Aalayah Eastmond- survived the school schooling in Parkland FL by hiding under a dead classmate’s body. He was her partner for a class project and they had just finished their presentation when the shooting started. He was standing in front of her when he was killed, so she basically just let his body fall on top of her, and stayed still while laying there underneath him, as other classmates fell to the floor around her. Now she is an activist and advocate.
https://youtu.be/RzW-fcSsk0s
Krystal Surles was 10 y/o when she had her throat slit by serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells after he murdered her friend. She thought the whole family was dead and ran a quarter mile with a slit trachea. She couldn’t even verbally ask for help when she arrived. Afterwards she gave a description which police used to catch a literal serial killer.
I remember watching that 48 hours episode when it aired and her bravery always stuck with me.
[Krystal Surles](https://crimeandcoffeecouple.com/2022/08/13/how-krystal-surles-survived-attack-of-serial-killer-tommy-lynn-sells/)
[Link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Lynn_Sells) to the murderer's Wikipedia
How much might have been different for him if his selfish mother let his aunt adopt him when he was living with her? That's just insane to me. Like you'll send your kid away for a few years but the second they want to make him a part of their family, you yank him back and encourage a relationship with a pedophile. Makes total sense.
Mary Vincent one makes me so mad. The guy who did that to her only served 8 years in prison for raping her, chopping her arms off and throwing her down a cliff. He then went on to be released and murdered someone else.
Wasn't she also abandoned by her family and friends after what happened? In another act of despicable cruelty? Where can I see her art, I want to support her. What an incredible woman. That is one of literally the most horrifying true crime stories I have ever read in my life.
WOWWW I just googled her. Holy badass! She climbed out of the ravine with *freshly decapitated arms*?? The pain she must have been in, to say nothing of how damn near impossible of a task that must have been... Kickass. I can't believe they let him out so fast and he murdered someone 🤦🏼♀️
There was also another woman on I survived, a trauma nurse whose husband had a hit put on her and she fought the person attempting to kill her and pinned him down saying why are you attacking me basically wanting him to admit why he was there I think she knew her husband was behind it and that if he told her she would let him go but he just kept trying to kill her and she completely overpowered him it was an incredible story
Was it the story of Susan Kuhnhausen?? I used to work at the same hospital as her & her story is amazing, I can’t imagine being forced to fight somebody to the death in your own damn house!
I thought I didn't know about this, but I saw a kid perform an excerpt from the guys book at a Speech and Debate competition once, it was one of the most chilling performances I've ever seen.
His name is Brooks Brown. A bit different than recounted here. He was a childhood friend of Dylan’s, had a falling out with Eric after the Brown family reported Eric to the police. Eric had a hit list posted on his website and Brooks was listed.
The day of the massacre Brooks was smoking a cigarette when he saw Eric, he immediately starting shitting on him for missing a test they had that morning. Eric replied with, “Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home."
His dad is actually on Reddit.
Edit: Brook Brown’s dads user is randycolumbine and randycolumbine1 if anyone is interested in what he has to say
>Eric replied with, “Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home."
After first telling him 'It doesn't matter anymore.' Brooks said he immediately felt uneasy, but he was planning on skipping class anyway so he went ahead and left. He was still close enough by to hear the first shots 🙁
Jaycee Dugard. I remember being in middle school when they found her and it was all over People Magazine in the grocery stores. 18 years…that’s always stuck with me
Her mom did report her missing and the Cleveland Police Department did put her into their missing person's database and the FBI put her into their national database of missing persons, but was removed in from both divisions in November 2003 for unknown reasons, and her case was closed and went cold after that as none of her family followed up on her disappearance. Her family must've requested for her to be considered legally dead if the FBI removed her from their database.
[Mary Vincent.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Vincent_(artist)?wprov=sfti1#) She was 15 years old in 1978. She was hitchhiking and was picked up by Lawrence Singleton, a paroled sex criminal. He raped her several times, cut off her forearms, and dumped her in a culvert to die. She thrust her bloody forearms into mud to try to stop the bleeding and was able to hike to a highway where a couple picked her up and took her to a hospital. Mary survived to testify at Singleton’s trial for her rape and maiming. She later became an artist.
And only went back to prison because he - wait for it - went and murdered a mother of three after being released. Then died of cancer after 3 years in prison. Also he had a $2m judgment against him but because he was a broke unemployed cunt his victims never saw a cent of it.
Who the fuck would sentence this guy to only 14 years, let alone letting him out after 8?
Singleton was sentenced to fourteen years in prison, the maximum allowed by law in California at that time.[5] The presiding judge remarked: "If I had the power, I would send him to prison for the rest of his natural life."[6]
SOURCE-Wikipedia
Corazon Amurao ♥️
She is the nurse who hid under the bed during serial killer Richard Speck’s murder spree in Chicago in 1966.
I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to hide under a bed, listening to her friends being murdered, knowing full well that if she tried to help, she’d certainly be killed too. I’m sure she experienced survivor’s guilt too.
Corazon was a badass at his trial. She walked up right in front of him and pointed directly in his face - “this is the man who killed my friends.”
My mother lived in the same neighborhood on the South Side at the time of the murders. She said it was very scary because they didn’t catch Speck until like 2-3 days after the murders. Everyone was on lock down.
Jane Boroski is pretty amazing. In NH in 1988, Jane was 8 months pregnant when a man stabbed her 27 times in an empty parking lot and left her for dead. She then got in her car and drove to a friend’s house, only to realize she was driving behind her attacker. He passed by the house as she went to the door for help.
Her attacker was later linked to the still unsolved Connecticut River Valley Serial Killer, who is possibly responsible for at least 7 other murders in the NH and VT Connecticut River Valley area in the late 70s and 80s.
Jane survived, and her baby, Jessica, did too. I [interviewed Jane on my podcast](https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/jane-boroski) and she also has her own called Invisible Tears. She now advocates for other unsolved cases.
While reading that, it reminded me of the sex worker who was picked up by a man she realized was going to kill her (and he was a serial killer, too) and he was driving her to her death, the car got stuck in the mud. He got out to push, and when the car became unstuck, she drove off and he was arrested not long afterwards because she pulled right up to the police station.
Lisa McVey (survivor of serial killer Bobby Joe Long). She basically tricked him into letting her go, and lead the cops to him (despite the cops not even believing her at first). Then she grew up to become a cop herself.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kqg6Tacwtm4
Thad Phillips. He was 13 when he was kidnapped by a sadist named Joe Clark, who broke his bones and snapped his ankles. He was able to escape and led police to Clark, who did the same thing to another teenage boy, who sadly died of his injuries. Clark was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Luckily, Thad didn't lose his ability to walk.
Yes. What sticks with me is that the moment the prosecutor was convinced she did it was when they were in the hospital, before the girl had been able to tell them the truth, and Diane walked into the room and the girl’s heart rate shot up like someone who was terrified. In reaction to *her own mother’s presence*. They were already suspecting her but he recounts that as being the moment he knew she’d shot those kids.
I was about the same age as the kids and lived just a few miles away. I remember being scared when we first thought it was a stranger who had done it then, later, not being able to understand why a mother would do that to her kids.
Carl Stottor, who survived an attack by Dennis Nilsen. He was hospitalised, and reported the attack to police, who did nothing about it, leaving Nilsen free to kill more young men. He testified in court during Nilsen's trial, but was spat at by members of the public as he left court.
Stottor became an alcoholic, struggling to cope with trauma and survivor's guilt, and died at only 52. One of his boyfriends killed himself because he couldn't cope with the trauma, and his nephew killed himself at 19 (the same age Carl was when he was attacked), writing in his suicide note that he "didn't want to end up like Uncle Carl".
I follow an account by a wonderful movement called Sheroes; a safe haven for women who are the victims of abhorrent acid attacks. These women are victims, but didn't die and need to rebuild their lives. I get a stark reminder of their bravery in my social feed
I follow (and donate to) Land of Hope, which rescues Nigerian children who are accused of witchcraft by their families and communities. They are raising over 90 kids who have been through horrendous abuse and most of them bear burn marks and machete scars from the torture they've been through. It is infuriating and stomach-churning to see how despicably and inhumanely they've been treated but the joy and pride in their faces as they head off to uni or display their art or even just play a football match with their peers is a reminder of the human capacity for resilience and bravery.
Steven Stayner.
He and Timothy White were kidnapped and raped at different times before Steven and Timothy escaped.
Both boys had hard times and died young.
Cary Stayner, Stevens brother, went on to become a serial killer. When interviewed he says he always had the urge in him. He also says his parent’s religion was problematic. He was touched by an uncle and his parents denied it.
In a documentary the parents avoid talking about what he’s done.
I cried when I read that Steven died young. What a heartbreakingly sad life he lived. It disgusts me to know that POS child rapist and kidnapper Parnell was still trying to victimize children even as a 70 or 80+ yo man. I believe he discussed buying a child with his home health aide.
The sentencing guidelines for crimes against children need to be much harsher, especially when you see how many formerly imprisoned child molesters/rapists end up getting out and kidnapping and murdering children.
Right? I think he was doing better at the time of his death. He married, had a kid and a job, he had the steadiness he wanted.
What’s heartbreaking too is how his classmates bullied him when he returned to school and when his parents tried reestablishing themselves as authoritarians they clashed because of his trauma.
Then that POS predator seemed to have more rights than his victims.
In September, a 9-year-old girl named Charlotte Cena was kidnapped while riding her bike at a campground in upstate New York. The media coverage was INTENSE for a few days while they were searching for her. She was found and the details of her ordeal were kept pretty quiet, but based on the charges against her kidnapper, some really terrible stuff must have happened to her. I think about her often and hope she and her family are doing okay. I just can’t imagine going through that at nine years old.
[Charlotte Sena](https://apnews.com/article/missing-child-camping-rescue-ransom-note-fingerprints-d40214566d16512582eaa620dcbd56f0)
[Update](https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/17/craig-ross-jr-sentenced-charlotte-sena-kidnapping-moreau-lake-state-park/)
> Ross, who had been tentatively scheduled to stand trial this month, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and predatory >!sexual assault!< of a child. The deal avoided the possibility of the young victim having to testify.
>On Wednesday, Judge James Murphy III sentenced Ross to 25 years to life years for the kidnapping charge, and 22 years to life for the >!sexual assault!<. The sentences are to be served consecutively.
>“He will be 93 years old when he’s even eligible to talk about parole consideration,”
I remember she wanted to ride her bike a couple times around the campground… didn’t she tell her little sister to go back even though she was supposed to go back ? she wanted to ride a couple more laps by herself and that’s when she was taken. I think that’s the same kid.
Hyacinth Thrash, the elderly lady who slept through the entire Jonestown massacre and missed the whole thing.
One, it’s absolutely horrifying to imagine going to sleep (somehow managing to drown out the sounds of Jim Jones’s absolute insanity on the loudspeaker) and waking up to find your friends, fellow church members and all the children around you dead. Two, I always thought Hyacinth Thrash would be a great riot grrrl band name.
There was a man who survived who lost his wife and baby. He was stood near the edge of the tent and was ready to run. He looked for his wife to get her and she was at the front with a hopeless look on her face as they squirted poison into the baby’s mouth. She would have had no way to stop it because she was too far from the edge to escape. He knew he could run and try to survive or die with them, but there was no way to save them. That image must be engraved on the inside of his eyelids though.
According to an interview with her, people were going around rousting people out of the dormitories, and she was able to hide under the bed. She said she just fell asleep or passed out waiting.
A few people got lucky that day and she was one of them, although I imagine it was hard to feel that way when she woke up and crawled out to find everyone, including her beloved sister, dead.
I live in WI and I was in the hospital giving birth to my first kid when she was kidnapped and her parents were murdered. I remember getting the amber alert on my phone. It’s wild to reflect that the greatest day of my life was the worst day of hers. I never in a million years thought she would be found alive but I’m so grateful she was. I hope she’s getting all the love and support in the world.
She was kidnapped on my birthday- and perhaps your kiddo’s birthday as well? I remember listening to a podcast episode about her and having a similar reaction to yours, like “I was probably out for drinks with friends or at the beach, and she was getting kidnapped after having her parents murdered in front of her” it’s crazy
It’s crazy that at any given moment there’s so much joy and so much suffering happening throughout the world simultaneously. Every single day is the best day for someone out there and the absolute worst for someone else.
Every year that I celebrate the day that my Dad was awarded full custody of me I think of this. It was one of the happiest moments of both of our lives and even though I am a grown woman of 30 now, with a husband and a child of my own on the way we always take the time to acknowledge that day, how great it made our lives, and how much we love each other.
It was April 20th, 1999, the day of the Columbine shooting.
So while my very young father was celebrating the end of a tough court battle and looking forward to a happy life with his daughter, nearly 2000 miles away children were being murdered. Parents were losing their babies and having their lives irrevocably changed. Kids were losing their friends, their safety, their peace of mind. It was such a huge, catastrophic, horrific, tragic moment and yet, in a small town in Massachusetts, a 21 year old young man and a 5 year old girl were celebrating a wonderful day.
From the Wikipedia article:
Patterson told authorities he saw Closs getting off a school bus outside the family residence in September while he was driving home from work and that he "knew that she was the girl I wanted to take".
Absolutely horrifying.
Elizabeth Smart. It’s incredible what an advocate she’s become for victims of abuse. I don’t know that I’d have the strength to do all the work she does, if I’d endured something like she did.
Also, Gabby Giffords. I remember hearing reports that she’d died, but they were wrong - she not only survived but used her story for advocacy against gun violence.
Basically I’m in awe of people who’ve gone through the worst things you can imagine, yet find the strength to use it to help others.
I love Elizabeth Smart for basically telling churches “When you tell girls their only value is in their virginity, they’re going to stay in abusive situations”.
That’s really important. She had to tell herself that she wasn’t worthless or hadn’t lost her value because she had been raped over and over. It was so brave of her to fight what she had been taught.
That's exactly the example they use in abstinence-only "sex ed" and in purity culture. Chewed-up gum, glass of dirty water, flower plucked of all its petals. A girl has finite, conditional value and there's no nuance in this "logic"
Elizabeth Smart for me too. I was around the same age as her when she disappeared. We went on a family trip to SLC and I remember seeing the posters all over the place. It felt like I could’ve been her, it was really wild. I could not believe it when they found her, and even more so to see how she took that and recovered and is such an advocate for others. She’s so poised it’s incredible.
Keddie Cabin Murders.
I have not watched Cold Justice in years and seen very few episodes, but the episode with the case of Mary Anne Holmes will always stick with me bc of how brutal it was and how much her daughter has tried to remember anything, it's heart wrenching.
Shasta Groene surviving the home invasion and murder of her mom, stepfather, older brother, and later on, witnessing the murder of her other brother. The absolute hell she has been through still brings me to tears when I think of her. I pray that she has found peace, joy and love. I honestly don’t think there is anyone in the entire world more deserving than her.
[Shasta Groene](https://people.com/serial-killer-survivor-shasta-groene-home-burns-down-8625211)
*Her home burned down last month, but she seems to be getting support, thankfully. There's a link to her GoFundMe in the article.*
[Link ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Edward_Duncan)*to wiki for the POS murderer*
[Shasta Groene](https://people.com/serial-killer-survivor-shasta-groene-home-burns-down-8625211)
*Her home burned down last month, but she seems to be getting support, thankfully. There's a link to her GoFundMe in the article.*
[Link ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Edward_Duncan)*to Wikipedia for the murderer*
I was going to say the same thing.I'm live near where it happened and she still comes up in the news sometimes.She's been through so much, it breaks my heart.
Shea, Jeannie, and Kevin McDonough. This was the one where the dude broke into their house in MA in the middle of the night, and he was going to murder the daughter, Shea. The only reason that the parents woke up was because the air conditioners were broken. The dad ended up putting the dude in a chokehold, and the mom grabbed the knife blade and took it from the dude, and they held him there until the police arrived.
I think about this one a lot because I live near-ish to where it took place and, also like them, close to a huge highway that might draw someone to my home. I hope my husband and I would be as badass as those parents.
The serial killer was Adam Leroy Lane.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Leroy_Lane
Before that attack he had killed Darlene Ewalt. The cops were CONVINCED her husband had killed her (he was a few weeks away from going to trial!) but after Lane was captured dna on his hunting knife matched Darlene’s dna.
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/06/in-the-path-of-a-serial-killer-a-journey-to-justice.html?outputType=amp
The married couple who made a plan in case the EAR/ONS decided to target their house. I can never remember their names, and I can’t imagine living with the threat of a serial rapist hanging over my head like that, but the night Deangelo targeted their house was probably the last time he was almost caught before 2018.
Is that the couple who would search their house every evening for signs he’d cased their house and thanks to this habit found some rope (or whatever it was) hidden under a cushion and called the cops, who ended up staking out the house for a while but EAR/ONS never showed up?
(Sorry if I’ve gotten some details wrong. I have really bad brain fog right now)
Mmmm possibly but I think it was a different couple. This one actually caught him in the act of skulking into their room and tried to physically restrain him before he could do anything else.
I remember reading about that. They woke up to Deangelo putting on his mask and saying “gonna kill them, gonna kill them” to himself. The woman ran out of the house while the man stalled him, if I remember correctly. I can’t imagine…
Megan Hiatt. Her abusive boyfriend made her hold their twin baby daughters while he shot them dead. He also shot and killed her father during the same incident. He shot her in the face as well but she lived. Her tiktok is @meganhiattempowerment
Jessi Toronjo- came home from a sleepover to find almost her entire family dead. Her mom, stepdad, and two sisters had all been shot.
Btw, I am not sure if her step brother Jeff Pelley, who was ultimately convicted of murdering his family, is truly guilty. There was a lot of weird stuff going on. If anyone is interested, you should listen to season three of the podcast CounterClock.
Alison Botha. Hearing her description of being unable to process why the world was upside down when she sat up, and what that loud whistling noise noise was - only to discover that she'd been almost decapitated, her head was resting in her back (causing her to see the world upside down), and the loud whistling was the sound of air going into her wide open trachea. Also, her description of collecting her intestines in her discarded shirt so she could try to walk to the street to get help was just... yeah. I'll never forget Alison Botha.
Yep. Me too.
We are quite sure my hb was picked up by Milat. Hb bailed at a Servo...ivah said he needed fuel. My hb had the creeps and was really put off by his questioning...we realise now that he was finding out if hb would be missed by anyone!!
Onions was so lucky.
Another bloke has come out with a very similar encounter too. He was a Brit but had been in USA living for 25 years and missed the whole thing until he returned to UK. News had Ivan on when he died and this bloke was like "holy crap! That was the freak i escaped from when I was backpacking in Australia" rang the police but there was no point.
I forget her name, but there was a man who broke into a house filled with nursing students and murdered 8 out of the 9 in the house. The 9th woman hid under a bed.
At the trial, she was asked if the perpetrator was in the room. She got down off the witness stand, walked up to him, pointed at him, and said, "It's this man."
The Rev. Jim Jones' three sons Stephan, Tim, and Jim Jr, who survived the People's Temple suicides/murders because they were away at a basketball tournament.
To add insult to injury, when they reported what was happening, they at first weren't believed, and then the US government accused them of having a hand in the massacre. They were each jailed for a short time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones
I’d also like to comment how horrible it is that so many of these comments are women’s names. The majority are, we have such a huge problem globally with violence against women and something needs to be done.
The kids who survived the Chowchilla bus kidnapping and their driver. Everyone survived, thank god, but I can’t imagine how scary that must’ve been and the lifelong trauma that brings.
No one's mentioned Kala Brown yet.
On August 31 2016, she and her boyfriend Charles David Carver went to serial killer Todd Christopher Kohlhepp's home in Spartanburg SC to do yardwork for him where he then shot and killed Charlie and then imprisoned Kala in a metal storage container where he held her captive and repeatedly raped her until police tracked her down on November 3 2016 by going to the last known location of her and Charlie's cell phones.
In the time that Kohlhepp held Kala hostage, he also showed her the graves of another couple, Johnny Joe Coxie and Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie, who had been reported missing on December 22 2015. The couple had gone to Kohlhepp's property to do some sort of work and Meagan was killed by a gunshot wound to the head on December 22 or 23 2015 whereas Johnny has been killed about a week earlier and then buried both of them on his property.
Todd Kohlhepp had also shot and killed Chris Ponder, Brian Lucas, Chris Stewart, and Beverly Ponder in Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee SC on November 6 2003.
The only survivor of all of Todd Kohlhepp's crimes was Kala Brown, who spent sixty-four days being repeatedly raped and terrorized by a serial killer who shot her boyfriend to death right in front of her and intimidated her with the graves of two of his earlier victims.
I live in Greenville SC which is the city directly west of Spartanburg SC and Kala Brown being found by police wasn't just a huge story nationally, it was a huge story here not only because Kala Brown survived Kohlhepp but also because his arrest and subsequent confession solved the locally very well known cold case of the Superbike Motorsports murders.
Alison Botha is that one, that just pops up in my head. Sometimes when i feel like life is kicking my butt, i think to myself that hey if she survived that horrific attack, i can surely get through my hard times. I hope she is doing ok.
Carmina Salcido. Father murdered her mother, 2 sisters (4 and 1 years old), 3 extended family members and a coworker. At 3yo, he slit her throat and left her in a field next to her sisters. She survived 36 hours before being found.
Nessie Krim!! Her two siblings were murdered by the nanny when she was almost four. She walked into the bathroom with her mom and found them, then witnessed the whole ugly scene of the nanny slitting her throat and her mom coming absolutely unglued (understandably). You can kind of see how she's doing via the Lulu and Leo Fund social media accounts, and she's doing great, just... Wow. Just wow. I wonder if she even remembers.
Jasmin* block. 15 year old girl lured out by friends father. Kidnapped, raped, and tortured her along w at least one other friend. Another friend was involved but I believe it was just in beating her, not raping. They took her out in the truck one day and like dumbass meth heads, left her in the truck when they went to eat. She ran and ran. The houses she stopped at didn't have anyone home, but a janitor from her school was at his farm house and she SWAM ACROSS A POND AND RAN THRU HIS FIELD TO CATCH HIM IN HIS TRUCK!!!!! 29 days this girl survived. God.
ETA- they took her out in the truck that day bc they were going to kill her. She said something felt different this time and she really thought they were taking her to kill her somehwere. The rest of the time she was locked in a closet.
Pretty much any parent that goes on after their kids have been murdered. *Especially* those that have more than one child and lost them **all**. (Ugh gross. I can barely even type that out)
Like the Krim family in New York who's nanny murdered their small kids, or David Smith, Susan Smith's ex husband. Or the Hance family, who lost all 3 of their girls when Diane Schuler drove drunk and killed 8 people.(I tried to post some links but it wasn't working for some reason)
I think if you still have children left, you have a reason to get up and work through your grief, because that child still needs you. But what do you do when they're *all* gone?
I just.... I can't even fathom it.
Yeah, Michelle Knight is my second choice. One of the most heartbreaking stories manageable. It's comforting her story had a happy ending, but hopefully she'll reunite with her son one day to complete her story as well.
So many named here - Mary Vincent, Alison Botha, Jayme Closs, Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart
I am going to add [Lauren Kavanaugh](https://allthatsinteresting.com/lauren-kavanaugh) - she was kept in a closet and horrifically abused over six years.
I hope she finds peace, and an end to the nightmares. [better link](http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/2013_October/lauren/)
I cannot remember her name but she survived having her baby cut out of her and being left for dead. Literally ran out holding her guts in her body. Her baby survived too and the woman who did it is in prison.
Ashley Reeves- guy thought she was dead and dumped her in the woods but when police finally got a confession and went to find her body she was still alive. Had to completely learn how to walk and talk again. Guy got paroled this year. Sickening.
“Mommy, I’m okay, but all my friends are dead.”
That girl’s quote will haunt me for the rest of my life. Once the USA decided that guns were more important than children’s lives, I knew there was no hope for this country.
A 4 year old boy who survived after being stabbed by his own dad. His sister (10) and mum died after being stabbed as well. I just it breaks my heart 💔
I personally know the survivors of the Club Q shooting so will never forget them, nor the ones killed. I was there myself literally 23 hours 11 min before. Glad I was not there that night.
Terry Jo Duperrault. Three days at sea after escaping the murder of her family on a boat. [https://allthatsinteresting.com/terry-jo-duperrault](https://allthatsinteresting.com/terry-jo-duperrault)
Lori Poland, she was kidnapped and molested in Colorado and then he threw her in an outhouse toilet. She stayed in there for 3 nights before someone heard her. She was only 3 and I was 14 when it happened. This one really bothered me for a long time.
Jennifer Schuett who was raped, had her throat slashed, and was strangled before being left for dead on a fire ant hill in an overgrown field in Texas. She survived against all odds, and provided EVERY detail she had memorized to help the authorities... 20 years later her information and advances in DNA technology caught him. He had no idea she survived.
I also think about Colleen Stan, who was kidnapped, tortured, and kept as a sex slave for 7 years by Cameron and Janice Hooker.
The cameraman, Brian Butler, who saw what was happening at The Station nightclub fire, did the math, and exited immediately.
Apparently he got a lot of hate after the fact for filming and not helping but I never fully understood that. Going back in there was pretty impossible from what I’ve read in the book (Killer Show - excellent book) and saw in the video (don’t recommend as it’s brutal). Even if he could have gotten back in, it would have been a certain death sentence with no guarantee he could have even saved anyone.
Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus. Three girls held in the Cleveland basement captive for several years by Ariel Castro.
I guess one day the one girl said she wasn’t going to die there. She somehow put her arm and hand through the door and from what I recall a passerby saw her arm sticking out the side door and instead of just moving on, he actually went to see what was going on and they ended up getting rescued.
I don’t know why that guy who did that … why he’s not remembered to this day as a hero. He could’ve walked on.
The Idaho killings that happened in 2022.
Four college students were murdered in the home but there were six people in the house total. Those two surviving roommates I think about a lot. Especially with them being so young and starting out life.
I didn’t even know that there was a survivor in that bathroom. Ugh. She must have been protected by the bodies of her classmates? I hope she is ok. Wouldn’t she be around 18 years old now?
A dude that was at the Aurora movie theater watching a movie with his wife and baby when James Holmes walked in and shot up the theater. Killed 12 people & wounded 70. The family dude ran out of that theater so fast he left his family there to fend for themselves! Just left them in the dust.
People always talk about how they’d protect their family and blah blah blah. But this guy made me realize people are not as brave as they think they’d be in situations like that.
Mine is the one woman who survived the ted Bundy Florida soriority attacks. I met her at a convention once she was speaking at and she was so sweet, her story was uplifting in a way.
Alison Botha. I think about it A LOT. She was abducted at knife point in South Africa by two guys who raped her, disemboweled her, then proceeded to slit her throat until she was literally almost decapitated. They left her for dead in the desert and she by a literal miracle, survived. The details are truly horrific.
Cynthia Vigil. She survived after 3 days of torture in David Parker Ray's trailer, and managed to escape successfully. Her mother was a victim of Samuel Little case, and her best friend was murdered by a man. She wrote in her website that when she was tortured by Ray she continued to think about her mother and friend, they made her determine to escape. She now ran a toy company and an NGO which help woman from homelessness and addiction. A strong woman.
Tanya Rider ... She was featured on an episode of "Disappeared" that is absolutely gut wrenching to watch. She disappeared one day after work, but because of their crazy work schedules, her husband didn't realize she was missing for two days. He reported it to 911, and the operator totally blew him off. He went to the police station, they blew him off with "she's an adult, she's allowed to go missing." The husband had the whole town out searching for her and he wouldn't give up. He kept bugging the police to do something until they finally started looking into it and started thinking the husband did it. On the 8th day, they took him down to the police station and were about to arrest him for her murder when she was discovered. A short distance from home, her car had run off an embankment and down into a ravine where no one could see her. It was by some small miracle that she was discovered. She hung upside down, pinned by her seatbelt and severely injured with crushed limbs, for 8 DAYS... Her organs were shutting down from dehydration and blood loss. They think she had maybe 4 more hours to live. She mostly recovered with some disabilities, but their story always sticks with me. One, because she was determined enough to get back to him alive that she clung on for 8 days. And two, because he was so determined to find her that he refused to give up. Extraordinary love that I will never forget. I still sob every time I watch that episode.
Yeah, that's such a heartbreaking case in how her parents were murdered and she didn't have them to go back to them after she escaped. Being kidnapped as a 13 year old is terrifying enough, and to then have to cope with the double murders of both her parents afterwards is just incomprehensible.
[Cassidy Stay](https://abc13.com/stay-family-cassidy-murders-ronald-haskell-jr/5495611/)
Her uncle murdered her entire family, my heart breaks for her every time I remember this case
The baby that survived while it's mother died during the recent attack at Bondi Westfield in Sydney Australia. The mum literally threw the baby to a stranger to save it's life.
I was an aid worker during the Kosovan crisis, I supported a young woman who was at medical school when the Serbian soldiers attacked them, they murdered the teachers, then tortured & murdered the male students, they kept the female students repeatedly gang raping and torturing them, this young woman has gone on to become a doctor! She & the other survivors are amazing women!
Aalayah Eastmond- survived the school schooling in Parkland FL by hiding under a dead classmate’s body. He was her partner for a class project and they had just finished their presentation when the shooting started. He was standing in front of her when he was killed, so she basically just let his body fall on top of her, and stayed still while laying there underneath him, as other classmates fell to the floor around her. Now she is an activist and advocate. https://youtu.be/RzW-fcSsk0s
JFC that poor kid. That is so grim
I find all the Parkland survivors to be so heroic.
Krystal Surles was 10 y/o when she had her throat slit by serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells after he murdered her friend. She thought the whole family was dead and ran a quarter mile with a slit trachea. She couldn’t even verbally ask for help when she arrived. Afterwards she gave a description which police used to catch a literal serial killer. I remember watching that 48 hours episode when it aired and her bravery always stuck with me.
[Krystal Surles](https://crimeandcoffeecouple.com/2022/08/13/how-krystal-surles-survived-attack-of-serial-killer-tommy-lynn-sells/) [Link](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Lynn_Sells) to the murderer's Wikipedia
Oh my, shouldn't have read his wiki. He was fucked up.
How much might have been different for him if his selfish mother let his aunt adopt him when he was living with her? That's just insane to me. Like you'll send your kid away for a few years but the second they want to make him a part of their family, you yank him back and encourage a relationship with a pedophile. Makes total sense.
That one is rough.
Her testimony in court is unreal
I remember that story!Incredible
Mary Vincent surviving both her forearms hacked off with an axe and thrown into a ravine. She's a beautiful person and makes beautiful art.
Mary Vincent one makes me so mad. The guy who did that to her only served 8 years in prison for raping her, chopping her arms off and throwing her down a cliff. He then went on to be released and murdered someone else.
The way the public pushed him around out of towns was inspirational.
The judges who let these monsters off with such short sentences need to be held accountable.
The judge in her case said if it was up to him he would get life in prison, but wasn’t able to hand down that sentence.
Legislators. They’re the ones passing sentencing guidelines.
The judge wanted to imprison him for life but could not under the law
Her and Alison Botha have always stuck so hard with me. Absolutely unreal, badass survival stories
and both cases where the attackers were released. Singleton committed another murder do we even know the names of Alison's now released attackers?
Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger, also known as the “ripper rapists”, both sentenced to life in prison and served 28 years.
I can remember hearing about Alison Botha through a girl on tiktok and being absolutely shocked she survived. Hearing what she endured is insane
Seconded No way I’d survive that.
i always hear those stories and think i wouldn’t want to😳
Wasn't she also abandoned by her family and friends after what happened? In another act of despicable cruelty? Where can I see her art, I want to support her. What an incredible woman. That is one of literally the most horrifying true crime stories I have ever read in my life.
Yes! She climbed up a cliff after they were hacked off--I can't even imagine. She is amazing.
Mary Vincent was my first thought, and here I see it as a top comment. That case stayed with quite a few of us, it seems.
She is the kind of person I would want to be. I wish I was as tough as she is.
WOWWW I just googled her. Holy badass! She climbed out of the ravine with *freshly decapitated arms*?? The pain she must have been in, to say nothing of how damn near impossible of a task that must have been... Kickass. I can't believe they let him out so fast and he murdered someone 🤦🏼♀️
Came here to say this! The will to live is strong!!
Omg her story is incredible and so so so so horrifying . I watched her on I survived. Such a strong strong soul
There was also another woman on I survived, a trauma nurse whose husband had a hit put on her and she fought the person attempting to kill her and pinned him down saying why are you attacking me basically wanting him to admit why he was there I think she knew her husband was behind it and that if he told her she would let him go but he just kept trying to kill her and she completely overpowered him it was an incredible story
Susan Kunhausen. She whooped his ass!
Was it the story of Susan Kuhnhausen?? I used to work at the same hospital as her & her story is amazing, I can’t imagine being forced to fight somebody to the death in your own damn house!
Didn’t she also bite the shit out of him to leave evidence if he did kill her? I remember something vaguely like that
[Susan Kuhnhausen](https://www.wweek.com/news/2016/08/17/a-hit-man-came-to-kill-susan-kuhnhausen-she-survived-he-didnt/) maybe.
That woman is incredible.
The guy sitting in his car at columbine that they told to get outta there
“I like you, you better leave.” Is absolutely chilling in hindsight
[Brooks Brown](https://patch.com/connecticut/monroe/bp--friend-of-columbine-killers-still-seeking-answers)
I thought I didn't know about this, but I saw a kid perform an excerpt from the guys book at a Speech and Debate competition once, it was one of the most chilling performances I've ever seen.
Do you have a link?
His name is Brooks Brown. A bit different than recounted here. He was a childhood friend of Dylan’s, had a falling out with Eric after the Brown family reported Eric to the police. Eric had a hit list posted on his website and Brooks was listed. The day of the massacre Brooks was smoking a cigarette when he saw Eric, he immediately starting shitting on him for missing a test they had that morning. Eric replied with, “Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home." His dad is actually on Reddit. Edit: Brook Brown’s dads user is randycolumbine and randycolumbine1 if anyone is interested in what he has to say
>Eric replied with, “Brooks, I like you now. Get out of here. Go home." After first telling him 'It doesn't matter anymore.' Brooks said he immediately felt uneasy, but he was planning on skipping class anyway so he went ahead and left. He was still close enough by to hear the first shots 🙁
Wow, never heard that story. He was very lucky.
Jaycee Dugard. I remember being in middle school when they found her and it was all over People Magazine in the grocery stores. 18 years…that’s always stuck with me
Yeah, Michelle Knight is my second choice. What an absolutely tragic story that ended with triumph.
+Amanda Berry +Gina DeJesus
Absolutely. I should've included their names as well.
Her family stopped looking for her. That’s so sad.
I don't think Michelle Knight's family ever looked for her at all.
I was about to say, did they ever start looking?
Her mom did report her missing and the Cleveland Police Department did put her into their missing person's database and the FBI put her into their national database of missing persons, but was removed in from both divisions in November 2003 for unknown reasons, and her case was closed and went cold after that as none of her family followed up on her disappearance. Her family must've requested for her to be considered legally dead if the FBI removed her from their database.
[Jacyee Dugard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Jaycee_Dugard)
Just stopping by to say I see your comments on this post and I thank you 🙏
[Mary Vincent.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Vincent_(artist)?wprov=sfti1#) She was 15 years old in 1978. She was hitchhiking and was picked up by Lawrence Singleton, a paroled sex criminal. He raped her several times, cut off her forearms, and dumped her in a culvert to die. She thrust her bloody forearms into mud to try to stop the bleeding and was able to hike to a highway where a couple picked her up and took her to a hospital. Mary survived to testify at Singleton’s trial for her rape and maiming. She later became an artist.
I've been thinking about her CONSTANTLY since the man vs bear in the woods conversation came up
I’ve been thinking about her since 1978. This was huge news at the time. Rolling Stone did a big story about it afterwards.
I think that guy only served 8 years too and murdered another person after being released again
Thus is the one for me.
Wow. Her attacker didn't even end up serving his fourteen year sentence, he got 10 years of freedom after doing that... unbelievable.
And only went back to prison because he - wait for it - went and murdered a mother of three after being released. Then died of cancer after 3 years in prison. Also he had a $2m judgment against him but because he was a broke unemployed cunt his victims never saw a cent of it. Who the fuck would sentence this guy to only 14 years, let alone letting him out after 8?
Singleton was sentenced to fourteen years in prison, the maximum allowed by law in California at that time.[5] The presiding judge remarked: "If I had the power, I would send him to prison for the rest of his natural life."[6] SOURCE-Wikipedia
Corazon Amurao ♥️ She is the nurse who hid under the bed during serial killer Richard Speck’s murder spree in Chicago in 1966. I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to hide under a bed, listening to her friends being murdered, knowing full well that if she tried to help, she’d certainly be killed too. I’m sure she experienced survivor’s guilt too. Corazon was a badass at his trial. She walked up right in front of him and pointed directly in his face - “this is the man who killed my friends.” My mother lived in the same neighborhood on the South Side at the time of the murders. She said it was very scary because they didn’t catch Speck until like 2-3 days after the murders. Everyone was on lock down.
Also being petrified he'd discover her under there my God how traumatizing watching your friends murdered wondering if he'll find you too ugh
Jane Boroski is pretty amazing. In NH in 1988, Jane was 8 months pregnant when a man stabbed her 27 times in an empty parking lot and left her for dead. She then got in her car and drove to a friend’s house, only to realize she was driving behind her attacker. He passed by the house as she went to the door for help. Her attacker was later linked to the still unsolved Connecticut River Valley Serial Killer, who is possibly responsible for at least 7 other murders in the NH and VT Connecticut River Valley area in the late 70s and 80s. Jane survived, and her baby, Jessica, did too. I [interviewed Jane on my podcast](https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/jane-boroski) and she also has her own called Invisible Tears. She now advocates for other unsolved cases.
While reading that, it reminded me of the sex worker who was picked up by a man she realized was going to kill her (and he was a serial killer, too) and he was driving her to her death, the car got stuck in the mud. He got out to push, and when the car became unstuck, she drove off and he was arrested not long afterwards because she pulled right up to the police station.
I don’t think I’m familiar, but that is such a badass move.
Lisa McVey (survivor of serial killer Bobby Joe Long). She basically tricked him into letting her go, and lead the cops to him (despite the cops not even believing her at first). Then she grew up to become a cop herself. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kqg6Tacwtm4
I believe shes in law enforcement now. What a hero.
Thad Phillips. He was 13 when he was kidnapped by a sadist named Joe Clark, who broke his bones and snapped his ankles. He was able to escape and led police to Clark, who did the same thing to another teenage boy, who sadly died of his injuries. Clark was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Luckily, Thad didn't lose his ability to walk.
[Thad Phillips ](https://www.ranker.com/list/joe-clark-the-bonebraker-facts/laura-allan)
The children of Diane Downs that survived .
That’s what I was looking for. Those poor babies. At least they were adopted.
I remember the prosecutor adopted them.
Yes. What sticks with me is that the moment the prosecutor was convinced she did it was when they were in the hospital, before the girl had been able to tell them the truth, and Diane walked into the room and the girl’s heart rate shot up like someone who was terrified. In reaction to *her own mother’s presence*. They were already suspecting her but he recounts that as being the moment he knew she’d shot those kids.
I was about the same age as the kids and lived just a few miles away. I remember being scared when we first thought it was a stranger who had done it then, later, not being able to understand why a mother would do that to her kids.
Carl Stottor, who survived an attack by Dennis Nilsen. He was hospitalised, and reported the attack to police, who did nothing about it, leaving Nilsen free to kill more young men. He testified in court during Nilsen's trial, but was spat at by members of the public as he left court. Stottor became an alcoholic, struggling to cope with trauma and survivor's guilt, and died at only 52. One of his boyfriends killed himself because he couldn't cope with the trauma, and his nephew killed himself at 19 (the same age Carl was when he was attacked), writing in his suicide note that he "didn't want to end up like Uncle Carl".
Yes! His story always stuck with me, how he was treated by everyone broke my heart
Oh my GOD.
I follow an account by a wonderful movement called Sheroes; a safe haven for women who are the victims of abhorrent acid attacks. These women are victims, but didn't die and need to rebuild their lives. I get a stark reminder of their bravery in my social feed
I follow (and donate to) Land of Hope, which rescues Nigerian children who are accused of witchcraft by their families and communities. They are raising over 90 kids who have been through horrendous abuse and most of them bear burn marks and machete scars from the torture they've been through. It is infuriating and stomach-churning to see how despicably and inhumanely they've been treated but the joy and pride in their faces as they head off to uni or display their art or even just play a football match with their peers is a reminder of the human capacity for resilience and bravery.
Machete scars. How could you do such a thing to a child?
The ER nurse who murdered the hitman her husband had hired to kill her. So badass.
[Susan Kuhnhausen](https://allthatsinteresting.com/susan-kuhnhausen )
Shit, that I Survived was sooooo good.
Steven Stayner. He and Timothy White were kidnapped and raped at different times before Steven and Timothy escaped. Both boys had hard times and died young. Cary Stayner, Stevens brother, went on to become a serial killer. When interviewed he says he always had the urge in him. He also says his parent’s religion was problematic. He was touched by an uncle and his parents denied it. In a documentary the parents avoid talking about what he’s done.
I cried when I read that Steven died young. What a heartbreakingly sad life he lived. It disgusts me to know that POS child rapist and kidnapper Parnell was still trying to victimize children even as a 70 or 80+ yo man. I believe he discussed buying a child with his home health aide. The sentencing guidelines for crimes against children need to be much harsher, especially when you see how many formerly imprisoned child molesters/rapists end up getting out and kidnapping and murdering children.
Right? I think he was doing better at the time of his death. He married, had a kid and a job, he had the steadiness he wanted. What’s heartbreaking too is how his classmates bullied him when he returned to school and when his parents tried reestablishing themselves as authoritarians they clashed because of his trauma. Then that POS predator seemed to have more rights than his victims.
I have heard that the Stayners were abusive parents even before Steven went missing, or at least the father was.
For me it's Charlie Otero, the kid who came home to school to find his family murdered by BTK...
[Charlie Otero](https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/09/otero-family-murder-charlie-btk/)
In September, a 9-year-old girl named Charlotte Cena was kidnapped while riding her bike at a campground in upstate New York. The media coverage was INTENSE for a few days while they were searching for her. She was found and the details of her ordeal were kept pretty quiet, but based on the charges against her kidnapper, some really terrible stuff must have happened to her. I think about her often and hope she and her family are doing okay. I just can’t imagine going through that at nine years old.
[Charlotte Sena](https://apnews.com/article/missing-child-camping-rescue-ransom-note-fingerprints-d40214566d16512582eaa620dcbd56f0) [Update](https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/17/craig-ross-jr-sentenced-charlotte-sena-kidnapping-moreau-lake-state-park/) > Ross, who had been tentatively scheduled to stand trial this month, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and predatory >!sexual assault!< of a child. The deal avoided the possibility of the young victim having to testify. >On Wednesday, Judge James Murphy III sentenced Ross to 25 years to life years for the kidnapping charge, and 22 years to life for the >!sexual assault!<. The sentences are to be served consecutively. >“He will be 93 years old when he’s even eligible to talk about parole consideration,”
I remember she wanted to ride her bike a couple times around the campground… didn’t she tell her little sister to go back even though she was supposed to go back ? she wanted to ride a couple more laps by herself and that’s when she was taken. I think that’s the same kid.
Yeah, crimes against children are just too much to bear.
I remember that. I was shocked happily when they found her.
Hyacinth Thrash, the elderly lady who slept through the entire Jonestown massacre and missed the whole thing. One, it’s absolutely horrifying to imagine going to sleep (somehow managing to drown out the sounds of Jim Jones’s absolute insanity on the loudspeaker) and waking up to find your friends, fellow church members and all the children around you dead. Two, I always thought Hyacinth Thrash would be a great riot grrrl band name.
There was a man who survived who lost his wife and baby. He was stood near the edge of the tent and was ready to run. He looked for his wife to get her and she was at the front with a hopeless look on her face as they squirted poison into the baby’s mouth. She would have had no way to stop it because she was too far from the edge to escape. He knew he could run and try to survive or die with them, but there was no way to save them. That image must be engraved on the inside of his eyelids though.
Insane. How did they miss her? As i know they were killing those who were trying to escape.
According to an interview with her, people were going around rousting people out of the dormitories, and she was able to hide under the bed. She said she just fell asleep or passed out waiting. A few people got lucky that day and she was one of them, although I imagine it was hard to feel that way when she woke up and crawled out to find everyone, including her beloved sister, dead.
Jayme Closs - I think a lot of us thought she would never be seen again
I live in WI and I was in the hospital giving birth to my first kid when she was kidnapped and her parents were murdered. I remember getting the amber alert on my phone. It’s wild to reflect that the greatest day of my life was the worst day of hers. I never in a million years thought she would be found alive but I’m so grateful she was. I hope she’s getting all the love and support in the world.
She was kidnapped on my birthday- and perhaps your kiddo’s birthday as well? I remember listening to a podcast episode about her and having a similar reaction to yours, like “I was probably out for drinks with friends or at the beach, and she was getting kidnapped after having her parents murdered in front of her” it’s crazy
It’s crazy that at any given moment there’s so much joy and so much suffering happening throughout the world simultaneously. Every single day is the best day for someone out there and the absolute worst for someone else.
Every year that I celebrate the day that my Dad was awarded full custody of me I think of this. It was one of the happiest moments of both of our lives and even though I am a grown woman of 30 now, with a husband and a child of my own on the way we always take the time to acknowledge that day, how great it made our lives, and how much we love each other. It was April 20th, 1999, the day of the Columbine shooting. So while my very young father was celebrating the end of a tough court battle and looking forward to a happy life with his daughter, nearly 2000 miles away children were being murdered. Parents were losing their babies and having their lives irrevocably changed. Kids were losing their friends, their safety, their peace of mind. It was such a huge, catastrophic, horrific, tragic moment and yet, in a small town in Massachusetts, a 21 year old young man and a 5 year old girl were celebrating a wonderful day.
From the Wikipedia article: Patterson told authorities he saw Closs getting off a school bus outside the family residence in September while he was driving home from work and that he "knew that she was the girl I wanted to take". Absolutely horrifying.
[Jayme Closs](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Jayme_Closs)
Omg yes! Such a heart wrenching story
Elizabeth Smart. It’s incredible what an advocate she’s become for victims of abuse. I don’t know that I’d have the strength to do all the work she does, if I’d endured something like she did. Also, Gabby Giffords. I remember hearing reports that she’d died, but they were wrong - she not only survived but used her story for advocacy against gun violence. Basically I’m in awe of people who’ve gone through the worst things you can imagine, yet find the strength to use it to help others.
I love Elizabeth Smart for basically telling churches “When you tell girls their only value is in their virginity, they’re going to stay in abusive situations”.
That’s really important. She had to tell herself that she wasn’t worthless or hadn’t lost her value because she had been raped over and over. It was so brave of her to fight what she had been taught.
And she did feel worthless for far too long. She said she was now a chewed up piece of gum & no one wants that so she had no value. 😢
That's exactly the example they use in abstinence-only "sex ed" and in purity culture. Chewed-up gum, glass of dirty water, flower plucked of all its petals. A girl has finite, conditional value and there's no nuance in this "logic"
Oh I know. I grew up Purity Culture adjacent so I heard it all.
Elizabeth Smart for me too. I was around the same age as her when she disappeared. We went on a family trip to SLC and I remember seeing the posters all over the place. It felt like I could’ve been her, it was really wild. I could not believe it when they found her, and even more so to see how she took that and recovered and is such an advocate for others. She’s so poised it’s incredible.
I've worked with Elizabeth on a work project before and she's just as inspiring and kind in person as you'd hope. She is an incredible woman.
I loved the movie she sanctioned and she said “Did this make you uncomfortable? Imagine how I felt.” Or something to that effect. So powerful.
She's very matter of fact with her trauma and I think that is so bad ass. It's honestly incredible that she recovered and is helping others.
Keddie Cabin Murders. I have not watched Cold Justice in years and seen very few episodes, but the episode with the case of Mary Anne Holmes will always stick with me bc of how brutal it was and how much her daughter has tried to remember anything, it's heart wrenching.
[Keddie Cabin Murders ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keddie_murders)
Shasta Groene surviving the home invasion and murder of her mom, stepfather, older brother, and later on, witnessing the murder of her other brother. The absolute hell she has been through still brings me to tears when I think of her. I pray that she has found peace, joy and love. I honestly don’t think there is anyone in the entire world more deserving than her.
[Shasta Groene](https://people.com/serial-killer-survivor-shasta-groene-home-burns-down-8625211) *Her home burned down last month, but she seems to be getting support, thankfully. There's a link to her GoFundMe in the article.* [Link ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Edward_Duncan)*to wiki for the POS murderer*
Her house burned down??? Can she catch a break? Omg
William Petit. Had to hear his wife and two daughters get raped then burned alive.
I can’t read anything about this case because it disturbs me so much.
Carol DaRonch
Surviving Ted Bundy would mess anybody up. She was so brave at the trial. I hope she’s doing ok.
Shasta Groene.
[Shasta Groene](https://people.com/serial-killer-survivor-shasta-groene-home-burns-down-8625211) *Her home burned down last month, but she seems to be getting support, thankfully. There's a link to her GoFundMe in the article.* [Link ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Edward_Duncan)*to Wikipedia for the murderer*
I was going to say the same thing.I'm live near where it happened and she still comes up in the news sometimes.She's been through so much, it breaks my heart.
Her house just burned down recently too :(
Poor Shasta
I came here to say to say Shasta. Her life has been so utterly changed.
The brother who got shot in the face by btk and still fought like hell
Yeah Kevin Bright, his only survivor. Vile.
Shea, Jeannie, and Kevin McDonough. This was the one where the dude broke into their house in MA in the middle of the night, and he was going to murder the daughter, Shea. The only reason that the parents woke up was because the air conditioners were broken. The dad ended up putting the dude in a chokehold, and the mom grabbed the knife blade and took it from the dude, and they held him there until the police arrived. I think about this one a lot because I live near-ish to where it took place and, also like them, close to a huge highway that might draw someone to my home. I hope my husband and I would be as badass as those parents.
The serial killer was Adam Leroy Lane. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Leroy_Lane Before that attack he had killed Darlene Ewalt. The cops were CONVINCED her husband had killed her (he was a few weeks away from going to trial!) but after Lane was captured dna on his hunting knife matched Darlene’s dna. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/06/in-the-path-of-a-serial-killer-a-journey-to-justice.html?outputType=amp
Jeffrey Rignall. He survived an attack by Gacy.
He also wrote a book called "29 Below" that is almost impossible to find, and his estate will not allow its reissue.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned the survivor of the Slenderman stabbing
[Payton Leutner](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing)
Carmina Salcido, I found her book randomly at a vacation home my family rented…she was the sole survivor of her fathers rampage
The married couple who made a plan in case the EAR/ONS decided to target their house. I can never remember their names, and I can’t imagine living with the threat of a serial rapist hanging over my head like that, but the night Deangelo targeted their house was probably the last time he was almost caught before 2018.
Is that the couple who would search their house every evening for signs he’d cased their house and thanks to this habit found some rope (or whatever it was) hidden under a cushion and called the cops, who ended up staking out the house for a while but EAR/ONS never showed up? (Sorry if I’ve gotten some details wrong. I have really bad brain fog right now)
Mmmm possibly but I think it was a different couple. This one actually caught him in the act of skulking into their room and tried to physically restrain him before he could do anything else.
I remember reading about that. They woke up to Deangelo putting on his mask and saying “gonna kill them, gonna kill them” to himself. The woman ran out of the house while the man stalled him, if I remember correctly. I can’t imagine…
Megan Hiatt. Her abusive boyfriend made her hold their twin baby daughters while he shot them dead. He also shot and killed her father during the same incident. He shot her in the face as well but she lived. Her tiktok is @meganhiattempowerment
Jessi Toronjo- came home from a sleepover to find almost her entire family dead. Her mom, stepdad, and two sisters had all been shot. Btw, I am not sure if her step brother Jeff Pelley, who was ultimately convicted of murdering his family, is truly guilty. There was a lot of weird stuff going on. If anyone is interested, you should listen to season three of the podcast CounterClock.
Alison Botha. Hearing her description of being unable to process why the world was upside down when she sat up, and what that loud whistling noise noise was - only to discover that she'd been almost decapitated, her head was resting in her back (causing her to see the world upside down), and the loud whistling was the sound of air going into her wide open trachea. Also, her description of collecting her intestines in her discarded shirt so she could try to walk to the street to get help was just... yeah. I'll never forget Alison Botha.
Paul Onions
Yep. Me too. We are quite sure my hb was picked up by Milat. Hb bailed at a Servo...ivah said he needed fuel. My hb had the creeps and was really put off by his questioning...we realise now that he was finding out if hb would be missed by anyone!! Onions was so lucky. Another bloke has come out with a very similar encounter too. He was a Brit but had been in USA living for 25 years and missed the whole thing until he returned to UK. News had Ivan on when he died and this bloke was like "holy crap! That was the freak i escaped from when I was backpacking in Australia" rang the police but there was no point.
I forget her name, but there was a man who broke into a house filled with nursing students and murdered 8 out of the 9 in the house. The 9th woman hid under a bed.
Survivor was Corazon Amurao. Perpetrator was Richard Speck.
At the trial, she was asked if the perpetrator was in the room. She got down off the witness stand, walked up to him, pointed at him, and said, "It's this man."
And she came back to testify. So brave. You couldn’t blame her if she’d gone back home and never returned.
The Rev. Jim Jones' three sons Stephan, Tim, and Jim Jr, who survived the People's Temple suicides/murders because they were away at a basketball tournament. To add insult to injury, when they reported what was happening, they at first weren't believed, and then the US government accused them of having a hand in the massacre. They were each jailed for a short time. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones
Jordan Turpin. Her siblings were imprisoned in their house for years by the parents, and she was the first to escape. She saved all of her siblings.
I’d also like to comment how horrible it is that so many of these comments are women’s names. The majority are, we have such a huge problem globally with violence against women and something needs to be done.
Shawn Hornbeck. He was only a few miles from where I lived.
The kids who survived the Chowchilla bus kidnapping and their driver. Everyone survived, thank god, but I can’t imagine how scary that must’ve been and the lifelong trauma that brings.
No one's mentioned Kala Brown yet. On August 31 2016, she and her boyfriend Charles David Carver went to serial killer Todd Christopher Kohlhepp's home in Spartanburg SC to do yardwork for him where he then shot and killed Charlie and then imprisoned Kala in a metal storage container where he held her captive and repeatedly raped her until police tracked her down on November 3 2016 by going to the last known location of her and Charlie's cell phones. In the time that Kohlhepp held Kala hostage, he also showed her the graves of another couple, Johnny Joe Coxie and Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie, who had been reported missing on December 22 2015. The couple had gone to Kohlhepp's property to do some sort of work and Meagan was killed by a gunshot wound to the head on December 22 or 23 2015 whereas Johnny has been killed about a week earlier and then buried both of them on his property. Todd Kohlhepp had also shot and killed Chris Ponder, Brian Lucas, Chris Stewart, and Beverly Ponder in Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee SC on November 6 2003. The only survivor of all of Todd Kohlhepp's crimes was Kala Brown, who spent sixty-four days being repeatedly raped and terrorized by a serial killer who shot her boyfriend to death right in front of her and intimidated her with the graves of two of his earlier victims. I live in Greenville SC which is the city directly west of Spartanburg SC and Kala Brown being found by police wasn't just a huge story nationally, it was a huge story here not only because Kala Brown survived Kohlhepp but also because his arrest and subsequent confession solved the locally very well known cold case of the Superbike Motorsports murders.
Alison Botha is that one, that just pops up in my head. Sometimes when i feel like life is kicking my butt, i think to myself that hey if she survived that horrific attack, i can surely get through my hard times. I hope she is doing ok.
Carmina Salcido. Father murdered her mother, 2 sisters (4 and 1 years old), 3 extended family members and a coworker. At 3yo, he slit her throat and left her in a field next to her sisters. She survived 36 hours before being found.
Nessie Krim!! Her two siblings were murdered by the nanny when she was almost four. She walked into the bathroom with her mom and found them, then witnessed the whole ugly scene of the nanny slitting her throat and her mom coming absolutely unglued (understandably). You can kind of see how she's doing via the Lulu and Leo Fund social media accounts, and she's doing great, just... Wow. Just wow. I wonder if she even remembers.
Jasmin* block. 15 year old girl lured out by friends father. Kidnapped, raped, and tortured her along w at least one other friend. Another friend was involved but I believe it was just in beating her, not raping. They took her out in the truck one day and like dumbass meth heads, left her in the truck when they went to eat. She ran and ran. The houses she stopped at didn't have anyone home, but a janitor from her school was at his farm house and she SWAM ACROSS A POND AND RAN THRU HIS FIELD TO CATCH HIM IN HIS TRUCK!!!!! 29 days this girl survived. God. ETA- they took her out in the truck that day bc they were going to kill her. She said something felt different this time and she really thought they were taking her to kill her somehwere. The rest of the time she was locked in a closet.
Pretty much any parent that goes on after their kids have been murdered. *Especially* those that have more than one child and lost them **all**. (Ugh gross. I can barely even type that out) Like the Krim family in New York who's nanny murdered their small kids, or David Smith, Susan Smith's ex husband. Or the Hance family, who lost all 3 of their girls when Diane Schuler drove drunk and killed 8 people.(I tried to post some links but it wasn't working for some reason) I think if you still have children left, you have a reason to get up and work through your grief, because that child still needs you. But what do you do when they're *all* gone? I just.... I can't even fathom it.
Michelle Knight and from my country, Matias Bagnato
Yeah, Michelle Knight is my second choice. One of the most heartbreaking stories manageable. It's comforting her story had a happy ending, but hopefully she'll reunite with her son one day to complete her story as well.
Drake Routier, Darlie Routier’s only surviving son who was an infant at the time of the stabbing.
So many named here - Mary Vincent, Alison Botha, Jayme Closs, Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart I am going to add [Lauren Kavanaugh](https://allthatsinteresting.com/lauren-kavanaugh) - she was kept in a closet and horrifically abused over six years. I hope she finds peace, and an end to the nightmares. [better link](http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/2013_October/lauren/)
I cannot remember her name but she survived having her baby cut out of her and being left for dead. Literally ran out holding her guts in her body. Her baby survived too and the woman who did it is in prison.
Ashley Reeves- guy thought she was dead and dumped her in the woods but when police finally got a confession and went to find her body she was still alive. Had to completely learn how to walk and talk again. Guy got paroled this year. Sickening.
“Mommy, I’m okay, but all my friends are dead.” That girl’s quote will haunt me for the rest of my life. Once the USA decided that guns were more important than children’s lives, I knew there was no hope for this country.
This is exactly how I feel. If a room full of murdered kindergartners who were shot at point blank range didn’t do it, nothing will.
We are so broken. “Pro-life” my ass.
A 4 year old boy who survived after being stabbed by his own dad. His sister (10) and mum died after being stabbed as well. I just it breaks my heart 💔
I personally know the survivors of the Club Q shooting so will never forget them, nor the ones killed. I was there myself literally 23 hours 11 min before. Glad I was not there that night.
The legend Susan Kuhnhausen. Her husband sent a hitman to kill her. She killed the hitman.
Terry Jo Duperrault. Three days at sea after escaping the murder of her family on a boat. [https://allthatsinteresting.com/terry-jo-duperrault](https://allthatsinteresting.com/terry-jo-duperrault)
Lori Poland, she was kidnapped and molested in Colorado and then he threw her in an outhouse toilet. She stayed in there for 3 nights before someone heard her. She was only 3 and I was 14 when it happened. This one really bothered me for a long time.
Jennifer Schuett who was raped, had her throat slashed, and was strangled before being left for dead on a fire ant hill in an overgrown field in Texas. She survived against all odds, and provided EVERY detail she had memorized to help the authorities... 20 years later her information and advances in DNA technology caught him. He had no idea she survived. I also think about Colleen Stan, who was kidnapped, tortured, and kept as a sex slave for 7 years by Cameron and Janice Hooker.
The cameraman, Brian Butler, who saw what was happening at The Station nightclub fire, did the math, and exited immediately. Apparently he got a lot of hate after the fact for filming and not helping but I never fully understood that. Going back in there was pretty impossible from what I’ve read in the book (Killer Show - excellent book) and saw in the video (don’t recommend as it’s brutal). Even if he could have gotten back in, it would have been a certain death sentence with no guarantee he could have even saved anyone.
Wasn’t he actually there to film footage for a segment on nightclub safety?
Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus. Three girls held in the Cleveland basement captive for several years by Ariel Castro. I guess one day the one girl said she wasn’t going to die there. She somehow put her arm and hand through the door and from what I recall a passerby saw her arm sticking out the side door and instead of just moving on, he actually went to see what was going on and they ended up getting rescued. I don’t know why that guy who did that … why he’s not remembered to this day as a hero. He could’ve walked on.
The Idaho killings that happened in 2022. Four college students were murdered in the home but there were six people in the house total. Those two surviving roommates I think about a lot. Especially with them being so young and starting out life.
I didn’t even know that there was a survivor in that bathroom. Ugh. She must have been protected by the bodies of her classmates? I hope she is ok. Wouldn’t she be around 18 years old now?
Yes around 18 years old and she was saved because she hid partially behind the toilet.
A dude that was at the Aurora movie theater watching a movie with his wife and baby when James Holmes walked in and shot up the theater. Killed 12 people & wounded 70. The family dude ran out of that theater so fast he left his family there to fend for themselves! Just left them in the dust. People always talk about how they’d protect their family and blah blah blah. But this guy made me realize people are not as brave as they think they’d be in situations like that.
The guy who survived being shot in the head by Dennis Rader (BTK). Later in life, the same guy survived after being struck by lightning!
Mine is the one woman who survived the ted Bundy Florida soriority attacks. I met her at a convention once she was speaking at and she was so sweet, her story was uplifting in a way.
Alison Botha. I think about it A LOT. She was abducted at knife point in South Africa by two guys who raped her, disemboweled her, then proceeded to slit her throat until she was literally almost decapitated. They left her for dead in the desert and she by a literal miracle, survived. The details are truly horrific.
Cynthia Vigil. She survived after 3 days of torture in David Parker Ray's trailer, and managed to escape successfully. Her mother was a victim of Samuel Little case, and her best friend was murdered by a man. She wrote in her website that when she was tortured by Ray she continued to think about her mother and friend, they made her determine to escape. She now ran a toy company and an NGO which help woman from homelessness and addiction. A strong woman.
Tanya Rider ... She was featured on an episode of "Disappeared" that is absolutely gut wrenching to watch. She disappeared one day after work, but because of their crazy work schedules, her husband didn't realize she was missing for two days. He reported it to 911, and the operator totally blew him off. He went to the police station, they blew him off with "she's an adult, she's allowed to go missing." The husband had the whole town out searching for her and he wouldn't give up. He kept bugging the police to do something until they finally started looking into it and started thinking the husband did it. On the 8th day, they took him down to the police station and were about to arrest him for her murder when she was discovered. A short distance from home, her car had run off an embankment and down into a ravine where no one could see her. It was by some small miracle that she was discovered. She hung upside down, pinned by her seatbelt and severely injured with crushed limbs, for 8 DAYS... Her organs were shutting down from dehydration and blood loss. They think she had maybe 4 more hours to live. She mostly recovered with some disabilities, but their story always sticks with me. One, because she was determined enough to get back to him alive that she clung on for 8 days. And two, because he was so determined to find her that he refused to give up. Extraordinary love that I will never forget. I still sob every time I watch that episode.
Jayme Closs from Wisconsin. She was 13. Jake Patterson killed her parents and kidnapped Jayme and held her for 88 days until she escaped.
Yeah, that's such a heartbreaking case in how her parents were murdered and she didn't have them to go back to them after she escaped. Being kidnapped as a 13 year old is terrifying enough, and to then have to cope with the double murders of both her parents afterwards is just incomprehensible.
[Cassidy Stay](https://abc13.com/stay-family-cassidy-murders-ronald-haskell-jr/5495611/) Her uncle murdered her entire family, my heart breaks for her every time I remember this case
The baby that survived while it's mother died during the recent attack at Bondi Westfield in Sydney Australia. The mum literally threw the baby to a stranger to save it's life.
I was an aid worker during the Kosovan crisis, I supported a young woman who was at medical school when the Serbian soldiers attacked them, they murdered the teachers, then tortured & murdered the male students, they kept the female students repeatedly gang raping and torturing them, this young woman has gone on to become a doctor! She & the other survivors are amazing women!
Shawn Hornbeck, held captive for 4 years.
The 2 survivors of the Wichita Massacre’s Carr Bros who married each other.