I SURVIVED: I Couldn't Sit Up, I Couldn't Check to See Where They Were

Summary

Cold Case Files: "I SURVIVED: I Couldn't Sit Up, I Couldn't Check to See Where They Were"

Hosted by Paula Barros on A&E / PodcastOne, this episode of Cold Case Files delves into harrowing true stories of survival against all odds. Through detailed narratives and firsthand accounts, the episode explores the resilience of individuals who faced life-threatening situations and managed to survive through sheer determination and quick thinking. Below is a comprehensive summary of the key stories and insights from the episode.

---

1. Dawn’s Harrowing Home Invasion

Release Date: February 22, 2025
Location: May 2007, Norfolk, Virginia

Overview: Dawn, a mother of two young daughters, recounts a terrifying home invasion that unfolded while she was minding a beach house. Four armed men forced their way into the home, escalating the situation to life-threatening levels.

Key Events:

• The Invasion: At [00:32], Dawn describes the initial threat: “He put the gun to my head and he said, if you don't go upstairs with me, I'm going to shoot you in front of your children.” The armed men demand valuables, leaving Dawn and her daughters in fear.

• Escalation and Resistance: Despite immense fear, Dawn remains determined to protect her children. At [02:54], she states, “I started screaming that I wasn't going to leave my girls behind,” challenging the assailants' plan.

• Attempted Escape: Dawn's strategic move involves locking the car doors to ensure her daughters' safety while she attempts to drive away. Tragically, she is shot multiple times, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down ([09:28]).

• Aftermath and Recovery: Dawn survives despite severe injuries, thanks to the timely intervention of neighbors and law enforcement. Her husband, a military veteran, provides unwavering support during her recovery ([11:10]). The gunmen are swiftly apprehended, with three receiving life sentences and one receiving a 20-year term ([11:35]).

Notable Quotes:

• Dawn: “I survived because of my girls. I had to keep fighting. I had to keep breathing and just keep going and just survive for them.” ([11:43])

Insights: Dawn’s story underscores the incredible strength and instinctual courage that emerges in moments of extreme danger. Her ability to remain calm and protective emphasizes the profound bond between a mother and her children, serving as a testament to human resilience.

---

2. The Sea of Cortez Plane Crash Survival

Release Date: February 22, 2025
Location: September 1997, Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Overview: Jens, Jim, and Agnes embark on a fly fishing trip with their fathers, which turns into a life-threatening ordeal when their plane encounters severe weather and crashes into the ocean.

Key Events:

• Flight into Turbulence: At [13:42], Jim attempts to maneuver the plane to avoid a thunderstorm but ultimately crashes into the rough waters due to engine failure.

• Survival in the Ocean: Stranded in the high seas, the group faces dehydration, hypothermia, and the threat of marine predators. Jens contemplates the dire consequences of their crash ([14:08]).

• Desperate Measures: As exhaustion sets in, Jens decides to swim to seek help. Despite physical injuries from sea urchins and the relentless waves, he perseveres, eventually reaching land and alerting rescuers ([19:06]).

• Rescue and Reflection: After enduring over 12 hours in the water, the survivors are finally rescued by a Mexican Navy vessel. Jens attributes their survival not to luck, but to presence of mind and mutual support ([26:25]).

Notable Quotes:

• Jens: “I could see him actually thinking. And then I started speaking more. I was very stern with my words.” ([05:38])

• Agnes: “I survived because it wasn't my time. We had a strong will to survive.” ([26:41])

Insights: This narrative highlights the critical importance of teamwork and mental fortitude in survival scenarios. The passengers’ ability to support one another and make decisive actions under pressure was pivotal to their rescue, illustrating how human determination can prevail against nature’s fiercest challenges.

---

3. Terror in a Remote Texas Convenience Store

Release Date: February 22, 2025
Location: October 1985, Winnie, Texas

Overview: Agnes, working the night shift at a convenience store, faces a terrifying robbery that escalates into sexual violence and murder. Her resilience and quick thinking play a crucial role in her survival and the eventual capture of the perpetrator.

Key Events:

• The Robbery: At [30:35], Agnes describes the assailant forcing her and another patron, Jim, into his car. He intimidates them with multiple guns, compelling them to perform degrading acts under threat of death.

• Violence and Flight: The situation deteriorates as the gunman lashes out violently, resulting in Agnes being shot multiple times. She struggles to survive amidst severe injuries and the fear of wildlife ([33:30]).

• Rescue and Justice: Despite her injuries, Agnes's account leads law enforcement to uncover the murder of another victim, Barbara Harrington Mayfield, culminating in the conviction and execution of the gunman, Johnny James ([36:56]).

Notable Quotes:

• Agnes: “I survived because we had warm water or we kept our heads together. We had a strong will to survive.” ([26:41])

• Jim: “I survived because of my brother, my daughter, my mother, my friends and me. I have a strong will to live, and I'm not going anywhere.” ([37:02])

Insights: Agnes's experience sheds light on the devastating impact of violent crimes and the strength required to endure and overcome such trauma. Her story emphasizes the role of perseverance and the unwavering support system in surviving and ultimately bringing the perpetrator to justice.

---

Conclusion and Reflections

Throughout this episode, Cold Case Files presents compelling stories of survival, each illustrating different facets of human endurance and the will to live. The survivors’ accounts reveal the intersection of fear, strategy, and unyielding hope that enable individuals to overcome life-threatening adversities. These narratives not only honor the courage of those who endured but also provide profound insights into the resilience of the human spirit.

Final Thoughts: As Paula Barros guides listeners through these intense stories, the episode serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of life and the extraordinary lengths individuals will go to protect themselves and their loved ones. The meticulous detailing of each incident ensures that listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances and the remarkable acts of bravery that emerged from each harrowing experience.

---

Notable Speaker Attribution and Timestamps:

• Dawn: Primary survivor recounting her home invasion experience ([00:32] - [11:43])
• Jens, Jim, Agnes: Survivors of the Sea of Cortez plane crash ([12:52] - [26:41])
• Agnes, Jim: Victims of the Texas convenience store robbery ([26:54] - [37:02])
• Marissa Pinson: Host providing context and transitions ([00:00] onwards)

---

This detailed summary aims to encapsulate the essence of the episode, offering a vivid portrayal of each survivor's journey and the overarching themes of resilience and hope that Cold Case Files so effectively conveys.

Transcript

[Marissa Pinson]

Hi, I Survived listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson, and before we get into this week's episode, I just want to remind you that episodes of I Survived, as well as the A and E classic podcast, Cold Case Files, City Confidential, and American justice, are all available ad free on the new A and E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Dawn]

He put the gun to my head and he said, if you don't go upstairs with me, I'm going to shoot you in front of your children.

[Marissa Pinson]

Real people.

[Jens]

If we hit the water, we were going to cartwheel. The plane was going to come apart and I was going to bounce around and kill everybody inside the cockpit who faced death.

[Jim]

There's snakes, there's alligators, everything you can think of that would eat you smelling.

[Marissa Pinson]

Fresh blood and live to tell how.

[Dawn]

I remember looking back at my children and their faces were just. I mean, frightened, just terror.

[Marissa Pinson]

This is I survived. It's May 2007 in Norfolk, Virginia. Dawn is minding a beach house for friends who are away. She's there with her six and nine year old daughters when the doorbell rings.

[Dawn]

I looked up and the door opened and I saw four individuals walk in. They kind of reminded me of young teenagers. They all had guns and they were pointing them at me and said, we're here to rob you. I just said the first thing that came to my mind was, you can have anything you want, just don't hurt my kids.

[Marissa Pinson]

The men told dawn and her daughters to sit on the couch.

[Dawn]

They proceeded to ask me where the safe was, where the money was. I just told them I didn't live here and I didn't know where anything was. They grabbed my purse, emptied my purse out on the table, grabbed the cell phones, anything that they could literally get their hands on and put in their pockets. I was really scared. I was shaking, but I was trying not to show that. My girls were really quiet. They were scared. They were sitting one on each side of me and I just held their hands really closely. One of the individuals once I had sat on the couch had directed me to go upstairs and at first I refused. That's when both my girls, I could just. Their hands just tensed up and I just started gently rubbing their hands in hopes that it would comfort them a little bit more. I said no two times and he put the gun to my head. And he said, if you don't go upstairs with me, I'm going to shoot you in front of your children. I had no choice. And I kind of whispered to my girls, I said, just stay here on the couch. Don't say anything, and don't move, and Mommy will be back as soon as I can.

[Marissa Pinson]

The other men were still searching the room for things to steal.

[Dawn]

I heard my youngest daughter ask my oldest daughter, is Mommy going to come back? Is Mommy going to be okay? And she whispered, yes. And she just kind of comforted her. And I remember walking up the stairs and looking back at my children, and their faces were just. I mean, frightened. Just terror. The only thing that was going through my mind was trying to get back down to them, what I was going to do to get back down to them. And at that point, I didn't know as I knew that this guy had a hold of my arm, and he was pretty much walking me upstairs with the gun behind my head and directed me to go into the bedroom. And he had asked me to get undressed. And I still was scared. I was shaky, but the first thing out of my mouth was, no, I wasn't gonna get undressed. And he got upset. He got really agitated. He was, like, shaking the gun. He said, you're pissing me off, and if you don't get undressed, I'm gonna kill you. At that point, I just. I said, you know, there's. I can take you to go get money. You don't need to do this to me. This isn't my house. And I can take you to where? I can take you back to my house, and I can get you more than what they have here. And he started thinking about it. I mean, I could see him actually thinking. And then as I saw him actually going along with what I was saying, I just started speaking more. I was very stern with my words. My voice wasn't shaky. I can take you to the bank, and I have lots of money. You're not going to be able to get it if you do this to me here. And he just said, okay. As I was walking downstairs, he put the gun to my head. I just saw my girls, and they were still sitting there on the couch. My oldest daughter had her arms wrapped around my youngest daughter, and she was very, very scared looking, just crying. I could just see the tears going down their faces. And the other three gentlemen were in the kitchen area. And the individual who had taken me upstairs, I heard him say, we're gonna go get money. And that the two Kids are gonna stay with a couple, two of them there, and two of them was gonna go with me. I just froze and I realized they were gonna make me separate from my kids again. I just started screaming. I thought that if I offered them my ATM number that one of them would go get the money and then they would have what they needed and that they would end up shooting us because we had saw their faces.

[Marissa Pinson]

The gunman agreed to go with dawn to the bank. They tell her to leave her daughters behind with two of the men.

[Dawn]

I started screaming that I wasn't going to leave my girls behind. I just knew that if I left without them, I didn't think that they would be there when I got back. And I just said every mean word I could think of in the book. And they kind of just like froze at first. And they were very stunned that I was fighting back. When I was screaming. I hoped that neighbors would hear me. But again, it was raining that night and it was thundering. I heard one of them tell me that I can't believe that you're fighting with us. We're the ones who have the guns. I just told him, I said, you either I go with you with my kids or I'm not going at all. And they started talking amongst themselves and directed me to go back on the couch to sit where my kids were. They were deciding on who was going to go with who, who was going to stay behind and who was going to come. They didn't really seem like have a plan. All I heard was that, okay, we're all going to go and, you know, go in the car with her.

[Marissa Pinson]

The gunmen didn't have a car of their own.

[Dawn]

I had a four door car at the time. And I guess they assumed that they all could fit into my car. And that's when, you know, I was thinking that I could get away with this. I could get my kids out and I could get them to safety. I was kneeling down next to my girls and I could just feel the. Their bodies were just shaking. I whispered kind of like in between both of their heads, I said, as soon as that door opens, run to the car and lock the doors and wait for me to come in. I didn't have a plan as to what I was going to do next. I just knew that I needed to get in that front seat of the car. I didn't know how I was going to do it. I just knew that as soon as I had the chance, I was gonna go for it. We were on the couch waiting while they Were talking, and they said, you know, let the girls go get in the car. And they opened the door, and I whispered to them, just lock the doors and wait for me.

[Marissa Pinson]

The children ran to the unlocked car in the driveway.

[Dawn]

So I was kind of looking around for the keys, and I saw them on the counter. And I slowly kind of walked over there, and I put my hands on the keys and kind of just like, stood there. And that's when I said, you know, I'm gonna walk out the door and get in the car. I didn't want to go unless they said, okay. And I didn't want them to think that I was trying to get away. And they had all their guns pointing at me, and I slowly walked out the door.

[Marissa Pinson]

The men followed dawn as she walked to the car. The girls were sitting in the front passenger seat.

[Dawn]

My girls had locked all the doors except for the driver's door. I opened the car door, and they were still right behind me. They didn't realize all the other doors were locked. And they just saw me, you know, watched me get in. And I just reached up and locked it really quickly. And I turned on the car. And as I was turning on the car, that's when they were realizing all the doors were locked. And that's when they started pounding on the car window. They were all on my side of the car, so all four of them were standing right beside me. That's when I looked over my shoulder and I saw the barrel of guns. I quickly looked over my other shoulder to back up, because I had the car already in reverse. At that time, I heard this big, loud pop, pop, pop sound several times, and I fell over on top of my girls, and I couldn't move. And that's when I knew that I'd been shot.

[Marissa Pinson]

Five bullets hit dawn, puncturing her spleen and kidney. The bullets broke both her arms and shattered two vertebrae.

[Dawn]

I was paralyzed, and I couldn't sit up. And the car just coasted back into one of the neighbor's cars as soon as they heard the gunshot. Just this overwhelming screaming noise. My daughter had just the scream that she had screamed. It's a piercing scream that I just never want to hear again. Mommy, please don't die, Mommy. You know, just don't die. And she didn't know what to do. I was paralyzed, and I couldn't sit up. I couldn't check to see where they were. I asked my daughter to honk the horn. I wanted to scare them off, and I wanted to get help. At the same time, I passed Out. And I came to, and it was pitch dark. I couldn't see anything. All I could hear was just the rain pounding on the car and thunder. And then I just. The horn honking, the horn blaring.

[Marissa Pinson]

The gunman had run away.

[Dawn]

And then the next thing I knew, I heard a voice. I couldn't see it. It was a man's voice, and I couldn't see him. He asked if he could help, and I said I'd been robbed and we'd been shot, and I asked him to dial 911.

[Marissa Pinson]

Dawn's daughters were still in the car unhurt.

[Dawn]

Another neighbor came out, and they had took my girls out of the car and called 911.

[Marissa Pinson]

Dawn was on life support for three days. Her husband was in the military and returned from Iraq.

[Dawn]

And he just kept giving me encouragement words that the girls were okay, that they were safe, and that I was going to be okay, that I was strong and that I was going to fight through this. It took 36 hours for the individuals to be caught, for all four of them to be in jail. They all pleaded guilty. There wasn't a trial. There was a sentence hearing.

[Marissa Pinson]

Three of the gunmen were sentenced to life imprisonment, and one received 20 years. Dawn is paralyzed from the chest down.

[Dawn]

We still do the same things we did before. It's just a little different. And I realized that I can be a mom. And you know what? I can even be a better mom because I can teach my girls when things happen, you just got to keep going. You just got to keep getting on that horse and go. Because if you don't, then, one, you left. The people who did this to you win. And two, you just. Your life, you know, you don't live, and that's not what life's about. You just gotta keep going. I survived because of my girls. I had to keep fighting. I had to keep breathing and just keep going and just survive for them. Hi, everyone, this is Jillian with Court Junkie. Court Junkie is a true crime podcast that covers court cases and criminal trials using audio clips and interviews with people close to the cases. Court Junkie is available on apple podcasts and podcastone.com.

[Marissa Pinson]

It'S September 1997. In the sea of Cortez. Jens reads a magazine article about fly fishing in Loretto, Mexico, and shows it to his friend Jim.

[Jens]

I started talking to Jim about going there and how far would it be for him to fly private plane there. And it kind of developed from that.

[Agnes]

We just decided to include our dads to make it a father son Trip.

[Marissa Pinson]

Both fathers agreed to join them.

[Jens]

On our way to the airport, I stopped at a store and just right inside the door of the store there happened to be a box of life jackets and they were four bucks apiece. So I grabbed four of them.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jim was piloting the hired plane.

[Agnes]

We were about 50 miles north of Loretto when we began to see signs that there was some weather building. It's thunderstorm activity.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jim tried to avoid the storm by flying below the clouds.

[Jens]

As we were getting lower and lower and lower. Finally we just punched right into the edge of the cloud and that's when it just, it got really bad. We started bumping around really hard. I felt the seatbelt pull on my lap because I got lifted up out of the seat.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jim turned back and radioed Loretto Airport, 35 miles away.

[Agnes]

I told him, we've just turned around. We can't continue on. There's too much rain, there's too much turbulence. And so they responded with, okay, no problem. The first indication that something was wrong was the power with the. The power sagged off or the power. There was a reduction of power, very abrupt and a lot of shaking and vibration. So I leveled the airplane off and reduced power. As soon as I reduced power, the engine just quit completely.

[Jens]

He said, I can't get it restarted. And I said, what do you mean you can't get it restarted? He said, it's just, it's not going to start.

[Agnes]

And I remember my dad, of course, having an extreme look of concern on his face, said, what's going on? And all I could say, I don't know. And I think I actually said, I'm sorry, guys, but we're going in, we're going to go swimming.

[Jens]

And he said, I'm going to turn around so that we go back into the storm. That way we'll have a headwind. It'll slow us down. That way when we hit the water, we'll be going slower. That part was real frightening to me because you couldn't see up or down. You just kind of were getting bumped around. And at that point I decided that it was time to get the life jackets out.

[Agnes]

As we got lower, I began to realize just how furious the surface of the ocean was. And the waves were huge. Trough to crest was probably 15ft.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jens had taken his seatbelt off to retrieve the life jackets.

[Jens]

And so I was sure that if we hit the water we were going to cartwheel. The plane was going to come apart and I was going to bounce around and kill everybody inside the cockpit. So I Just grabbed ahold of Jim's headrest and stared out the windshield. Because I wanted to see the water coming. If that was the last thing I ever saw, that's what I wanted to see.

[Agnes]

I keyed the microphone and I repeated Mayday two or three times. And I got that communication out just moments, possibly a minute before we went in.

[Jens]

It's just humongous noise. And I remember staring through the windshield and seeing the water go from foamy white at the top to gray green to dark as it just went up over the top of the plane. And I was looking through a wall of water.

[Marissa Pinson]

At 1:30pm the plane hit the water 10 miles from shore.

[Jens]

John had propped the door open. So immediately when we hit the water, there was a taste and a smell of sea spray.

[Agnes]

But the airplane was staying right side up. Of course, it was quickly sinking.

[Marissa Pinson]

No one was injured, so the four men climbed out onto the wing.

[Jens]

As Jim climbed out, I went and started taking stuff out, and I got the cooler partway out, but it got stuck. And my dad just reached with one hand and just ripped it out, and the top just broke off. The engine of the plane started pulling the nose down farther and farther. So we walked out to the end of the wing and stepped off into the ocean. Immediately was stunned by how warm it was. It was in the 90s in the water.

[Marissa Pinson]

The men watched the plane sink beside them.

[Jens]

The water's so clear there that we could see the strobes still on as it got deeper and deeper. There was four of us there, but that's the loneliest I've ever been. That was it. It was gone.

[Marissa Pinson]

In the high seas, Jim's father accidentally gulped seawater.

[Agnes]

He's kind of a big guy, and something happened where he wasn't able to take a good breath or he. He somehow ingested enough seawater that made him violently ill. As my father continued to vomit and lose more and more of his fluids, and he seemed to struggle more and more to even breathe and eventually became not very responsive. I began to get really, really concerned.

[Marissa Pinson]

Severe dehydration can cause delirium and loss of consciousness.

[Jens]

I was trying to catch rainwater in the cooler, but the waves were huge. And so I'd get a quarter of an inch of water in the bottom of the cooler, and then the wave would roll over the top of the cooler and just fill it.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jim had sent a distress call before the plane went down.

[Agnes]

About two hours after we went in the water, a helicopter arrived on the scene. We could hear it before we could See it because of the heavy rain and the heavy wind. We did have a pair of swim fins that were sort of a neon yellow color. And I remember we were waving them around. As the minutes rolled on to five minutes and then 10 minutes and then 15 minutes and he's flying all over the place. The realization that the despair, the doom was already starting to set in even as he was still flying around. He just can't see us.

[Jens]

By about 6, 6:30 this, the sun was getting ready to go down and it was obvious to me that no one was going to come get us.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jim's dad was still vomiting.

[Jens]

I was concerned that John was going to, was going to die from throwing up so much and dehydrating.

[Agnes]

Jens and I were, you know, treading water on our own and we were without earshot of our dads and trying to come up with a plan.

[Jens]

And I said to Jim, one of us needs, somebody needs to go get help for your dad. He said, I don't know that I can swim that far but you know, if you're willing to go, let's go. And I said, no, no, no, somebody needs to go get help. One of us needs to go. You need to stay here and you need to take care of your dad and my dad and if something happens to your dad and he dies, you need to take care of my dad and yourself. It was a real selfish thing for me to do because I didn't think that I could handle watching John die. And I didn't want anybody to watch me die either. I figured it would be better to do that by myself.

[Marissa Pinson]

Jens was wearing swim fins for the 10 mile swim.

[Agnes]

The weather was calming down a little bit. We could see a silhouette, a gray silhouette of the mountains against the sky. So Jens actually took off swimming and I remember watching him crest a swell and then disappear and then crest a swell and then disappear until finally I couldn't see my friend anymore. And Bill said, you know, looking around says, hey, where's Jens at? And I just said, very matter of factly, I said, he's gonna try and reach shore. See that peak on the mountain there? That's the direction he's swimming. He's heading that same direction. So let's just stay focused on that and swim in that direction.

[Marissa Pinson]

Pushing the ice chest, the three men began to swim after Jens.

[Jens]

As the sun went down and it got dark, the storm wasn't letting up and the lightning at that point got even more vivid because it was so dark. If you'd stop for a minute, you could hear the waves and know where you were at. But you couldn't tell the difference between where the water ended and the sky started.

[Marissa Pinson]

Over a mile away. Jim and the two fathers swam slowly.

[Agnes]

After Jens Bill and my dad seemed fairly stable throughout the night. I got a little bit hypothermic. I was shivering and of course involuntary shivering is your body trying to keep its core temperature warm.

[Marissa Pinson]

Hypothermia is a severe drop in body temperature. It can cause organ failure leading to death.

[Agnes]

And I was thirsty and I remember wondering at what point does the body just finally shut down?

[Jens]

I couldn't swim anymore. I just needed to take a break. And so I would take my life jacket off and kind of tie it around my head to keep my head above water and fall asleep really for just micro sleep, just fractions of a second wake back up because the waves were still pretty bad.

[Marissa Pinson]

The three other men were slowly swimming.

[Agnes]

After Jens Bill and my dad hung onto the ice chest. And I remember I would hang onto my dad's arm. And there was times where the logic part of my brain would say, your odds are not real good. I remember looking at my watch and it was like 1:30 in the morning. I remember thinking, okay, we've been in the water 12 hours now. Every now and then the subject of Jens would come up. I hope he made it. I hope he's alright.

[Jens]

And I just kind of was at the end of my rope and I decided that I couldn't do it all on my own. And that was the first time that I prayed and I prayed out loud and I yelled, God, if you can give me something, anything. And a little while later the storm started to clear up and the clouds started to go away and I could see stars. Maybe a couple hours after the storm stopped, I started hearing a noise. Fifteen or twenty minutes later realized that what I was hearing was waves breaking on something. Swam for probably another half hour. And all of a sudden something hit me in the knee really hard and I started feeling around and it was a rock. I grabbed ahold of it and as I did there were sea urchins just covering it and all their spines went into my hands and just broke off. And I couldn't even really feel that at first. And I stood up and that's when I felt. Because they went through the bottom of the flippers right into my feet. And as I stood up on the rock I realized that the waves that I was hearing were breaking on a reef and that I was swimming into this reef that was full of these Sharp rocks covered in sea urchins that I was just going into a washing machine. I mean, it was. I was going to be shredded. It was the hardest thing that I ever did was to step off of that rock and have to swim back out where I was, where I had just come from. And I swam back out and then I turned, swam parallel to the shore. And as I did the shoreline cut back away from me a long ways and I could see a light on shore. It was probably, probably close to a mile at that point to shore. And I started swimming directly at this light. The light was a fire. There were some fishermen sitting around a campfire. And as I climbed out and went over towards where their fire was, I tried to explain to them with very broken Spanish what had happened, that there were still people out there and that we needed to go look for them. And they told me we couldn't.

[Marissa Pinson]

The fishermen didn't want to take the boat out in the dark.

[Jens]

I was just so tired at that point that I just kind of collapsed on the beach.

[Marissa Pinson]

Ten miles away in the ocean, the other three men were still clinging to the ice chest.

[Agnes]

We never slept. There'd be moments where everybody'd be quiet for a while and we'd just sort of rest. I'd rest my head on my dad's shoulder and as the sun began to come up and. And our vision of the shore came into view, it was a little discouraging because it was apparent that we were still a long, long ways out. Long ways offshore. Clear blue day. Scorching hot sun.

[Marissa Pinson]

That morning the fisherman took Jens to Loreto.

[Jens]

We pulled up to this building and I knew the word jail and I knew what that meant. And I couldn't figure out why I was going to jail, what I had done. And we walk through the front doors of this jail and I'm in shorts and nothing else. And it's an old style Mexican jail with the jail cells right there. And there's a guy in there, you know, just kind of looking at me and there's a guy sitting behind a desk and they had a radio and so they called the airport with this radio and said, we have one that survived. You need to go back out and look.

[Marissa Pinson]

It was over 24 hours since the plane had gone down.

[Agnes]

I could hear sort of a sound like somebody banging on drums. So I called out to my dad, I said, dad, I can hear a helicopter. And so I held still and sure enough, I could hear the pop, pop, pop, pop. I could hear a helicopter.

[Marissa Pinson]

The rescue helicopter saw the men in the ocean, they alerted a Mexican Navy vessel, which picked the group up.

[Agnes]

As this guy's pulling me out of the water, I said, we got one more, there's one more. And he just sort of puts his arm around me and says, hey, don't we have your friend? He's okay. And I was just, oh. That's all I wanted to hear. All I wanted to hear was that Jens was okay.

[Marissa Pinson]

The Navy boat took Jim and their fathers to the marina at Loretto.

[Agnes]

So there's an ambulance waiting at the marina. Jens was sitting in the ambulance. I think he stepped out of the ambulance. We all kind of gave each other hugs and kind of laughed about it. And again thought, man, this is. Nobody's gonna believe this, you know, I.

[Jens]

Remember hugging Jim and Jim said, I didn't think you were gonna make it. He said that he was proud of me, which was pretty cool.

[Marissa Pinson]

They were all exhausted and dehydrated, but no one was badly injured.

[Jens]

A lot of people say that we were lucky. Oh, my gosh, you guys were so lucky. And I don't ascribe to that definition of what happened. Somebody was watching out for me. There were just too many things that happened just exactly the right way for that to be just pure luck.

[Agnes]

I survived because we had warm water or we kept our heads together. We had a strong will to survive. I survived because it wasn't my time. Pluto TV is the place for movie.

[Dawn]

Fans like me and TV fans like me.

[Agnes]

They've got something for everyone and it's totally free.

[Dawn]

You can binge laugh out loud sitcoms.

[Marissa Pinson]

Like Frasier and rewatch cult classics like Higher Learning.

[Dawn]

Whether you're in the mood to solve a little crime before bedtime with NCAA.

[Marissa Pinson]

Or curl up with a surefire hit like Forrest Gump.

[Jim]

Run, Forrest.

[Dawn]

Pluto TV has thousands of movies and shows, all for free. Pluto TV stream now.

[Agnes]

Pay. Never.

[Marissa Pinson]

It's October 1985 in Winnie, Texas. Agnes worked the night shift alone at a local convenience store.

[Jim]

I would stay busy between 10 o'clock, between 11 and 12 o'clock, between 1 and 6 was. You can count the people that would come in. I can work all night and maybe see three people. About 12 o'clock, about midnight, the guy comes in. The average white guy. You know, country, you know, well, we're from the country. So cowboy.

[Marissa Pinson]

There were no other customers in the store.

[Jim]

I asked him, can I help him? And of course she tells me, yes. And first thing he does is reaches behind his back, pulls out a gun. Oh, I panicked automatically, you know, I forgot how to open the cash register. I forgot my name. I was just. I was a mess. Well, I bammed every key I could find. And it finally opened. Dumped it all in a bag. I hand him the bag, you know, and I said, that's all I have.

[Marissa Pinson]

The gunman ordered Agnes to go with him.

[Jim]

And he's holding the gun at me, pointing with his finger on the trigger. So I jump across the counter. I don't even walk around it. I flew across the counter when I left my purse, my everything. I just left the store wide open.

[Marissa Pinson]

Agnes is forced into the man's car at gunpoint. And he drives away.

[Jim]

We go maybe five miles down the road, but I know the area because I got an uncle lives on the road where he took me.

[Marissa Pinson]

The gunman parked in a remote field.

[Jim]

It was after midnight. And where I live at, there are no lights in rice field. You know, it's on a shell road. You're in the middle of the country and all you hear are wolves. I got so scared to where I wasn't scared. I don't know if that sounds crazy, but I was so scared to where I was calm. Then he handed me the car keys and told me to get out and open the trunk of the car. So I did what he asked me to do. I get out and I open the trunk and there's this lady bleeding in the trunk of the car. She's lying there crying, panic. She's trying to get out, but she's hurt.

[Marissa Pinson]

47 year old Barbara Harrington Mayfield had been shot in the foot.

[Jim]

I help her out. He's pulling the gun on both of us and I look down at her foot and. And it's wrapped in a white sheet that's red. Now. She wanted to say something, I could see it in her eyes, but she wouldn't. He puts her in the driver in the passenger seat, puts me behind the wheel. Cars are standard. I have no clue how to drive a standard car. And that really made him very, very angry. The lady that was shot, he made her get behind the wheel even though her foot was shot. He made her drive. He stayed in the back pointing the gun at both of us while she was driving. And she had to use her foot. Each time she hit the clutch and the gas, she screamed. We don't go very far, maybe quarter of a mile down the road and then we turn down a second side road. Still in the rice field though, the.

[Marissa Pinson]

Gunman told the woman to park the car.

[Jim]

He gets in the front at the driver's side. And she and I both get in the back. He says he's never seen a white and a black lady make out. And he wants us to make out in the backseat while he watches. At gunpoint, she cries, and so do I. Cause neither one of us wants to do this. He wants us to take our clothes off. So we do that. We both take off our clothes. And then he wants us to rub each other's breasts and fondle each other while he watches.

[Marissa Pinson]

The gunman had more than one gun in the car.

[Jim]

He bent down to switch guns. And we were whispering in each other's ear. And she told me she was so sorry. She didn't want this to happen. And I said, you think we can.

[Jens]

Get out of here?

[Jim]

And she told me, no, there's no way. Just the only way we can get out of this is just do whatever he asks you to do. That's the only way. She cries, and so do I. Because neither one of us wants to do this. We were all in such a small car. There's no way. There's no way you could run without something bad happening. And if we don't do exactly what he says, he's gonna pull the trigger. Nobody's gonna make it out of that car.

[Marissa Pinson]

After an hour, the gunman ordered the women to change seats.

[Jim]

He makes her get in the front. And he gets in the back with me. And I have to perform oral sex on him. And he holds the gun to the back of my neck and tells me if I hurt him in any kind of way, he's gonna pull the trigger. After I performed oral sex, then he raped me.

[Marissa Pinson]

Barbara remained in the front seat.

[Jim]

The reason why I think she didn't run, because she couldn't run. She was shot in the foot. And there's no way. No way she could go anywhere without him shooting her down. He tells me to get up off of him. And I asked him was he gonna let me go. He really didn't answer. He just told me, both of us get out of the car. So we're scrambling, trying to grab our clothes. And he and her, they walk to the back of the car. I'm on the side, and I was bending over to put on my. My shoes. And I hear him and her. They're, you know, around the back of the trunk. And she's screaming. I raise up just a little and turn to see. I see the gun. And, you know, I see what was happening between him and the lady. She's trying. She's fighting with him back there. Accident. Begging him not to do this. Soon as I turned around, all I saw was blue flames. I grabbed, you know, my head and got shot. When I grabbed my head, the bullets went between my fingers. So all of my fingers got shot. And I got shot right in the back of my ear. And I felt the worst stinging. And the ringing in my ears is so indescribable.

[Marissa Pinson]

Agnes didn't realize she had been shot in the head three times.

[Jim]

I dropped down and I was still conscious at that time. So. And he walked. I mean, I remember him walking around kicking me. And I didn't move. I didn't move at all.

[Marissa Pinson]

Agnes was unaware the gunman had shot and killed the other woman.

[Jim]

I said, well, maybe if I just lie here, you know, and he'll kick me a little bit and then he'll think I'm dead.

[Marissa Pinson]

She heard him get in the car and drive away.

[Jim]

I remember crawling in the grass because I couldn't see anymore. And I passed my hand in front of my eyes. I knew I could see it before even though it was dark. But I come to find out I was blind. And so that's why I couldn't see my hands anymore. And then I couldn't stand up because I lost my balance. So that's why I crawled.

[Marissa Pinson]

Agnes was bleeding heavily and barely conscious.

[Jim]

And you can hear them coyotes getting closer and closer to me. And you can. And it seemed like I heard everything in the world in them grass. Because there's snakes, there's mosquitoes, there's alligators, there's raccoons. Everything you can think of that would eat you smelling fresh blood. I had to get out of the grass. Cause coyotes and wildlife, alligators number wildlife back there. I crawled and I waved my hand. One hand stayed on the road and one hand stayed in the grass.

[Marissa Pinson]

Heavy blood loss caused Agnes to pass out.

[Jim]

The next thing I heard was my brother's voice calling my name.

[Marissa Pinson]

Agnes's family had been searching for her.

[Jim]

There's a newspaper guy that comes and delivers the newspaper by 1:00 in the morning. He's the one that discovered the store was open and that I was missing. And that's who called the police.

[Marissa Pinson]

Police wanted to delay the search until light. But Agnes brother kept searching.

[Jim]

He found me. It was about 6 in the morning. He asked me where did I get shot. And I told him, shot me in my head and I can't see. He was panicking. We had another guy friend with us. He was panicking. You know, we got to the hospital and everything, and man, we flew. But I couldn't see. I couldn't see any. I don't know. It was a mess.

[Marissa Pinson]

At the hospital, the police interviewed Agnes.

[Jim]

I described to the police, I can see this guy's face in my head, you know, to the T and then. But the first thing I told them that there's another lady back there. You gotta go find her. So I told him exactly where to go at and find her. And they did. And she was dead. She had sold him the car, and they had some kind of disagreement. So that's how they ended up finding him.

[Marissa Pinson]

Agnes had extensive surgery but didn't regain her sight.

[Jim]

I was still in the hospital. I think I was missing playing with one of the nuns. She was making me laugh. And a few colors started coming back. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I just. I couldn't make out a face, but I could see what she was wearing. I have tunnel vision. My eyesight is, I'll say, like, iffy. Sometime I can see, and sometime I can't see anything. So I'm blessed when I can, and I don't worry about it when I can't.

[Marissa Pinson]

Johnny James was convicted of the murder of Barbara Harrington Mayfield and executed in 1990.

[Jim]

I survived because of my brother, my daughter, my mother, my friends and me. I have a strong will to live, and I'm not going anywhere. And I have a long ways to go.