caught.

Yeah, And I think Dennis had remorse prior to, like you said, even because his suicide attempts. He's a shitty fucking person, Yeah, but he had that shred of humanity.

But we do need to end the podcast about Jennifer because like he was fucking incredible. I cannot even think of I don't know just what she went through and the fact that she's like a mom and like goes on to advocate for people and got through all that is literally mind blowing to me.

And like, like we were talking about playing dead through all that pain.

Is that what a made amazes you the most?

Yes? Yeah, yes, because when you when you come out of unconsciousness, you're confused, right, It's like waking up and you're not in bed, and it's like what's going on? You see that in the octagon when guys are fighting in the UFC and stuff, they're getting knocked out and they stand up and all of a sudden, the wrestling the referee because I think that's the opponent. They don't remember even getting knocked out, so she would have just regained consciousness but still had the wits about her to

It's incredible.

And then still remember all that shit, the details.

I can't believe that she like remembered and she had a scar on his face that she remembered like one of the oh gosh, who was it was a detective, the special agent, I can't remember, but they said they had never seen like what's it called composite drawing? Is that what it's called so close to what the actual person looked like, which is and this is coming from an eight year old who when she was doing this was like in pain, she was on drugs, she was like traumatized.

And probably not able to speak.

So she's not able to writing down the details, and she still made like this picture look so much like him.

Yeah, So shout out to the artist for that one too, because I'm sure that was not an easy to have them as well.

No, they I think they were actually in that documentary and yeah, that was that was challenging, but they had ways and stuff to try to make it as helpful for Jennifer as possible.

So Jennifer fucking badass, total.

Badass of the day of the fricking end of the year for eternity.

Well well done. That was an awesome episode. Yeah, I love to hear the survival ones.

I know. That's my holiday gift to you all. It's a terrible gift, but it's better than it could have been if if she had died or something.

Right.

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So thank you for being here and stay wicked.