I SURVIVED: I Fell Into a Deep Dark Place

Summary

Cold Case Files Podcast Summary

Episode: I SURVIVED: I Fell Into a Deep Dark Place
Date: August 8, 2026
Host/Narrator: Marisa Pinson

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Episode Overview

This episode of Cold Case Files’ "I Survived" series features three harrowing first-person survival stories, each involving trauma, resilience, and the difficult aftermath of narrowly escaping death. The survivors—Kristin, Kimball, and Thaddeus—narrate their experiences with raw honesty, delving into the moments they feared for their lives, the strategies they used to endure, and the impact on their journeys since. Their accounts highlight not only the brutality they faced but also the strength required to survive and heal.

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Detailed Segment Summaries

1. Kristin’s Story: Abduction and Survival

(Start: 02:01)

Background

• Setting: May 2003, Newark, Delaware.
• Victim: Kristin, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Delaware.

Key Events

• Kristin decides to leave a night out early, arranging to meet a friend at a convenience store. She is abducted at gunpoint by a stranger in a black sedan (03:00).
• The abductor, described as a grungy man in his 20s with long hair, immediately restrains her with duct tape and handcuffs.
• She is taken to a secluded location, sexually assaulted, and tortured (05:15–07:27).
  • Quote: “I couldn't breathe because the ball gag was choking me... I kept trying to fight for my life. He was yelling to stop... every time he told me to stop, he would make me respond, ‘Yes Master.’” — Kristin (07:27)
• Despite her terror, Kristin attempts to humanize herself (giving a fake name and age) hoping he would let her go (04:22).
• After further assaults and restraints, Kristin’s compliance convinces the abductor to drive her back near campus. He discards her while she is still bound and blindfolded (09:38).
• Kristin manages to free herself and contacts police. She’s acutely aware the perpetrator has her phone and ID, increasing her sense of danger (10:03).

Investigation and Resolution

• Only one fingerprint was recovered from the duct tape, but it didn't match known records, and the case quickly went cold (10:37).
• Three years later, Kristin recognizes similarities between her attacker and a co-worker’s boyfriend, leading to a break in the case (11:56).
  • Quote: “Well, immediately I perked up, sat up and screamed out, ‘What does he look like? Does he have long hair?’” — Kristin (11:58)
• The abductor, Ernie Carletti, is arrested, confesses, and is convicted of rape (12:40–12:55).

Aftermath and Reflection

• Kristin becomes an advocate for survivors, encouraging others to come forward (13:04–13:53).
  • Quote: "I survived because I didn't let him make me live my life in fear." — Kristin (13:04)
  • “95% of rapes that happen on a college campus go unreported, and I am not a part of that 95%.” — Kristin (13:25)

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2. Kimball’s Story: Survival at Strawberry Reservoir

(Start: 16:06)

Background

• Setting: November 2006, Strawberry Reservoir, Utah.
• Victim: Kimball, struggling with severe depression at the time.

Key Events

• Kimball joins his brother Steven, Steven’s wife Catherine, and friend Mike for a fishing trip (16:46).
• The weather shifts unexpectedly; the small boat begins taking on water and sinks two and a half miles from shore (17:48–18:53).
  • Quote: “We turn the boat and we try and get back to the marina...1, 2, 3 waves hit us right in a row and the boat just disappeared.” — Kimball (18:53)
• All four adults end up in frigid (43°F) water, with only three life vests among them (19:49).
• Kimball and Mike decide to swim with the waves toward the nearest shore, while Steven and Catherine continue toward the marina, directly against waves and wind (21:55–22:00).

Turning Point

• A profound moment of self-realization:
  • Quote: “Are we going to live? ... It was a question coming from God saying, ‘You’ve been asking your wife to shoot you in the head every day for a year. Do you really want to die or do you want to live?’... I knew I had made this choice. I wanted to live.” — Kimball (22:30–23:25)

Outcome

• Kimball and Mike reach the eastern shore after 2.5 hours in the water (23:45). Despite severe conditions, Kimball survives with no major ill effects (25:40).
• Steven and Catherine succumb to the cold; their bodies are recovered nine days later near the spot where the boat went down (27:18).
• The search recovers multiple other bodies from previous, unrelated drownings, providing overdue closure for many families (26:41).
• Kimball reflects on his changed perspective and the power of choosing life (27:18–28:54).
  • Quote: “I survived because I got a long way to swim, made the choice that I want to live.” — Kimball (28:42)

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3. Thaddeus’ Story: Child Abduction and Torture

(Start: 30:59)

Background

• Setting: July 1995, Baraboo, Wisconsin.
• Victim: Thaddeus, age 12.

Key Events

• Awakens to find himself carried from his house by a stranger, later identified as 17-year-old Joseph Clark (31:07–32:13).
• Clark feigns friendliness then, without warning, begins a campaign of sadistic torture, breaking Thaddeus’s bones one by one over the course of a weekend (32:30–36:46).
  • Quote: “He grabbed my right ankle and twisted it around until it snapped... After that, he became a normal person again. Acting like he was my friend, wanting to have conversation.” — Thaddeus (33:04–33:43)
• Multiple escape attempts fail due to physical incapacity or Clark’s vigilance.
• Clark’s fascination with breaking bones is revealed:
  • Quote: “I asked him why he was doing this. He told me he was fascinated with the sound of breaking bones.” — Thaddeus (34:10)
• Thaddeus continues to endure ongoing injury—both legs, ankles, and a knee broken. He suffers alone, never crying, refusing to give Clark any satisfaction (34:32–38:33).
• Eventually, Clark leaves him alone, locked in a closet; Thaddeus breaks out using a guitar, drags himself to the kitchen, and calls 911 despite his devastations (38:33–40:20).

Resolution and Impact

• Police rescue Thaddeus, who survives only hours away from dying from internal bleeding (40:55).
• Clark is arrested and sentenced to life in prison plus 100 years for the murder of another boy and the attack on Thaddeus (41:28).
• Thaddeus’s will to be with his family kept him alive (41:34).
  • Quote: “I survived because I wanted to be with my family. I didn't want to leave my family, and I know they wouldn't want to lose me.” — Thaddeus (41:34)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kristin (07:27): “I couldn't breathe because the ball gag was choking me. And I could hear him sitting to the left of me, holding the chain, pulling me farther and farther up. And I could hear him masturbating at the same time. I was being tortured, and if I tried to breathe, he would just pull harder.”
• Kimball (22:30): “It was a question coming from God: ‘Do you really want to die or do you want to live?’”
• Thaddeus (34:10): “He told me he was fascinated with the sound of breaking bones. I asked him, well, then why don't you just do it to yourself? And he told me that he's tried, but he can never get the angles right.”

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Key Themes & Insights

• Survival Instinct: Each survivor experiences a moment of clarity—a conscious decision to live despite insurmountable odds.
• Long-Term Impact: Trauma lingers, but survivors channel their pain into advocacy (Kristin) or a new outlook on life (Kimball).
• Randomness and Timeliness of Breaks in Cold Cases: Quick identification is rare; community and coincidence (i.e., a conversation about a ball gag, or discovery of another victim) often spark justice.
• Psychological Manipulation: All three cases demonstrate abusers' attempts to control or dehumanize their victims—either through violence, mind games, or both.
• Importance of Reporting: Kristin stresses the importance of not being a silent victim, reflecting on underreporting of campus rapes.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Kristin’s Abduction & Assault: 02:01–13:53
• Kimball’s Story of Survival in Freezing Waters: 16:06–28:54
• Thaddeus’s Torture and Escape: 30:59–41:34

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Closing Thoughts

This episode of Cold Case Files offers a powerful, unfiltered look at the terror of surviving violent crime and the ongoing cost—and gift—of survival. The episode is gripping, inspiring, and a raw call to resilience and advocacy in the face of darkness.

Transcript

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[Survivor/First-person narrator]

It was 5k to pay the bill for my son and I need only 22 hours. It was amazing. People really trust on GoFundMe.

[Host/Announcer]

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[Narrator/Interviewer]

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[Host/Announcer]

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[Survivor/First-person narrator]

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[Narrator/Interviewer]

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[Host/Announcer]

Listener discretion is advised.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

I was being tortured and if I tried to breathe he would just pull harder.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

One, two, three. Waves hit us right in a row and the boat just disappeared.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

He kept twisting and twisting. His skin looked like a twisted rubber band.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

My feet were backwards and every time

[Kristin (Survivor)]

he told me to stop, he would make me respond. Yes Master.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Real people who faced death and lived. To tell how this is, I survived. It's May 2003 in Newark, Delaware. 19 year old Kristin has just finished her freshman year at the University of Delaware.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

My friends in my dorm, everyone was getting ready to go out, just having a good time and it was around 11 o' clock that we left the dorm. It was only maybe an hour that I was out with them and I just decided that I didn't really want to be out anymore. So I decided to walk home. I called my friend Colette, who was still at the dorm at the time. She still hadn't left and I asked her to meet me halfway because I didn't want to walk the whole way by myself.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kristin arranged to meet her friend outside a convenience store.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

I got there before she did, and so I decided to sit down on a curb that was in a fire lane. It was a wella area, and there's cars driving by, there's people walking down the sidewalks. It was around midnight. This black sedan comes up and rolls down his window and says, if I give you $100, will you put on these handcuffs? He was in his mid-20s and had really, really, really long hair, like down in the middle of his back, and was just really grungy looking. And I, in my head, thought, freak, like, what are you talking about? And got up to walk away. But before I could even get up, he opened the door, had me at gunpoint, and was pulling me in across his seat, into the passenger seat. Within seconds, he had duct tape covering my eyes, had handcuffed me behind my back, put my head down in between my legs and handcuffed my feet together as well. And I just 100% didn't think I was making it out alive. I didn't have time to even realize what was going on. When I was pulled into the car, I didn't scream. All he said to me was, you should have taken the money. And he said, don't say a word. And he had what I thought was the gun on my shoulder and his hand on my back keeping me down. And I didn't want to say a word, thinking that he would shoot my brains out right then and there. He asked me my name. I made up a name, and I said I was 17 because I felt that he wouldn't hurt me if he thought I was minor. I wanted to cooperate with him because I didn't want to make him angry, to hurt me even more.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

After driving for 20 minutes, the man pulled off the main road.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

I heard the tires pull onto a gravel driveway. As soon as the car stopped, he got out, and I could hear him walking around the front of the car. And immediately he was at my door, drugged me out. We were going down steps. I still couldn't see. I was still handcuffed behind my back. He started touching me and kissing me. And at that point, I knew what was going to happen. And he sexually assaulted me. After that, he kept telling me that everything was going to be okay and that if I just cooperated, everything would be okay. But I didn't believe it. When he was done, he left me sitting there. I heard him go all the way up the steps and then have a door shut. And I heard the sound of dogs walking around I heard the sounds of chains being moved around, and I didn't know if they were for the dogs or what was to come of me. Should I try and leave? I had. I mean, I knew I was alone, but I couldn't see anything. And I knew that he had had a gun that in my head, made me stay where I was. And he came back downstairs and he sexually assaulted me again and then drugged me over to this table where he laid me face down. I could hear him moving chains around next to me, and I could hear them above me, too. At that point, he came over and put a ball gag in my mouth.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kristin was hogtied, her hands and feet chained together and pulled up toward the ceiling.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

I couldn't breathe because the ball gag was choking me. And I could hear him sitting to the left of me, holding the chain, pulling me farther and farther up. And I could hear him masturbating at the same time. I was being tortured, and if I tried to breathe, he would just pull harder. I kept trying to get air. I kept trying to fight for my life. He was yelling to stop, trying to get out of it. I could barely even speak because I was being choked. And every time he told me to stop, he would make me respond, yes, Master. And he finally decided to let go of the chains. I dropped down to the table and just gasped for air. And at that point, I had no idea what was coming next. But all I thought was that it was going to be the worst. I just. I kept thinking of my. My brothers and my parents and my grandparents and them having to say goodbye to me and not ever really knowing the truth of what happened. He took the ball gag out, dragged me off the table and back up the steps, back outside, and put me back in the car. He took off the handcuffs behind my back and replaced it with duct tape and took off the chains around my feet and replaced that with duct tape as well. We pulled out of the driveway and started driving again. I have no idea what was coming next, but he kept saying, you're not going to tell anyone, are you? I. I did my best to make him believe that there was no way I would say a word to my parents or my friends. And whatever it was I said, he believed.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The man pushed Kristen out of the car, still blindfolded and bound with tape.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

I heard the door slam, and I waited until I heard him drive off. I started struggling with my hands behind my back, and the tape let go, and I was free.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kristin was near her college dorm. She frees herself, but Realizes the man has her cell phone and ID card.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

He knew my name, where I lived, had access to my building and my cell phone in his car. So he had access to my building. He knew my full first and last name, and he had my cell phone. I turned around and started running back to my dorm in hopes that someone was still awake and could let me in.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kristin got into her dormitory and immediately called the police.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

The only piece of evidence that they found was one fingerprint in between the two pieces of tape that covered my eyes. But that fingerprint didn't match any of the records that they had on file with anyone in the state. They didn't know a name. They knew that he drove a black sedan. They still had nothing, and it became a cold case quickly. I didn't want to let this person ruin my life in fear. I wanted to move on with life. And I went back to school the next semester. I had two jobs, went to school full time. I kept myself as busy, as busy as possible to avoid ever thinking about this and to keep myself sane. Exactly three years later, I sat down to breakfast with one of the girls I work with, and she started talking about her boyfriend and all of the things that he liked to do to her sexually and asked our opinion on if we had ever used a ball gag during sex before. Well, immediately I perked up, Sat up and screamed out, what does he look like? And I was like, does he have long hair? And she said, yeah, why? He had a long gravel driveway, that he had dogs. His studio was in the basement. He was also her guitar teacher, and he made her call him master whenever she was being taught by him.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kristin convinced the woman to go to the police with this information. Three months later, Kristen was visited by detectives.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

They sat me down at my kitchen table, and they said that they had arrested my abductor and that they got him to confess on tape and that it was that one fingerprint that matched his from the duct tape.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Ernie Carletti was a guitarist in a heavy metal band. He was convicted of rape and sentenced to 33 years imprisonment.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

I survived because I didn't let him make me live my life in fear. I didn't let him make me feel that I was defeated. And it was because I decided to live my life that he's behind bars right now. 95% of rapes that happen on a college campus go unreported, and I am not a part of that 95%. And I go out to speak to universities to let people know that this happened to me. And if it's happened to them to not be a part of that percentage as well.

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[Narrator/Interviewer]

It's November 2006 in Strawberry Reservoir, Utah. Kimball is suffering from depression.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

I'm not quite sure why or what happened, but shortly after my wife and I got married, I fell into a really deep, dark place in my life. In fact, it got so bad, my poor wife, I asked her to shoot me in the head every day. A lot of people in my family would sort of reach out, and one of the things that we loved to do was to go fishing.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kimball's brother Steven suggested going fishing with his wife Catherine and their friend Mike.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

It was gonna be the last fishing trip of the year. This was mid November, early November. We got up there, I think it was around like 7am the sun was just barely coming up. Weather was great other than being freezing, but we're all bundled up and essentially wearing snow clothes. The water was like crystal smooth as glass. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was totally clear. Just the perfect day for fishing. It was gonna be the best fishing trip of the year. And we were in this tiny fishing boat, maybe a 16 foot little aluminum boat that normally would have been like a rowboat. And we had four adults in it. We only had three life vests in the boat for four people. We were using the life vests as seat cushions because it was a small aluminum boat and the seats were cold and hard. We start fishing, and it was not the perfect day for fishing. I don't know if we caught a single fish.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

After three hours, the weather started to change.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

Waves were picking up a little. A little bit of wind, not a big deal. All of a sudden, we just started catching fish one after another. It's like at least someone in the boat always had a fish on. At any given moment, somebody was bringing a fish in. It was just complete shift and we're having a blast. And everything is just amazing. I was in the front of the boat and I was, you know, over 280 pounds, and I'm constantly getting this spray coming on me, but I'm pulling in one fish after another and don't even notice. I'm reeling in this fish and I pull the fish into the boat. The fish was swimming in the boat and that was alarm bells, red flag. Like, there's enough water in this boat for fish to swim. This is a. This is a big deal.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

They're over two miles from shore and the boat is filling up with water.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

The waves were splashing and coming over the front of the boat. I stood up and I tried to move towards the back of the boat to get the front of the boat to come up. We turn the boat and we try and get back to the marina. But turning the boat in that direction turned us right into the waves. 1, 2, 3 waves hit us right in a row and the boat just disappeared. We didn't capsize. It wasn't like we were rocking too much. It literally just filled with water and it was gone right out from underneath us. And we're all in the water. We're smack dab in the middle of the biggest part of the lake, about two and a half miles from any shoreline. And the water was so cold, it burns.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The life vest they had been sitting on floated to the surface.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

I ended up with a life vest. My brother Steve and his wife Catherine both ended up with the life vest. And Mike grabbed onto the only thing he could really hold onto, which was this red, stinky, smelly gas can. We all had heavy, you know, clothes on, snow clothes, you know, jackets. These big snow boots that I have on. They're. I cannot swim with these. So luckily I hadn't tied them. I just kicked them off and I was able to start swimming. My brother growing up was major into scouting, ended up being an eagle Scout. He understood the predicament that we were in. He understood that in water that's 40 degrees, you have 30 minutes before you're dead. Before your organs shut down. You get in severe hypothermia and you're gone. I remember my brother saying, okay, let's stay together, let's get to the marina. Everybody pray. We decided to head toward the one place where people would be, and that's at the marina. But that was the direction that the wind and the waves were coming from. The waves were three foot swells, the wind was blowing hard, and so it was like trying to swim up a river. My friend Mike had big, heavy steel toed boots on and they were tight, tight. And so he's stuck behind us as we're all trying to swim to the marina, Trying to get his shoes off. And there's no way, you know, that he can get his hands down to untie these heavy boots. So my brother swims back to him to help him. Stephen had to get all the way into the water, under the water to help untie these boots. They finally get them off. And it was at that moment that I realized we, we need to turn around and swim in the other direction. I told Steve, we've gotta turn around, we've gotta go with the waves.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kimball's brother Steven kept swimming toward his wife Catherine and the marina.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

At first I was thinking, you know, he was just going to catch up to her and have her turn around. They kept going that way. And so then it was, you know, why would they do that? Well, okay, maybe it's best to split up. If they make it to the marina, they can get help and come get us. If we find someone, you know, maybe they'll find a boat, something. So as I'm swimming towards the east, we're looking and trying to judge, you know, how far the shoreline is and we can see the shore. We start heading towards this, the closest point. At that moment, Mike turns to me and asks the question, are we going to live? To me, it wasn't a question coming from Mike. To me, it was this moment of decision. It was a question coming from God saying, you've been asking your wife to shoot you in the head every day for a year. Do you really want to die or do you want to live? And it was at that moment that all doubt was gone. I knew I had made this choice. I wanted to live. And I turned to Mike and said, we're gonna live. We just gotta keep swimming. All we gotta do is just keep swimming and we'll make it. We're swimming towards the shoreline and more, letting the wind and the waves carry us in that direction. We start to see a change in the, in the shoreline. And so we know we're making some progress. We're making some good progress. We're gonna make it.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

After two and a half hours in 43 degree water, Kimball made it to the shore.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

You know, in my mind, I'm gonna climb out onto the shoreline. I'm just gonna lay there and just get warmed up in the sun. As I get out of the water, it's the complete opposite. The wind is whipping through and as I get out of the water and lay on these rocks, I just start shaking uncontrollably.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Kimball's brother Stephen and his sister in law Katherine had swam in the other direction.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

If they had made it to the marina, obviously they're telling people, hey, get a boat, my brother's out there, let's go get my brother. And I'm looking back out at the water and realizing there's no boats looking for me. I understand. It's up to me to go find help for my brother. We're on the east side of the lake and there's desert in every direction. There is nothing over there and it's a long way away. But I see these cars Driving past, we got up and started hiking over these big rocks, you know, cliffs and thistle and cactus. And as you know, obviously we had both kicked our shoes off. So we're trying to get to this road. And all this time I keep looking back, thinking maybe he made it, maybe there's going to be a boat. So I keep looking for a boat, hoping that there's one coming, realizing there's not. We really got to make it. Eventually we get up to the road and, you know, car passes and it happened to be a forest ranger.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The ranger called for an ambulance to meet them at the marina.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

In water that cold, you know, you have 30 minutes max is what you're supposed to have to live. But we were in the water for over two and a half hours. Not only did I not have any major hypothermia, I didn't have any frostbite. There was, there was like nothing wrong with me.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Search and rescue teams arrived to look for Steven and Catherine.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

They found the life vests on the other side of the lake. And so part of that was they made it.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Rescuers have been searching for Kimball's brother and sister in law for over five hours.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

You know, there's helicopters flying with infrared, so they're looking for any sort of body heat around the lake. And they're searching every inch of that lake and they're not seeing anything. So as the night progresses on, the search and rescue was officially changed to a recovery effort.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The next day, recovery teams searched the lake using new sonar equipment.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

We get news that they found a body and we're like, oh, thank, thank goodness we found one of them. And then they pull the body up and it's not them. And they find another body. They pull the body up and it's not them. And they find everybody else who had ever drowned in this lake, bringing this sense of closure to all of these other families. Some of them back to 15 years or 20, or maybe even back to the 1980s or something.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

It was nine days before the bodies of Steven and Katherine were found.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

They were virtually right by the boat, right where the boat went down. So obviously they continued to swim in the direction of the marina, continued to swim right into the waves until they succumbed. That night had this sort of a dream or a vision. Of my brother and his wife in their wedding clothes, of all things. And they were happy. It was a really hard situation, but I was able to pull from it this power that came from my choice to live. And so as hard as it was to lose my brother and his wife. I was a different person. I survived because I got a long way to swim, made the choice that I want to live. I'm going to live. And that is a principle that has governed my life ever since then. Every minute of every day, in every situation, I have a choice.

[Host/Announcer]

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. You've heard me bring up BetterHelp before, but something we don't always give enough attention to is just how positive the feedback is from people who actually use it. If you want to explore that yourself, you can head to betterhelp.com reviews and see what people are saying in real time. It's updated every day with hundreds of new responses from users sharing their experiences. BetterHelp has an average therapy session rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on more than 1.7 million client reviews. And with over 6 million people having used the platform worldwide, that kind of consistent response really speaks for itself. All BetterHelp therapists are licensed professionals with at least 3 years and 1000 hours of hands on experience covering a broad range of specialties. Getting started is simple. Answer a few questions, get matched with someone suited to your needs and and you can switch therapists at any point if it doesn't feel like the right fit. If therapy has been on your mind, this is an easy way to take that first step. You can visit betterhelp.com reviews to learn more and read through the feedback. See the reviews, see what stands out and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com survived. That's betterhelp.com survived. Finding the one can feel impossible, and in today's world, it's even harder. False profiles, Inaccurate pictures, Incompatibilities, Ghosting on dates. Is this sounding familiar? But if you're ready to make your move to a new place, it doesn't have to feel like dating. All it takes is a simple search on apartments.com to find your perfect match. Whether you're looking for a three bedroom condo downtown, a two bedroom duplex in a quiet neighborhood, a cozy studio in a walkable city, or even a single family home in a cul de sac, you can find a place that checks all the right boxes. So whichever stage of life you're in, settle down in your perfect home by using apartments.com no more swiping and awkward first dates make it easier to get a place that gets you visit apartments.com, the place to find a place It's

[Narrator/Interviewer]

July 1995 in Baraboo, Wisconsin. 12 year old Thaddeus lives with his parents and three younger siblings.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

Earlier that evening we'd gone out for dinner. We came back home and we sat around for a little bit. My parents went to bed. Me and my youngest sister were on the couch watching TV and we'd both fallen asleep. I woke up and I was being carried through my house. I really didn't think nothing of it because my dad would carry me to bed. A lot of times when I'd fall asleep in the living room half asleep.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Thaddeus realized it wasn't his father carrying him outside.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

I just assumed that it was the family friend. And he was having car trouble and he wanted. Needed some help or something. And my dad probably wouldn't get up to help him. So he thought maybe I could. I asked him where his car was at and he told me it was just right up over the hill. It was dark. I didn't really know what was going on. I just moved there. I only lived there two weeks. I wasn't scared. I didn't know I should be scared.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

The 17 year old stranger took Thaddeus to his house half a mile away.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

This place is a real dump. There's trash everywhere. It's garbage, old food, old dishes. I realized it wasn't a friend of the family. He told me that he was going to be having a little party. And he started naming off people that I knew from school. And he said that they were going to be coming anytime and you know, we were just going to hang out, have a good time. And he asked me if I was into model cars and trucks. So we went upstairs and I looked at some of his model cars and trucks. I didn't know I had anything to worry about. I've never been in a situation like that before. And the next thing I knew he freaked out and he threw me back on his bed onto my back. And he grabbed my right ankle and twisted it around till it snapped. He just sat up on the bed beside me and put his hands on his head. And as soon as he did that, I made a. Made a run for it. I was so scared and confused at the time. I didn't feel much pain in my ankle, but I did feel the bone slipping past my foot bone when I was trying to run on it. A really strange feeling. I made it down his stairs, out of his bedroom, down the stairs, through the living room and halfway through the kitchen when he caught up to me and he got me from behind and put me in a choke hold. Drug me back into his living room, Threw me up against his couch. And forced my right leg up over my head until my thigh broke. So I just heard the pop. I just heard my leg pop. Didn't really hurt at that time. After that, he became a normal person again. Acting like he was my friend, wanting to have conversation. He told me that he lived there with his brothers. He told me that his name was Joe. I was trying to have conversations with him so he'd leave me alone. And I had asked him why he was doing this. And he told me he was fascinated with the sound of breaking bones. And I asked him, well, then why don't you just do it to yourself? And he told me that he's tried, but he can never get the angles right. And I asked him if he's ever done it to anybody else. And he told me yes.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

In the morning, Thaddeus asked Joe if he could call his parents.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

He agreed that he'd let me. And he gave me the phone and everything. But the phone wasn't connected. It was kind of like a joke to him. I tried to plea with him and bargain with him. I told him that I wouldn't tell anybody what happened. I'd say I tripped over a coffee table or something like that. And he said nobody would ever believe me. I spent about half the day in the living room watching TV with him. Until he took me back upstairs. Decided that he was ready to do some more damage. He takes me upstairs, puts me on his bed again. This time, he grabs my left ankle and twists it around until it breaks. He kept twisting and twisting. His skin looked like a twisted rubber band. My feet were backwards. I did fight back, you know. I'd hit him and I'd hit him in the back of the head. I'd hit him in his back because he'd have his back to me while he was doing this, sitting on top the of, and it just make him madder. And he'd put a pillow over my face. Or he'd tell me to hold it there, not to yell, not to fight back. Or he'd break my neck or break my back. I believed him 100%. He had already broken both my ankles and my thigh bone. I had no reason not to believe him. I never cried the whole time. I never let him know how scared I was or nothing like that.

[Host/Announcer]

Throughout the day, Joe kept going outside,

[Narrator/Interviewer]

trying to start his car.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

He would come in and complain about the car not starting. And then that's when it seemed like he'd want to do damage again. He'd put leg braces on me for people with broken legs and stuff like that and try to make me walk. And at one point, we were standing over his stairs on this board. And either he came, kicked it out, or it just gave way. But I went all the way down a flight of stairs and landed on my back. At this point, I'm starting to swell up, and it's extremely painful, almost unbearable. My right ankle was swelled pretty big. It was about the size of a softball. And my thigh was about the size of a basketball in black and blue.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Later that night, Joe left the house, leaving Thaddeus alone upstairs.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

Heard the door shut. I heard a car leave. So I knew he was gone. And this was my chance to make a break for it. So I crawled to his top of his stairs and I threw myself down there head first. It was the only way to go. I couldn't do it any other way. And when I got to the bottom of the stairs, I had passed out for a little while. I tried crawling through the living room, and I'd passed out. I don't know how many times I passed out and woke up. I didn't even make it to the kitchen when he came home. And he came walking in the living room and seen me laying there, and he was totally surprised. He drugged me upstairs after that and would twist my ankles around some more, jump on me. Just took all of his anger out on me.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

After each torture session, Joe would put layers of socks on Thaddeus feet.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

They had to be just perfect. He'd move them around so all the seams were the same and everything was lined up. They were brand new white socks, and he had hundreds of pairs of them. He would settle down after he'd put the socks on. I guess that was his way of saying, he's done for now. He's not gonna hurt me no more for a little while. At that point, he drags me downstairs, puts me back on the couch, and we watched a couple movies. I just wanted to get out of there and be with my family. That's all I could think about, was my family. That's what kept me going.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Thaddeus eventually passed out and slept until the next morning.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

Sunday morning when I woke up, my legs looked like they weren't even human legs. They were bruised and yellow and swelled. The pain was excruciating. It was. I can't explain the pain. It was my brother's birthday that day. I really wanted to be there. And it seemed like every couple hours is when he'd want to inflict damage. I'm upstairs Laying on his bedroom floor, and he's running and jumping on me with his knees over and over and over again. He broke my left knee, turned it completely around. My. Now both my legs are just mangled really bad. There's no way I was gonna walk out of there that night. He's going out again. This time, he doesn't want to take any chances. He puts me in his bedroom closet upstairs and locks the door. I heard the front door shut on the house and a car leave, so I knew he was gone. And I start digging around in this closet, and I found an old wooden guitar, heavy duty guitar. And I beat the door open with that, and I unlocked it again. I threw myself down the stairs head first, passed out. I came to at the bottom of the stairs. I drugged myself into the kitchen. It was really dark. And I found the phone hanging on the wall. Luckily for me, the cord hung low enough where I could grab it and jiggle the phone down. Another lucky thing was the buttons were on the handset part of the phone. And I dialed 911. I told them his name about where I was at, and they knew right away. They said, we know where you're at, Thad. We're on our way. Guy's got a criminal record. We've dealt with him before. When the police came in, my left knee was totally backwards. My feet were sideways. I think they were pretty much in shock when they seen the condition that I was in. They put me on a stretcher and put me in an ambulance, and the next thing I know, I was waking up in the hospital. The doctor said I was two hours away from dying from internal bleeding.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Joseph Clark was arrested later that night at a party.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

The first words out of his mouth was, oh, he's still alive. I think Joe thought that I was gonna die that night. He'd come home and I'd be dead.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Thaddeus informed police that Joe had also bragged about about torturing another boy.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

Supposedly he drowned in the Wisconsin river. They dug his body up and exhumed his bones, and his legs were broken, almost identical to mine.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Joseph Clark was given a life sentence for murder and 100 years for the attack on Thaddeus.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

I survived because I wanted to be with my family. I didn't want to leave my family, and I know they wouldn't want to lose me.

[Narrator/Interviewer]

Thank you for listening to I survived.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

Hello and welcome to Pluto Foe.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

If you knew the name of the

[Kimball (Survivor)]

movie you'd like to see, just stream it for free on Pluto tv, where all your blockbuster Favorites are landing all summer long. Catch Anchorman. The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

Fantastic.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

The Matrix Trilogy.

[Survivor/First-person narrator]

Welcome to the real world, Mean girls.

[Kristin (Survivor)]

Shut up.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

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[Survivor/First-person narrator]

I'm the king of the world. And so much more. More.

[Kimball (Survivor)]

For showtimes, press nothing. They're free 24. 7. That is so fast on Pluto TV stream.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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