I SURVIVED: I Felt As Though Satan Was In My House That Night

Summary

Cold Case Files: "I SURVIVED: I Felt As Though Satan Was In My House That Night"
Original Air Date: June 27, 2026
Host/Narrator: Marisa Pinson

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Episode Overview

This riveting episode of Cold Case Files presents "I Survived," featuring three harrowing and inspiring survival stories. Each survivor—Christine, Mike, and Chris—recounts an encounter with brutal violence, their desperate fight for life, and the lingering consequences. Through personal narration and first-hand testimony, the episode explores the depths of human resilience, the impact of trauma, and the power of will to survive.

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Featured Survivors and Stories

1. Christine: The House Call from Hell (Fort Lauderdale, FL, August 2007)

• [01:22–14:30]

Key Discussion Points

• Christine's background & relationship with her attacker

  • Medical assistant in Fort Lauderdale.
  • Treated Alan, a patient who later attempted to pursue her romantically.
  • Declined Alan's advances; he stopped coming to the clinic.

• The Attack

  • Three years later, Alan unexpectedly appears at Christine’s door at night.
  • She invites him in, feeling no reason to fear him ([02:58]).
  • Alan distracts Christine with vacation photos then retrieves a gun, threatening her ([04:08]).
  • Demands compliance (“put your head face down”), but Christine refuses, confronts him, and tries to assert her humanity and friendship ([05:40]).

• Survival and Escape

  • Christine cleverly maneuvers Alan toward the door, tries to flee; Alan shoots her twice—once through the foot, once through the spine ([07:02]).
  • Paralyzed, she is run over multiple times by Alan’s SUV as she lies in the driveway ([08:33]).
  • Alan returns, drags her out of sight, collects bullet casings, and departs again ([11:03]).
  • Police arrive; Christine survives after sustaining catastrophic injuries.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I honestly felt as though Satan was in my house that night.” – Christine ([01:22], [12:53])
• “I did not give in. I did not do what he told me to do.” – Christine ([05:25])
• “Oh dear God, this can't get any worse.” – Christine ([08:08])
• “He ran over me, all right... I just laid there after he backed off of me. And I just said, oh, my God, I can't believe I've just been run over.” – Christine ([09:38])
• “He was going to cause very serious bodily harm to me and then kill me. So I fought for my life, and I didn't give up.” – Christine ([13:35])

Outcome

• Alan Sinclair convicted of attempted murder, sentenced to life without parole ([13:13]).
• Christine survives, though paralyzed from the waist down; expresses gratitude for her life.

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2. Mike: Alone on the Mountain (Pine Mountain, GA, May 2009)

• [16:15–27:44]

Key Discussion Points

• The Fall

  • Mike is working on a vacation house when attacked by hornets, causing a slip and a catastrophic fall from a rooftop—he was not tethered by safety gear as usual ([17:24]).
  • Suffers serious injuries: broken wrist, pelvis broken in two places, broken back, collarbone injury.

• The Ordeal

  • Alone, naked, and severely injured, Mike must crawl more than 100 feet uphill over rocks and branches toward his house ([19:35]–[20:41]).
  • He drags himself for hours (about 5), suffers through the night, and pushes up the porch stairs in the morning—strategizing survival despite pain and dehydration.

• Reaching Help

  • Mike’s door is shut; despite immense pain, he is able to contort himself, open the door, and access his phone ([26:06]).
  • Sixteen hours after his fall, he calls 911 and is eventually rescued.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Then this wave of unbelievable pain washed over my body.” – Mike ([18:58])
• “If I'm going to save myself, it's got to be me. And nobody else is going to be around to save me. And I don't want to die out here.” – Mike ([20:47])
• “I had a choice at this point. I could either slide down the steps and die on the landing when the sun hit me or just work myself up to the next set of steps.” – Mike ([25:22])
• “I survived because I had the will to go forward. I had the tremendous will to live.” – Mike ([27:19])

Outcome

• Mike spent weeks in the hospital and at home in rehabilitative care but returned to work in 9 weeks.
• Attributes survival to determination and thoughts of family.

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3. Chris: The Firearm and the Fight (Blue Springs, MO, 1995)

• [29:44–39:30]

Key Discussion Points

• The Relationship

  • Chris meets and briefly dates a fearless woman at a skydiving club who quickly demonstrates violent and erratic behavior ([29:44]).

• The Night of Violence

  • After an argument about her dishonesty and volatility, Chris goes to her home to break up with her ([31:35]).
  • She greets him with a gun, orders him to his knees, and when he refuses, shoots him in the leg, then violently attacks him ([33:35]).

• Surviving Execution Attempts

  • Chris is shot in the leg and then in the head (“blew the left side of my skull off”); plays dead to survive as she presses the barrel to his temple ([34:01]).
  • When she tries to shoot again, he fights back, manages to struggle toward the door as she shoots again, wounding him further ([34:04]–[35:39]).
  • Despite being brutally beaten and shot, Chris escapes to neighbors and is finally rescued as police arrive ([36:51]).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I looked up at her, she was smiling. No remorse whatsoever. She was getting a kick out of it.” – Chris ([33:57])
• “Any one of the bullet wounds could have killed me. Any one of the kicks could have killed me. The butt of the gun could have killed me. There was many times she hit me in the back of the head, and they let her go.” – Chris ([38:41])
• “I needed to let my mother know that I was still the son she had raised and that I wasn't an abuser. And being able to tell my story and living through it was very important to me.” – Chris ([38:59])

Outcome

• Chris suffers traumatic injuries, needs extensive surgery and years of recovery.
• His attacker is convicted and sentenced to 20 years but the verdict is overturned on appeal after serving only two years.
• Chris highlights the importance of surviving to tell his side and clear his name.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Christine’s Story: [01:22]–[14:30]
• Mike’s Story: [16:15]–[27:44]
• Chris’s Story: [29:44]–[39:30]

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Themes and Tone

• Language & Tone: The survivor accounts are raw, frank, and emotionally charged. The narrative and testimonies are direct, often graphic, and imbued with a sense of peril, determination, and gratitude for survival.
• Memorable Moments: Each story features moments of defiance, clarity under stress, and the refusal to surrender to violence or death.
• Powerful Statements: The episode is anchored by the survivors’ own words, which offer insight into the psychology of surviving extreme violence.

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Notable Quotes by Time

• Christine: “I honestly felt as though Satan was in my house that night.” ([01:22], [12:53])
• Mike: “If I'm going to save myself, it's got to be me.” ([20:47])
• Chris: “I looked up at her, she was smiling. No remorse whatsoever. She was getting a kick out of it.” ([33:57])

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Conclusion

This episode of "I Survived" on Cold Case Files delivers a powerful meditation on survival against the odds. Christine, Mike, and Chris each faced unimaginable terror and severe injuries, yet each found the will to fight on. The survivors’ voices ring with honesty and courage—reminders that even in the face of grave violence or bleakest adversity, resilience and hope persist.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

this episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

[Christine]

I honestly felt as though Satan was in my house that night.

[Narrator]

Real people.

[Mike]

Then this wave of unbelievable pain washed over my body.

[Narrator]

Who faced death.

[Chris]

My heart was pumping and I was putting out a lot of blood. I didn't think I was going to

[Narrator]

make it at all and live to tell how.

[Christine]

And I said, oh dear God, this can't get any worse.

[Narrator]

This is I survived. It's August 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Christine is a doctor's assistant in a medical clinic. She is instructed to treat a patient, Alan, for severe back pain.

[Christine]

He seemed like a nice guy. He was kind of cute. He had kind of curly hair on the top of his head and wore these nice shaped glasses for his face. And he had these really cute dimples.

[Narrator]

Christine treated Alan at the clinic twice a week for several months.

[Christine]

During that time he had made some advances toward me and asked me out and I wasn't interested in dating him. I told him that, you know, I wouldn't be interested being anything more than friends with him. So once his treatment was finished at the doctor's office and he was all better and didn't have any more pain. He stopped coming in as a patient.

[Narrator]

Christine did not see or hear from Alan for three years. Then late one evening, there was a knock at her door.

[Christine]

And I thought to myself, well, that's a little unusual. I don't usually like people just dropping by like that. And I asked, who is it? And he said, it's Alan. And I said, alan. I said to myself, I don't know any Allen. It had been so long since. I certainly didn't expect him to stop by like that. So I walked over to the door and I looked through the peephole and I recognized him. And I had never felt any reason to fear him. He always seemed like a nice guy. He was helpful, considerate, always willing to lend a hand. He said, oh, well, I was in the area, thought I'd stop by and say hi. I said, oh, well, that's a nice surprise. Oh, come in. A mom. Come in. I'm unloading my groceries. He came in and we talked for a few minutes. We were catching up and he was telling me he'd been out of town for a couple years and he just moved back not too long ago because his mom had been ill. Alan offered

[Narrator]

to show Christine photographs he'd taken during his travels.

[Christine]

And I viewed the slideshow on his laptop of these beautiful pictures, and I complimented him on everyone. When the slideshow started to repeat, all of a sudden he stood up and he said, oh, excuse me a moment. I have to get something. Now, of course, my attention is focused on the screen because I'm still looking at these pictures, distracted looking at these pictures. And when he stood up and walked around to the bag, this computer bag behind me, right behind my sofa, he pulled out a gun and the sound was deafening. All of a sudden, I heard right behind my head. And then in the next instant, he put this loaded, cocked gun right up to the back of my head. And then he grabbed my hair in his other hand and he said, christine, I want you to listen to me very carefully. I want you to put your head face down. You're not going to feel anything. I'm not going to hurt you. Just do as I say. And I said to myself, I'm not going to feel anything. This man's going to shoot me in my head. For what? For nothing. Because I didn't want to go out with him. The next thing I pictured in my mind was my blood splattering all over my white sofa, floor, the walls. I pictured blood splatter everywhere. I pictured my Cat's paw prints in the blood. And I said to myself, I said, God, my life's not going to end like this. And at that moment, I got the courage within me, and I did not give in. I did not do what he told me to do. I did not put my head face down in the sofa so he could just shoot me in the back of the head. That's what I thought his intention was. And I pulled away from his grip, and I turned, and I never blinked. And I looked at him dead right in his eyes. And I said, alan, I'm your friend. What are you doing? God bless you. And he said, christine. And he tried to regain control of the situation. But at this moment, at this point, I figured I had nothing to lose. If this man was going to shoot me in the head, I had to do whatever it took to get myself out my door and get away from this man. And as I was walking toward him, he was backing up. He didn't know what to do next. I guess because I had tried to take over control of the situation.

[Narrator]

Christine was slowly forcing Allen backwards towards the front door.

[Christine]

We got to my front door. I had to get the door open, which means I was going to have to turn my back when I was going to go for it and make the run. And I was so afraid to take my eyes off of his because I just didn't trust him. And I thought, I have this moment, this split second. Make a decision. Go, run for it. I turned the doorknob and I pushed the door open, and I ran as fast as I could. And as soon as I took off and I ran, my eyes were no longer fixated on his, and my back was turned. That man opened, fired on me. I was running so fast that the first bullet hit me through the bottom of my foot, through the skin, in between the toes. And the second bullet that he fired so quickly, boom, boom. The second bullet went right through my spine, obliterated my spine, shattering my spine, severing my spinal cord. And I'm laying there in my driveway, right on the side of my driveway, in the gravel side. And I said to myself, my God, what just happened to me? What the just happened? My God, I've just been shot. I'm not gonna die. Not like this. Not now.

[Narrator]

Alan left the house and got into his truck.

[Christine]

And I was trying to move my body. I was trying to move, to get out of the way, struggling my hands, and I couldn't move. I was paralyzed. It was dead weight. I felt like I had been pinned to my driveway. I was helpless. I couldn't get out of the way. I couldn't move. I couldn't run. I was at his mercy. The next thing I know, I saw this huge tire coming straight for me. And I said, oh, dear God, this can't get any worse. And this SUV tire was coming straight for me. And I said. I screamed out, please, please don't run over my face. I was so worried about him just crushing my ribcage and my collarbone and finishing me off. Felt like so helpless laying there. Well, he ran over me, all right. He came over me with that huge tire over my right foot first. That had been shot right up in between both of my legs. Just felt like I was being squashed. Tire came up, and all I could do was lay there and pray to God. Dear God, please help me. Please help me. And then he took his steering wheel and he turned that tire on top of my body, on top of my pelvis and my hip, and he turned it. And then he came back across my abdomen and my hips, my pelvis. And then he ran over my right wrist. And I just laid there after he backed off of me. And I just said, oh, my God, I can't believe I've just been run over. It's not enough I was shot. This guy had to run over me, too. He's really trying to kill me. Why? Why?

[Narrator]

After backing over, Christine, Allen drove off.

[Christine]

And after he drove up, I was screaming bloody murder as loud as I could.

[Pluto TV Host]

Help.

[Christine]

Help. I'm screaming so loud, I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't hear anyone. Nothing. Nobody was coming to my aid. Nobody. And I'm laying there, and I put my arms up, and I. I'm waving my busted hand and my arms, and I'm. I'm waving.

[Pluto TV Host]

Help.

[Mike]

Help.

[Narrator]

Christine saw headlights approaching, and this vehicle

[Christine]

pulls up in front of my house. And I thought, oh, thank God, somebody's going to come help me. And this person was approaching me so calmly and quietly, and I thought to myself, this is very strange. Something's not right. And, oh, my God, it was him. He came back, and he picked me up by my ankles, and he dragged me on my back across my driveway, over by my carport, over by some bushes to hide me from view from the street. Evidently, I didn't know if he was gonna finish me off. He was gonna shoot me in the head. But right after he dragged me, I said, allen, why did you do this to me? Why? And he didn't say anything. Nothing. He just picked up his two Casings from the bullets that he had shot me with. And then he walked off, and I never heard his truck pull away. So I was scared to death. I said to myself, oh, my gosh, he thinks I'm still this coherent. I just spoke to him. He may come back and finish me off. So I kept quiet as a mouse. And then all of a sudden, I heard these engines, these cars coming up the street so fast, I could just hear them coming. And I said, oh, God, please, please let that be the police coming to save me. And I heard the doors open and doors shut. And I just yelled out, I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I was waving my busted arm. I'm here. I honestly felt as though Satan was in my house that night. I really felt such an evil presence, like there was a battle between good and evil going on.

[Narrator]

The next day, Alan was found 45 miles away, slumped over the steering wheel of his truck.

[Christine]

And when the paramedics showed up, he told them that he had shot a woman in Fort Lauderdale and he was trying to kill himself.

[Narrator]

Police found the bullet casings and a rape kit in his truck. Alan Sinclair was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life without parole.

[Christine]

The detective told me that his intentions were to rape, torture me, and then murder me.

[Narrator]

The bullet severed Christine's spinal cord and left her paralyzed from the waist down.

[Christine]

I'm grateful that I'm not a quadriplegic or that he didn't shoot me in the head, that I'm not dead. I'm very, very grateful to be alive. I believe I survived by the grace of God, the love for my mother, my family, my friends. I wanted to see them again. And from that moment, I got up the courage and I turned and I confronted him. And I said, what are you doing? I'm your friend. God bless you. And I stared at him straight in the eyes. I followed his plan up. I don't think he was able to carry out what he was planning on doing, because now I was confronting him face to face, eye to eye. He was going to cause very serious bodily harm to me and then kill me. So I fought for my life, and I didn't give up.

[Narrator]

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[Narrator]

It's May 2009 in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Mike and his wife Deb have a vacation house situated on a steep piece of land in a forest.

[Mike]

My wife was on vacation and I decided to go up because it was supposed to be a beautiful weekend. The temperatures were just right and it was a great time to be a building on my house and getting some projects done. I was hoping to surprise my wife with some good projects finished up. So I elected at the end of the day to paint some windows on the outside of the house which are only accessible through walking over a metal roof. When I went and got my painting gear, I I went around and collected some ropes to make sure that I'd be safe on the roof because I knew I was by myself and didn't think too much of it because I'd gone on the roof by myself before and I'd actually installed some bolts in the roof that I could tie ropes off to some eye bolts and I'd tie myself on the roof because I didn't want to fall off. So I thought if I ever fell off the roof to the south side of the house where the, the hill is, nobody was going to be able to survive it.

[Narrator]

It was a 20 foot drop from the roof to the ground.

[Mike]

About a half hour into the project, I was attacked by some hornets and I beat them off and then decided, well, I'd had enough of working on the roof. I took my safety gear and my paint, went downstairs and started getting ready for a bath. I'd taken my clothes off and I realized it was awfully quiet and I was used to having my radio around and I'd left it playing in the roof. So I threw a towel around me and just went up with a quick scurry up to the roof.

[Narrator]

This time, Mike had not attached his safety ropes, and I was about to

[Mike]

get the radio and the hornets attacked me again. I took my towel and I was waving my towel at the hornets, trying to keep them from seeing me anymore. And at this point, I kicked the bucket. I had a bucket of water up there to clean up any paint spills. Well, when the water hit my feet, it dropped me to the roof that fast. And immediately I started sliding off the roof. I had a fleeting thought of trying to save myself by reaching out, but my navy training kicked in and I said to myself, just go off the roof in a controlled fashion. If I go off uncontrolled, I'll hurt myself worse. And I remember thinking just before I got to the edge of the roof, you're really going off the roof. Now, that was bad feeling because I knew I was alone and I was going off for a pretty good fall. Falls in excess of 20ft. And I figured it was really going to hurt when I got down at the bottom. And when I hit, I hit awfully hard.

[Narrator]

Mike passed out and rolled down the steep slope. He regained consciousness at the bottom of the hill.

[Mike]

I looked down and glanced at my right wrist and was swollen already. So I, I had this thought that, all right, you have a broken wrist. And then I was able to pause there for a second longer. And then this wave of unbelievable pain washed over my body. When I was able to come to my senses again, I realized that I was all alone. My nearest neighbor was hundreds of feet away, well out of earshot, if they were even home. And my wife was on vacation in Hawaii. And I was somehow going to have to figure out how I was going to get back up to my cell phone, which I'd left inside the front door of my house.

[Narrator]

The house was 100ft away, up a steep slope covered in rocks and branches.

[Mike]

I decided at this point I better figure out what was wrong with me. And so I was able to stand up. My knees were shaking like leaves. And I remember leaning to my left. And as I leaned to my left, I could feel my pelvis grinding on my left side. And I went back straight again. And I leaned a tiny bit to my right. And my pelvis started grinding on the right side. So I realized my pelvis is broken in two places. And I'm probably not going to be able to walk. I did try to take a step forward with my right leg. And then my left. And my legs refused to move. Perhaps my body was smarter than the brain was. Because at this point, I realized it was almost a hopeless situation. Here I was naked, and I was gonna have to drag my body over all these stones and sticks in my way. And I was already covered from head to foot with scratches and tears from falling down the hill. Now I was gonna have to drag myself up the hill. I was looking up from the ground up this hill, which is about an angle like this.

[Narrator]

Mike could only use his left elbow and right foot to push his body up the hill.

[Mike]

So I painfully started making my way forward. An inch or so at a time. That's all I could get. And time seemed to stretch on forever. And I did not make that much progress. But I kept pressing on with the thought, if I'm going to save myself, it's got to be me. And nobody else is going to be around to save me. And I don't want to die out here. There was nothing I could do except come to grips with the fact I was going to be dragging myself up the hill. I couldn't raise any part of my body to get it off the ground. So whatever I encountered, whether it be rock or stick, it was going to be dragged across there. And it was going to continue to scratch my body up. Each time I moved was lots of pain. So pain was the order of the day. I just kept painfully moving forward. I could go about an inch at a time with tremendous effort. It was just exhausting to go an inch or so at a time. And here I was looking at 100ft to go, and it was almost overwhelming.

[Narrator]

It's at the top of the hill were steps leading up to the house.

[Mike]

And I just had to press forward with the thought of, well, once I get to the steps, maybe it'll be easier. I couldn't make any use of my right hand. So if it fell over I had to pick up this broken hand and put it back to where I was going. So I was trying to crawl and keep my hand arranged so that I wouldn't hurt it anymore because every time it fell, it was not as adding to my pain again.

[Narrator]

After five hours of painful dragging, Mike made it to a landing at the bottom of the steps.

[Mike]

I thought, well, I've got it made. Now all I have to do is crawl up the stairs. So I made my way on my back to the stairs and tried going up on my back. And the pain was so terrible I just. I about passed out. I guess I'd gone limp and wound up in a ball at the bottom of the steps. When I came to from sliding down the steps, I thought I heard my neighbor pass by a I could hear gravel squinching underneath what I believe were footsteps. They're pretty far away. But when I'd fallen, I was really thirsty and so when I tried to speak, I could barely croak any cries for help out. And so I cried as best I could to call out for help. But my neighbor did not hear me and kept on going. As I heard my neighbor's footsteps fade away, I had this almost desperate feeling. I. I had a shot at getting saved early and I'd blown it because I couldn't yell out. And it was just an awful feeling. Not only did I miss getting saved and getting help for myself, now I was looking at a night, a cold, cold night in front of me. And here I am lying naked on the landing. And at this point, I'd been crawling for four, five hours and I was just totally wasted. I realized when I if I stayed on the landing and waited for possible help, that the next day was going to be a sunny day with no clouds and I was going to cook myself to death in the landing. So I couldn't stay on the landing, but I couldn't get up the steps. And it was an awful feeling. At one point I just lifted my legs together and found that if I put my heels next to my buttocks, I could raise my pelvis up a bit little. So now I had a game plan. I can save myself because now I can get up the steps.

[Narrator]

Mike decided not to risk trying his plan in the dark.

[Mike]

I'd already been pretty foolish in falling off the roof, and I didn't want to add to my folly by trying to go upstairs in the dark.

[Narrator]

Mike spent a cold, uncomfortable night at the bottom of the steps. As dawn broke, he knew there was not much time to save himself before it got too hot.

[Mike]

When I got to the stairs, I couldn't raise my head to put my head on the top of the stairs, because when I'd rolled down the hill, I'd hit a tree. And so the tree. I'd hit the tree in here, and it had broken my collarbone and made my neck so stiff I couldn't raise my head myself. So as I pushed myself against the steps, I had to take my left hand and raise my head on the steps and push like heck with my heels and then try to work my way up the stairs. And so I raised my pelvis up successfully and put it down. But my pelvis wound up being right on the top of the. On the edge of the first step. And the pain was unbelievable. I could see the door that was my gateway to salvation. If I could get inside my door, I could get to my cell phone and call for help. So I struggled up, leaving my skin behind for the next few steps until I was about two thirds of the way up the steps. And at that point, I was just so wiped out. And now I knew I had a race between me and the sun.

[Narrator]

Mike knew he would die if he was exposed to the hot sun for too long.

[Mike]

I had a choice at this point. I could either slide down the steps and die on the landing when the sun hit me or just work myself up to the next set of steps. I just raised my pelvis up as high as I could possibly go and push myself across horizontally. And I finally made it up to my porch, and I thought, got it made now. And I was able to cover the porch. Pretty good time. And the sun was behind me all the way. And I got to the door and then realized I'd set myself up for failure. Because when I remembered rushing outside to go upstairs to get my radio, and I pulled the door shut, and I heard a click, and I had this sinking feeling I ought to go back and open the door. And I didn't do it.

[Narrator]

Mike's only hope of rescue was to get to his phone inside the house.

[Mike]

And I raised my left hand up, my only good hand, and I could just touch the bottom of the doorknob. So what I had to do was curl myself up inside my door jamb and knew it was just going to hurt like heck. So I just rolled myself up in my broken pelvis and made it. Shot my left arm up and caught enough of the handle, and I was able to turn it, and the door popped open, and I'd made it.

[Narrator]

Sixteen hours after he fell off his roof, Mike was finally able to call for help.

[Mike]

I never thought in my whole life that I'd ever have to dial an 11, but sure it was there. Glad it was there when I needed it. And I was able to get through to the man who was a little incredulous. You just fell? I said, no, I fell last night. He says, you've been out there all night and you need help. I said, I absolutely need help, and if you can get it for me, I'd sure appreciate it.

[Narrator]

Mike fractured his pelvis in two places and broke his back in.

[Mike]

There's almost no place in my body that was either not bruised or scratched. I stayed in one week in the trauma hospital, and I transferred to Houston Orthopedic Medical center for two weeks of rehabilitation. And I received homebound treatment and then outpatient treatment. And I was actually back to work in nine weeks. I survived because I had the will to go forward. I had the tremendous will to live. I wanted to keep going. I didn't know what I needed to live for, but I wanted to keep going. And when I got desperate to survive, I thought about my wife, kids and family, and that gave me the strength to go on.

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[Chris]

She fit right in with the guys. She rode a motorcycle and worked out a lot, things like that. She was fearless and in shape, attractive, and she was a good skydiver.

[Narrator]

A month into their relationship, she did her 100th skydive. The club has an initiation for everyone who reaches this milestone.

[Chris]

The initiation usually is getting pied in the face with whipped cream, things like that. It's all in fun and we were by ourselves when all of our friends and the rest of the skydivers come from nowhere and they hit her with pies and there was whipped cream everywhere and everybody had it all over them. And the way she reacted to it was different than what we had ever seen or expected. She was fairly violent and she actually wrestled with one of the men who was a fireman and pinned him to the ground. Right then I started having my doubts about our relationship.

[Narrator]

The next morning she told Chris she was going to a friend's house for the day.

[Chris]

During the day she was calling me on my phone at work, which she never had done it before. As the day went on, I knew that she wasn't at her friend's house. I clearly knew she was at a bar and there was bar music in the background and she was outright lying to me about where she was. This was the last straw because I knew at that point I didn't want to have a relationship with somebody that was that could be that violent, that quickly over nothing and then outright lie the next day. So I at that point had made a decision that I would go talk

[Narrator]

to her after work. Chris waited at his girlfriend's home for her to return from the bar.

[Chris]

She kept saying she was coming home, which she never did until about right before midnight. She just didn't Open the door. She kind of flung it open. She was very angry. I mean, way more than I've had experience with other people. I think I said a few words to her, and it's like I'm not getting through her at all. There's not even any sense in trying. I believe she was saying, you're not leaving me. You're never going to leave me. And I turned around, and she was standing up military style with a pistol. She was pointing it at my chest, and she was about six feet away. There wasn't any way that I could get to the gun because she had her finger on the trigger. And it was just. I thought to myself, don't shoot me in the chest, you know, because that's probably an instant kill shot. At that point, I wasn't quite sure what her intentions were with it. I thought she might be trying to scare me. And those doubts were completely removed. When I said, I need to go. She said, get on your knees, you mother effer. And I told her, no, I think I'll just get out of here. And I took a step, step forward, and she lowered the gun and shot me through the leg. I immediately dropped down and picked myself back up to my knees. And she raised her leg up and kicked me with her heel. Dropped it down on my face. And I had some pretty severe damage to my face at that point. I looked up at her, she was smiling. No remorse whatsoever. She was getting a kick out of it. At that point, she put the barrel on my forehead. I was really okay with what was going to happen to me. I didn't beg for my life. I thought to myself, you've been pretty good. And, grandpa, I'm gonna see you in a minute. I actually thought that my life was over. Then when I looked up at her and she was smiling, I kind of smirked back at her. I knew what was going to happen. I didn't want her to think I was afraid. I told her, you're probably going to go to prison the rest of your life. She said, you don't know me. I don't give a f. And she pulled the trigger and blew the left side of my skull off. And the shot was so forceful that it seemed simultaneously that when the bullet hit and the sound went off, the back of my head hit the concrete.

[Narrator]

Chris decided to lie still and play dead.

[Chris]

She put the barrel in my temple and drove it down in there. And I just waited. And I thought, well, maybe she won't do it, because as far as she knows, I'm already Dead. But she decided she was going to put another bullet in my head. And I thought, wow, I'm still alive. Things are really bad, but. But they're gonna get real worse if I let her pull the trigger. And so I reached up and grabbed at her, and I grabbed her hands and she couldn't pull the trigger. And she actually used her strength fighting with me. She pulled me up to my feet and helped me get up. I wasn't concentrating so much on her as I was where the gun was pointed at. She was just struggling with me. I had a plan. I was backing up towards the door, and I thought, if I get outside, at least I have a chance of somebody finding me. There was about 12ft between us and the door, and it was a hard struggle because she was drunk and strong, and I was getting weaker by the moment we got to the door. She was inside the house. I was outside the house. The door was open. I thought to myself, I have to let go of her to get away. And when I did, she was squeezing on the trigger, and the gun went off and hit me on the right foot in the top of it. And the bullet bounced on the concrete and hit me on the right side of the head and really didn't phase me at all. I was outside and I was leaving.

[Narrator]

Chris stumbled towards the house next door.

[Chris]

Neither of my legs were working well, so I was crawling part of the way. I was on one knee. I was just struggling to get to the other house. And she was behind me, beating me in the head with the butt of the gun. And she was screaming, die, you mother effer. Die, you mother effer. Why don't you just die? I was trying to just get away from her, and that wasn't happening. She was right on me. When I got to the house, I was trying to get somebody's attention, and I fell against the big picture window and the panes. When they broke, the curtains opened up. And I seen two people in there, and they were hugging each other, and I could tell they were terrified and there was no help there. I don't blame them a bit. There's a lady behind me that still has bullets in the gun, and she's beating the back of my head. That's already been traumatized enough. I had this. Part of my scalp was hanging down and smoking still from the gunshot. Of course, my heart was pumping and I was putting out a lot of blood. I didn't think I was going to make it at all.

[Narrator]

Chris struggled further up the street, trying to get help from his other neighbors

[Chris]

went to the second house and the third house and I believe the fourth house. A light came on on the porch. One of the neighbors opened up the door and was going to help me, and she pointed the gun at him and said, if you touch him, I'm putting the next one through your head. He went back in the house, and I, at that point, was laying on the front porch in front of his door. I heard his wife talking to him, saying, get that young man in here. And he said, I'm trying, honey. And he opened up the door and kind of armory crawled out to me and grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me inside of his house.

[Narrator]

Suddenly, Chris heard sirens.

[Chris]

I thought to myself, the cavalry's here. You know, at least the violence will stop. You know, the shooting will stop. When she heard the sirens, I guess she ran back into the house. Oh, she actually called the police and dialed 911 and said, There's a man in my house. I think I might have to shoot him. And this was long after the shooting was over, and they took her to jail, and I got in the ambulance.

[Narrator]

Chris was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery.

[Chris]

The injuries were so severe that I thought, she's going to go to prison forever.

[Narrator]

In 1996, Chris attacker stood trial and was sentenced to 20 years without parole.

[Chris]

I'm very thankful to the EMTs and the police and the neighbors. They came to court and they told the truth. She told them that I was abusing her.

[Narrator]

Two years later, the verdict was overturned on appeal by a Missouri court. Chris attacker served two years in jail for assault and is now free.

[Chris]

Any one of the bullet wounds could have killed me. Any one of the kicks could have killed me. The butt of the gun could have killed me. There was many times she hit me in the back of the head, and they let her go.

[Narrator]

Chris suffered memory loss and depression and spent years recovering from his injuries.

[Chris]

I think I survived because if she had finished her job and killed me, then she could have said whatever she wanted to. I needed to let my mother know that I was still the son she had raised and that I wasn't an abuser. And being able to tell my story and living through it was very important to me.

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[Mike]

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[Mike]

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