I SURVIVED: I Just Felt Blood Gushing Everywhere

Summary

Cold Case Files – "I Survived: I Just Felt Blood Gushing Everywhere"

Podcast: Cold Case Files
Host: Paula Barros
Date: January 3, 2026
Episode Overview:
This episode of "Cold Case Files" features harrowing real-life survival stories as told by the victims themselves. The episode highlights three distinct cases: a brutal kidnapping and attempted murder of two teens in Pennsylvania; two brothers’ near-fatal ordeal on thin ice in Wisconsin; and a relentless series of acid attacks on a woman in Chicago, illuminating the tenacity of survivors and the lingering impacts of violent crime.

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1. Dan & Danielle: Kidnapping and Survival in Goldsboro, Pennsylvania

[00:37–15:07]

Summary & Key Points

• Initial Setup ([01:24])
  • January 2000. Dan (18) and Danielle go for a riverside walk on their second date.
• Encounters the Perpetrator ([01:46–02:23])
  • A man with a Rottweiler chats them up, leaves, then returns, this time at gunpoint.
• Kidnapping ([02:23–03:47])
  • Forced into his truck—Danielle in the cab, Dan in the back with the dog. Danielle tries to call 911, but no cell signal.
• Driven Past Home ([03:31])
  • The abductor claims he's kidnapping them for ransom because of Dan's father—a story Dan recognizes as false. The truck passes Dan’s house, where his brother sees him.
• At the Riverbank: Escalation ([04:37–05:56])
  • The man takes them to a remote spot, talks about being "helpless" and having to kill them, punctuates threats by firing into the river.
• Desperation & Assault ([05:58])
  • Dan and Danielle plead for their lives; the abductor forces Dan to comply with sexual demands.
  • Quote (Dan, 06:57): “Like, I wasn’t even there. It was just my body. It’s... almost like third person watching it, you know, in my memory.”
• The Shooting ([08:26–09:52])
  • The man leads them to the riverbank again, says he'll let them go—then shoots Dan in the neck, and Danielle in the face.
  • Quote (Danielle, 09:07): “I just thought that I was going to die... I started to spit up blood, and I could see it on the ground. And I suddenly just felt very tired.”
• Playing Dead, Staying Alive ([10:11–12:39])
  • Both are pushed into the freezing river. Miraculously, both survive their initial injuries and play dead so the attacker thinks they are dead.
  • They eventually swim ashore and encounter a bystander who gets help.
• Rescue & Aftermath ([13:33–14:58])
  • Rescuers arrive; both survive severe injuries. The attacker, William Babner, is arrested two days later and sentenced to 117–235 years.
  • Quote (Dan, 14:00): “In some ways, he took away my faith in humanity... I had to learn all that again.”
  • The trauma forged a strong, enduring bond between Dan and Danielle.
  • Quote (Danielle, 14:40): “I think I survived so that Danny would be all right. And I think in some ways she survived so that I’d be all right.”

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2. David & James: Falling Through the Ice in Wisconsin

[15:40–28:03]

Summary & Key Points

• Setting Out on the River ([15:40–16:32])
  • February 2005, Chippewa Falls, WI. Brothers David and James go snowmobiling after a fresh snowfall.
• Disaster Strikes ([16:38–18:19])
  • Snow concealed dangerously thin ice. David’s snowmobile sinks—he falls in. James attempts a rescue but also falls through.
• Fight for Survival ([19:10–20:21])
  • David, helmet restricting vision and breath, uses a backstroke to break ice and tries to reach the only visible trees.
• Moments of Hopelessness & Determination ([20:29–22:03])
  • James, hypothermic and exhausted, considers leaving clues behind (throws helmet, removes boots/rings).
  • Quote (James, 20:29): “I finally got up far enough on the ice where I could shimmy my way up...and I just started to cry...What am I going to do?”
• Near Death Experience and Brotherly Rescue ([22:24–27:07])
  • David nearly drowns and blacks out at the bottom, but a surge of adrenaline brings him to the surface.
  • James crawls on his belly over creaking ice, seized by guilt and determination to save his brother.
  • When David is about to give up, he hears James’ voice:
    Quote (James, 26:24): “Hang on, Dave. I’m coming.”
  • James pulls David from below the ice just as sirens approach.
  • Both survive; David has nerve/tendon damage in his hands but recovers.
  • Quote (James, 28:03): “It’s just a love for your family...It’s the instinct you have for family to do what you have to do to make sure that they survive.”

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3. Carly: Acid Attacks and Relentless Survival in Chicago

[28:28–41:06]

Summary & Key Points

• First Attack: Kidnapping Attempt in the Parking Garage ([28:28–34:15])
  • March 2006. Carly, alone in her building’s parking garage, is attacked by a group of men intent on abduction.
  • She is punched, bleeding, and shoved into her car trunk—manages to pop the trunk release and escape, but is hit with acid and loses her phone.
  • Quote (Carly, 29:20): “I just felt blood gushing everywhere...They started picking me up, each one had a limb, carrying me toward my car...I was doing everything my mom had taught me.”
  • Burned but able to flush her eyes, she escapes, calls for help; police find no leads due to broken cameras and lack of evidence.
• Stalker Identified, Justice Frustrated ([34:15–36:16])
  • Later realizes one attacker lives in her building. Identifies him (Gabriel Morton), but only arrested on a drug charge—never prosecuted for assault.
• Second Acid Attack ([36:25–39:29])
  • Two months later, while visiting her cousin in Evanston, two women approach Carly as she’s getting into her car. They demand directions, then attack—one produces a gun, and again, Carly is doused with acid. She escapes, severely burned, and seeks help.
  • Quote (Carly, 37:49): “Same smell, same burn. It had happened all over again, only this time it was way more powerful...My clothes were just melting off my body.”
  • She is certain the second attack is connected to the first, orchestrated by the previously identified attacker.
• Long-Term Consequences and Strength ([40:05–41:06])
  • Carly spends six weeks in the hospital, endures 12 surgeries for third degree burns.
  • The emotional toll is immense; she moves for safety, becomes deeply cautious.
  • Quote (Carly, 40:14): “I don’t just have physical scars. I obviously have a lot of emotional scars, too ... I survived because I listened to that little voice inside me that told me I had to get away and fight back.”
  • One accomplice, Nicole Baker, is convicted and jailed for 15 years. The main attacker only serves time for drugs.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Danielle on fear and resolve ([00:37]):
  "I just thought that I was going to die. I started to spit up blood and I could see it on the ground. And I suddenly just felt very tired."

• Brotherly Instinct ([28:03]):
  James: “It’s the instinct you have for family to do what you have to do to make sure that they survive.”

• Carly’s mother’s advice, echoing in crisis ([29:38]):
  Carly: “My mom had taught me... if someone ever tries to kidnap you and they try and take you to another location, you need to do whatever you can to get away. Because nine times out of ten, you’re not coming back alive.”

• On survival and resilience ([14:40]):
  Danielle: “I think I survived so that Danny would be all right. And I think that in some ways she survived so that I’d be all right.”

• On trauma and moving forward ([40:14]):
  Carly: “I don't just have physical scars. I obviously have a lot of emotional scars, too...I survived because I listened to that little voice inside of me that told me I had to get away and I had to fight back.”

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Timestamps & Significant Segments:

• [00:37–15:07] – Dan & Danielle’s kidnapping and river survival
• [15:40–28:03] – Brothers James & David: ice break and mutual rescue
• [28:28–41:06] – Carly: two acid attacks, trauma, and resolve

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Tone and Language

The episode maintains a respectful, direct, and emotionally vivid tone. Survivors’ voices carry weight and authenticity, and the narration effectively contextualizes events without sensationalizing. Trauma, fear, and resilience are candidly conveyed in the words of the people who experienced these horrors and lived to tell their stories.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode showcases not only the horrors of violent crime and the mysteries investigators face, but more centrally, it is a testament to the inner strength, resourcefulness, and endurance of survivors. Even when justice is incomplete or trauma lifelong, these individuals demonstrate the power of the human spirit when facing unimaginable danger.

Transcript

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Narrator]

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

[Danielle]

I just thought that I was going to die. I started to spit up blood and I could see it on the ground. And I suddenly just felt very tired.

[Narrator]

Real people.

[Carly]

She pulled out a gun. She said, you do it again, bitch, and I'll shoot you.

[Narrator]

Who faced death?

[David]

It was just a white frozen world. No tracks, no cars, no red lights, nothing. And I knew right then that I, you know, I was.

[Narrator]

I was done and lived to tell how.

[Dan]

It kind of looked over at me and kind of gave me this look and was like, so you said you'll do anything?

[Narrator]

This is. I survived. It's January 2000 in Goldsboro, Pennsylvania. 18 year old Dan meets up with Danielle for their second date.

[Danielle]

She had suggested that we just go for a walk because there was sort of like some nice scenic area right by her home.

[Narrator]

They walked to the bank of a nearby river.

[Dan]

As we were at the spot at the marina skipping rocks, a truck pulled up and out came this guy. He opened up his passenger door and out jumps this big rottweiler. And the guy was like, oh, don't worry, you know, he loves the water. I bring him down here all the time.

[Danielle]

After maybe about five minutes of chit chat, he got his dog back into the truck, asked us if we needed a ride anywhere, and we said no, and he drove off.

[Dan]

As we were walking out, I guess he turned around behind us and he came up behind us and blocked our path with his truck.

[Danielle]

He opened the door and stepped out and he was holding a gun.

[Dan]

To be completely honest, it felt like I had kind of stepped into a nightmare or a bad movie. It didn't feel real at all.

[Danielle]

He just motioned with a gun and he said, get in the truck. And Danny and I were both dumbfounded.

[Dan]

It was a red Ford pickup truck. It had like a cap on the back of the bed of the truck.

[Danielle]

He opened the rear trunk and told us both to get in. And as soon as Danny had gotten in, he changed his mind and told her he wanted her in the cab with him, but told me to get into the back with his dog. The dog was huge, and I've never had a dog before, and they've always made me pretty nervous. But he seemed really friendly. I did have a cell phone, and as soon as we started driving, I got the phone out and I tried to call 911, but it simply didn't have any coverage down there. I remember just very clearly and vividly thinking, I'm going to die today. Today is the last day of my.

[Dan]

Life at this time. He started saying stuff to me like he was kidnapping us because my dad owed a whole bunch of money for this drug company and that he wasn't paying. So he was kidnapping me for ransom money. And I completely did not believe anything that he was saying. He actually passed right by my house, which was another thing. Like, he didn't tell me to duck or anything. So. So obviously, I knew that he did not know me at all. He didn't know where I lived, because we passed right by my house. As we were driving by, I saw actually, my stepdad and my brother were standing out on the porch. My brother and I made eye contact with each other, and I put my hand up like this so he would see me. And my brother actually waved back to me. So I knew that he had seen me. And I don't really know what was going through my head at that time, but it almost felt like that was the last time I was going to see my home.

[Narrator]

A man has forced Dan and Danielle into his truck at gunpoint. They are driven 12 miles to a remote area by a river.

[Danielle]

He told us to walk down to the bank, and he just walked behind us and had us stand next to each other right by the water, and kept trying to express to us how helpless he was and how bad he felt about the. The fact that he would have to do this, that he would have to kidnap us, and that he would have to kill us.

[Dan]

To emphasize his point, he would shoot the gun into the river, and he shot it, like, two or three times to kind of emphasize his points. And that was the first time that I had heard the gun go off. So that made it even more real.

[Danielle]

It was extremely terrifying. And the longer we stood out there, the longer we realized how desperate and dangerous this situation was. So we really just started to plead with him.

[Dan]

Dan, like, the whole time was, like, pleading stuff like, you know, I'll give you my wallet. I even have, like, a laptop at home. I have my car. I'll give you, my car. I'll give you whatever you want. Just please let us go. Don't hurt us.

[Danielle]

He said that we'd seen his face and there was no way that he could ever let us go. At that point, when he turned us around and led us back to the truck, I was pretty certain that we would die. Either this man was crazy or he really was on some sort of a mission to kidnap and murder us, and he wasn't going to stop until he was done.

[Dan]

At that point, when we got back into the truck, you know, because of course, we were both pleading, like, you know, we'll do anything, just please don't hurt us. He kind of looked over at me and kind of gave me this look and was like, so he said, you'll do anything. At that point, it hadn't crossed my mind at all that it really hadn't. But I knew exactly what he was talking about. And I thought, okay, I'll do this. Then he'll let us go. He'll have gotten what he wanted, and that'll be it, and it'll be done with, and it'll be over, and we'll be alive. I kind of just, you know, nodded my head. And he was like, take off your clothes. And at that point, he raped me. And actually in the middle of that, Dan. I remember this. Dan actually lifted his head up.

[Narrator]

Dan was in the back cab of.

[Danielle]

The truck, and I was trying to look through the back window. When he noticed me, he said, keep your effing head down. And so I just. I realized what was going on, and I. I just buried my head and. And just prayed that Danny would be taken away from that. I just. I felt terrible, but I didn't think that there was really anything that I could do.

[Dan]

You know, I. Like, I wasn't. I wasn't even there. It was just. It was just my body. It's almost. When I think about it, like, it's almost like third person watching it, you.

[Carly]

Know, in my memory.

[Dan]

What I remember next is that he basically, you know, he started pulling on his pants, and he was like, just get out of the truck.

[Danielle]

And he instructed me to get out the back again. Again. I had to climb out.

[Dan]

And at this point, I was like, okay, he got what he want from us. He's just gonna let us go. Everything's gonna be fine. We'll get back home, and this will all be just like a bad nightmare.

[Danielle]

He told us once again to walk down to the bank. And Danny asked him. She said, now you're going to Let us go, right? And he said yes. He said he was going to let us go.

[Dan]

I was just praying with all my heart he would just get into his truck and just leave us.

[Danielle]

At some point, I must have tried to turn around to see what he was going to do. And I just felt this tremendous force that was so powerful and so fast that my mind couldn't even keep up with it. And everything sort of slowed down as I fell to the ground.

[Narrator]

Dan had been shot in the neck at point blank range.

[Dan]

He was lying on the ground. I saw blood coming out of his mouth. And at that moment I was like, I'm gonna die.

[Carly]

That's it.

[Danielle]

I could tell that I was bleeding, but I wasn't sure from where. I just thought that I was going to die. I thought there was no chance. I started to spit up blood, and I could see it on the ground. And I suddenly just felt very tired.

[Dan]

And that's where I saw, you know, the blood coming out of his mouth. And I. And I turned to the left and I kneeled down at him so we could talk. We were saying goodbye to each other. You know, I love you. And then he closed his eyes.

[Danielle]

The next thing I remember is hearing some loud bangs.

[Dan]

And I mean, the next thing I remember was blackness.

[Narrator]

Danielle had been shot in the face.

[Danielle]

As it hit her. She fell backwards into the water. After she had fallen into the water backwards, he fired again at her.

[Narrator]

The gunman pushed Dan into the icy river.

[Danielle]

Then I hit the water, the frigid water, and I immediately woke up. I was immediately coherent again and wide awake and somehow realized exactly what situation I was in and exactly where I was and exactly what had happened.

[Dan]

I came to and I was actually floating in the river. And at that point, I realized that I actually had been shot. I actually had been shot through the jaw. I couldn't move my left leg. So I figured that I had been shot in my leg also in the river. I started. I was spitting out, like, pieces of tooth, you know, I could feel my tongue flopping around in my mouth.

[Narrator]

The bullet had nearly severed Danielle's tongue.

[Danielle]

As I'm in this frigid water, I realize he's standing at the bank looking at me. And so I did my best to play dead and just try to float along with the current and just let him believe that, okay, he had shot me and I had died. And now my body was just gonna float down the river.

[Dan]

We were actually, like in the middle of the river, staring towards shore, watching the sky staring at us. When I Woke up in the river. I actually remember seeing Dan further out in the river, and he actually was alive, so he hadn't died. I just remember thinking, you know, my eyes were both so alive.

[Danielle]

As I'm floating, I realize that I can see Danny, too. She realizes that he's still back there as well.

[Dan]

And he was just standing there staring at us. And I remember Dan saying to me. He was like, just don't move. If we don't move, he's gonna think that we're dead.

[Danielle]

We couldn't believe that that had just happened and that we were still alive. And we were terribly frightened that he was going to try to come and.

[Dan]

Finish us off eventually. We watched him get back in his truck, and he left. And that's when Dan was like, okay, we got to swim towards shore. I mean, Dan, like, I wanted to just fall asleep, pass out. I mean, I couldn't talk. I couldn't move one of my legs. I was just exhausted. So Dan was just, like, guiding me this whole time. We started swimming towards shore, and that's actually when we saw a guy, like, sitting up there on a chair, like, up on the. Up on this hill. And we were trying to, like, call out. Every time I would talk, I'd feel my tongue, like, you know, bouncing, like, in my mouth. I don't know how he understood us, but we kept saying, you know, we've been shot. We've been shot. We need help. We need help.

[Danielle]

As we got close, the older man was coming down to us, and he said, there's a pickup truck coming. I'm going to stop them and get help.

[Dan]

We saw a red truck again. And of course, the first thing that, like, went through our minds was like, oh, my gosh, he's back.

[Danielle]

When we had screamed, and we were like, no, don't. Don't go up there. Don't get that guy. He's the one who shot us. But he either didn't hear us or didn't understand what we were saying. And so as soon as he ran back towards this truck, we tried to get back into the water and decided we were going to try to swim away.

[Dan]

We swam back into the river. And then as Dan looked back, he said, no, that's not him. Those are other people to save us.

[Danielle]

That's when he came back with two other men and asked us, you know, why are you back in the water again? He's like, get back up here.

[Narrator]

The men helped Dan and Danielle out of the river.

[Dan]

One of the other guys kind of dragged me up further onto the shore. And he put his coat over me and put his hat on me to keep me warm. I felt safe at that point.

[Carly]

I did.

[Narrator]

Two days after Dan and Danielle were rescued, an arrest was made. William Babner was convicted of kidnap, rape, and attempted homicide and sentenced to 117 to 235 years.

[Dan]

In some ways, initially, he took away my faith in humanity, and that was probably the hardest thing. My friends were going out to parties and, you know, seemed like they didn't have a care in the world. And at some points, I was afraid to go to the library by myself at night. It was just across campus. So I had to. I had to learn how to do all that again. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what would have happened if either one of us wouldn't have made it. But I think we together, you know, we just. I don't know, we just have a strength that just unites us, you know.

[Danielle]

I think that I survived so that Danny would be all right. And I think that in some ways she survived so that I'd be all right. Because I don't think if either one of us were in that situation by ourselves, we'd still be around today.

[Narrator]

Danielle has since married and had a child. She remains close friends with Dan.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Did you know? Microsoft has officially ended Support for Windows 10 upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop. Voted PCMag's Reader's Choice top laptop brand for 2025. Thin and ultra lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere. And Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades. Visit LGUSA.com iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PCMag reader's choice used with permission. All rights reserved.

[Narrator]

It's February 2005 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Brothers James and David are looking forward to snowmobiling.

[David]

We'd spent the whole winter without any snow. Just cold weather. And to wake up in the morning and see this blanket of white, fallen, fluffy snow was awesome. I mean, the first thing I thought is, oh, we get to go snowmobiling today.

[James]

You know, we are fortunate because we live on the frozen river and there's snowmobiling and ice fishing. And we took off right from our homes and went up the river.

[David]

It's very common to ride on a river in Wisconsin. A lot of the trails are on the rivers.

[James]

When we got to the trail system, we found out that there nothing was marked. And since it's in a remote wooded area, it's really hard to find your way around. So we decided to go back to the river because it's a lot easier to navigate that way.

[Narrator]

The recent snowfall concealed a dangerously thin layer of ice covering the river.

[David]

So I took off, and a couple seconds I was out into the middle of this river, and the whole river just exploded.

[James]

I saw his sled turn on the side and go straight down. And I saw him in the water fighting to stay afloat.

[David]

If you've ever jumped in ice water, it just sucks the life right out of you. I mean, just all your air leaves your body and it's painful. I had a helmet on, aviator style helmet on my head, so I couldn't see anything. I was in a tunnel already. And the weight of my clothing and the boots and everything was like pulling me like a tow cable to the bottom.

[Narrator]

David had fallen through the ice 100 yards from shore.

[James]

I immediately got off and ran to his position on that side of the shoreline where I could be parallel with him. I yelled his name and I screamed as loud as I could scream, But I knew somehow he couldn't hear me.

[David]

I thought, you know, there's only 15 minutes. I'm going to get hypothermia, and I'm going to die if I don't get out of here.

[Narrator]

Hypothermia is a severe and rapid drop in body temperature. It can cause organ failure and death.

[David]

So what I did was almost immediately I looked at the sky and I could see the two treetops off in the distance, and they maybe were 100, 200 yards away. I took off kind of in a backstroke, throwing both of my arms over my head at the same time because I couldn't lean forward. I couldn't breathe leaning forward. I had to go backwards.

[Narrator]

David was heading towards the middle of the river.

[James]

He just was doing everything he could to break the ice, to try to go the direction he was started, which was the wrong way. He just continued to go further out into the river.

[Narrator]

From the side of the river, James had seen a house half a mile away.

[James]

I thought I better get on my machine and head south to where I thought was good ice, get across a river and get to that house to get help. Just as I thought to myself, you know, you should probably pick up your speed. The river took me, too. My machine sank, and I was struggling from highlight.

[Narrator]

While snowmobiling, David has fallen through ice into a river. He has been in the water for 20 minutes and is almost 200 yards from shore.

[David]

I had shot my mittens off my Hands now. So my hands were open. It was painful, you know, they were frozen, and they were like axes breaking this ice. The helmet was so tight around my throat with the buckle, I didn't have the ability to hardly breathe, let alone go underwater and try to get my helmet off. I could barely see out of it. You can only see forward. You have no lateral vision. It's like a tunnel right here.

[Narrator]

By looking up and back, he could see trees.

[David]

I couldn't hear. My brother didn't know if he was in the river. And all I knew was the tops of these two tall trees, and that was where I was going.

[Narrator]

Trying to save his brother James had also fallen into the river.

[James]

I went into the river about 100 yards offshore, about a half mile south of my brother. As every minute passed and I was fighting to bust my way to shore, it felt like I had moved, like, 50 yards. And I turned around and I saw where I had gone in and the small track I had made towards shore. And it was like 15 to 20ft. It came to a point where I didn't think I was gonna make it because I was really getting cold.

[Narrator]

15 minutes of exposure to freezing temperatures can lead to organ failure. An hour can be enough to cause death.

[James]

And I took my helmet off and I threw it towards shore in an attempt to say, you know, this is where I went in. I said, if they find my helmet, then they'll know where to start looking for us. Took off my gloves, and I started kicking off my boots because I thought I had to lighten myself to get up on the ice. And that's when I saw my wedding ring on my left hand shining. You know, my hand was up on the ice, and I. Everything just started swimming over me and emotional. My kids, my four children, my wife. I switched to that survival mode at that point and just said, I have to get out. I finally got up far enough on the ice where I could shimmy my way up onto the ice, and I did get out of the water finally. And I laid there on the ice, and I just started to cry because I didn't have the. I had no boots. I had bare feet. I was just real cold. I couldn't feel my hand or my legs below my knees and my arms below my elbows. Nothing was really working. And I laid on the ice and I just cried and said, what am I going to do? At that point, I just. The guilt came over me again, saying, you're safe. You need to save your brother. And I got up and I started hobbling Back towards where my brother had gone in.

[Narrator]

David was in the icy water 100 yards away.

[David]

I thought I heard my brother calling for me, but I just couldn't see him. And I didn't really know if I was hearing him. I didn't know. It's like, you know, is this a fairy tale? Is he really there? Am I, you know, are you going to survive this?

[James]

I started inching my way out in the ice on my hands and knees. The ice groaned and creaked under me and cracked. So I laid down on my belly and I started inching my way out on the ice. And I got halfway across the ice, and the ice was just so thin, I could see the water under it. I froze halfway across. I just froze in fear.

[David]

The cold was getting so deep into my body, and my ribs wouldn't expand.

[Narrator]

David's core temperature had fallen to below 83 degrees Fahrenheit. The heart stops functioning at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

[David]

The next moment I really remember is being under the surface of the water and looking up, and everything was blurry. And my helmet was full of water, and I don't know how I got down there, but I was at the bottom of the river. It was like 12ft deep there. Right then, I knew I was going to die.

[Narrator]

An hour after falling through ice into a river, David is close to freezing to death. Too weak to unbuckle his heavy helmet, he sinks to the bottom.

[David]

My helmet was full of water, and I don't know how I got down there, but I was at the bottom of the river. It was like 12ft deep there, and I saw the surface, and I swam up for it, and I was furious. I was absolutely, positively as mad as I've ever been in my life. I dropped all my adrenaline into my bloodstream because it was the last ditch. It was. Here's the last boost of energy when I came up and I saw the tree, and I started busting the ice again, and it hurt so bad.

[Narrator]

150 yards from shore, he could only see the tops of two trees.

[David]

I remember looking at the trees and saying, okay, I can look now. And if I'm gonna live, there's gonna be ems, a fire truck, a helicopter, guys in fireman's suits. And I remember looking at the tree and following it down to the base of my. You know, with my mouth underwater and seeing there was nobody there. It was just a white, frozen wall. No tracks, no cars, no red lights, nothing. And I knew right then that I, you know, I was.

[Narrator]

I was done 100 yards away, David's brother James was trying to crawl across the ice. He needed to reach shore to get help.

[James]

It was so thin. No idea it was that thin under that snow. And I froze. And then those emotions flew over me again, saying, my brother's still in the water. He's holding on, and you're alive. Get yourself. Get some help. I had gone another 50 yards or so, and then I broke through again, and I was probably 25 yards from shore, and I worked my way to where I could get up on the ice again and got out.

[Narrator]

James had seen a house half a.

[James]

Mile away, and I started running, and it was more of a shuffle through the snow with my bare feet, and I was throwing up. Running is an arduous task when you're hypothermic and your suit is frozen solid. It was frozen like a steel suit. It was so heavy, drenched with water, that I would fall down and just try to get back up. But I was so exhausted. I finally ended up taking my suit off, and what I had underneath was long underwear, and that was a lot easier to run. When I got to the house, I told him to dial 911, that my brother had died in the river. He's been in the water an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and a half, and there's no way he's still alive.

[Narrator]

The owner phoned 911 for help.

[James]

I just took off running again towards where my brother's last position, where I knew where he was. I couldn't see any of his body. I thought it was just his helmet. I thought he had got his helmet off and then he had sunk or something. And I started inching my way out to my. Where my brother's helmet was. Then I saw his hand moving just below the water surface, and I said, oh, my God, he's still alive.

[David]

My throat was frozen. My ribs were frozen. I was breathing with my stomach muscles right when I was gonna quit, right when I, you know, I tried to reach my hand up and touch the ice, and it snapped off. And that's right when my brother said, hang on, Dave. I'm coming. And, you know, I couldn't believe it, you know, that he was actually, you know, he was coming. The next thing I remember is. Is my brother grabbing me by the chin of my helmet and yanking me out of the river and saying, you know, Dave, I love you. I love you so much. Hang on.

[James]

At the same time, I heard the ambulance coming. I could hear it off in the distance coming down the road, and the joy that I felt from that point, just thinking that we had both made it, you know, it was pretty elating.

[Narrator]

You know, David was in the hospital for two days having surgery on his hands for nerve and tendon damage.

[David]

It's the most beautiful thing my brother could go through, what he went through and pull me, pull me out of there. If I didn't think he was coming to save me, if I didn't, I never would have paddled as hard as I did for as long as I did. I. I knew I had to give him time. I knew he would do it.

[James]

He was in incredible shape, and I think that helped him. And not only that, his drive to live.

[Narrator]

James received a medal of bravery for the rescue of his brother.

[James]

It's just a love for your family. I love my brother. And you can't imagine the horror of watching a loved one die slowly in front of you. It was very humbling, and it was scary. But it's the instinct you have for family to do what you have to do to make sure that they survive.

[Narrator]

It's March 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. Leaving her apartment for work, Carly goes to the parking garage.

[Carly]

I just went down to the parking garage. It was some levels down. And as soon as I got through the door, I noticed that there was a car full of guys. They looked like hoodlums, and they looked like they didn't belong there. And I was scared. I was really afraid because as soon as I looked at them, they looked at me, and I knew that I was suddenly the center of their attention and there was no one else around. So I was trying to think of how I could escape. As I started running towards my car, they started running towards me. And there was one big guy, and he just ran up and just punched me in the face. So I had my hands up. I said, what?

[Dan]

What?

[Carly]

What do you want? I was trying to give them my car keys and my purse. He punched me so hard, I fell backwards. And then I just felt blood gushing everywhere. I was panicking, jumped up, and that's when they started to pick me up. Each one of them had a limb, and they were carrying me over towards my car. So I was kicking them, scratching them, punching, doing everything that I could. I was wiggling around. I was just doing everything that my mom had taught me to do. If anyone ever tried to kidnap me. She said that if someone ever tries to kidnap you and they try and take you to another location, you need to do whatever you can to get away. Because nine times out of 10, you're not coming back alive. I thought they were going to kill me because they kept saying that. They kept saying, shut up, bitch, before we kill you, and just punching me. So I thought that it was over for me. They carried me to my car and popped the trunk. So I was, you know, trying to grab onto the bumper. Anything that I could to not get my body entirely into the trunk, I was doing. And eventually they pushed me in, and he closed it. A moment of panic, but I realized I still had my phone. And it happened to flip open. And when it did that, the light automatically came on, and it was able to kind of illuminate my trunk. And I realized that most new cars have a trunk release button. So I popped it, tried to hop out. They all came rushing back, punching me in the face. And I felt a splash in my face. It smelled kind of like ammonia, and it was burning really badly. So I was panicking, like, oh, my goodness, I can't see. I'm blind. And he took my phone away and stuffed me back into the trunk. Turns out that it was acid. It had burned through my winter coat, my pants. Everything in my trunk was burned. And I started to cry. But I think my tears ended up helping me because it ended up flushing the acid out of my eyes. My mom passed away in February of 2005, and she was a Chicago police officer for about 14 years. And I honestly, I heard her voice in that moment when I was in the trunk. I heard, car, you better fight, and you better get out of here. And that was enough for me to just say, okay, I have to get. I have to go, or else I'm going to die. I heard one of the guys jump into my car, and I had actually tried to pull the centerpiece down, and I was able to see him in my driver's seat. So I couldn't figure out if I was going to try and push through the middle part and climb through or if I was going to jump out of the trunk again. I decided to pop the trunk again, But I kept it closed as tightly as I could because the other guys had jumped into a car that was trailing my car. So I kept it closed, and I knew it took exactly four revolutions down the ramp. I just held tight, and I knew that every time we were going around, I kind of went to the right. So I just counted and waited, and as soon as I saw the light, I jumped out of the trunk. I actually rolled into the other car, and the other car immediately pumped the brakes and stopped so I could hear it go. That's when I knew I wasn't hit because the bumper was, like, right above my head. I jumped up, and I realized that one of my neighbors happened to be walking either in or out of the building. And I screamed and asked him for help. The cars just took off, and I ran inside, and I explained to them, I'm like, please call 911. Some men just tried to kill. Kill me and kidnap me. Help me. The police came almost immediately. I was a mess. The jacket that I had on was eaten away by acid. There was blood everywhere. And that's how they knew that something is really wrong here.

[Narrator]

The police investigated the case, but Carly's attackers were not identified. Her car was not found, so there were no fingerprints. And the parking garage surveillance cameras were not working.

[Carly]

There was no physical evidence to convict any of them on the kidnapping and the auto theft, the assault. All of these things that they did to me.

[Narrator]

The police also uncovered that Carly's boyfriend had a criminal record.

[Carly]

I think that these people targeted me because I was dating someone who was not the person that I thought he was. And, you know, later found out that he had an extensive criminal record. And police have told me that he may have, you know, done something to these people to make them really upset. And instead of them going after him, they went after the closest person to him. I moved back to the suburbs where my dad was living, and that's where I felt safest. Since none of them had been arrested, I was afraid that something else might happen to me. And unfortunately, something else did happen.

[Narrator]

Carly has been attacked with battery acid in a parking garage, and her assailants had not been caught. A month later, Carly returns to her old apartment for some clothes.

[Carly]

I noticed a guy and two girls coming into the the lobby. And I looked at the guy, and he was the same person who had punched me in the face and tried to kill me. So I looked at him. He looked at me. I panicked. It was at that moment that I knew either he lived in the building or he was a guest of someone in the building. And that was shattering for me that this man who had attacked me could possibly live in the same building as me. It was very scary.

[Narrator]

Carly's attacker and the two women left.

[Carly]

I called the detectives I'd been working with, and they actually had me come in a week later to identify him, and I did. When the police went to serve him his warrant and arrest him, he was caught throwing drugs over his balcony window.

[Narrator]

The police arrested Carly's attacker on a drug charge. He was never charged for his assault on Carly.

[Carly]

There was no physical evidence to connect him to what had happened to me. So that was a huge disappointment for me.

[Narrator]

Carli had moved 20 miles away to live with her father in the town of Evanston, Illinois. Two months after the attack, Carly visited her cousin who also lived in Evanston.

[Carly]

As I left her apartment, I started walking towards my car. I think it was like 10 o' clock at night, so there was no one else on this residential street. Then I noticed just like a few cars away from mine, there were two women standing outside. And again, they just didn't look like they belonged there. And the two women started walking towards me. And one of them said, hey, can you give my sister directions to Dempster? And I was like, well, if you're in this small town and you don't know where Dempster is, you aren't from here or you don't belong here. So again, I started running towards my car. They started running towards me. I had on flip flops that I day. Unfortunately, I made it to my car and I had gotten in. But one of the women, she pulled out a gun. So she's trying to get her hand with the gun into my car. And I'm using one hand to try and figure out how to, you know, start my car and the other to slam her hand with the gun in my car door. Eventually, she got the gun all the way in. She said, you do it again, bitch, and I'll shoot you. Put my hands in the air. And I said, here, take my car, take my purse. And then that's when suddenly I felt a huge splash into my face. Same smell, same burn. It had happened all over again. Only this time it was way more powerful. It was way worse. So I had my hands in the air and you can see that I had burns. I was in a surrender position, Jumped out of the car, screaming for my life. And my clothes were just melting off of my body. So I'm screaming and I see them looking at me, just looking at me. I didn't know if they were just waiting for me to die or, you know, they were that sadistic or they didn't realize the power of what they'd done to me. So I ran quickly up the stairs into my cousin's house. I kept feeling like I was going blind almost. But what happened was the acid got into my eyes again and my contact had almost melted onto my eye. I remember my cousin calling 911 and I kept saying, those girls, those girls, these were the same two women who were in the apartment building walking into the lobby with that guy.

[Narrator]

Carly's first attacker, Gabriel Morton, was arrested on an unrelated drug charge and sentenced to eight years in prison. Carly believes the two attacks were linked.

[Carly]

My attacker had been arrested about a month after he first attacked me. And after the second attack, when I saw the two women, I knew, you know, they know each other somehow, some way. So he must have sent them after me. After you've been through something like that, you suddenly have a new identity once you're burned.

[Narrator]

Carly was in the hospital for six weeks with third degree burns. Over the last two years, she has undergone 12 surgeries.

[Carly]

I don't just have physical scars. I obviously have a lot of emotional scars, too, from this. I'm careful about who I allow to come into my life. And it's just taken me a long time to even move out on my own again and just trust people the same. I survived because I listened to that little voice inside of me that told me I had to get away and I had to fight back.

[Narrator]

Nicole Baker was convicted of heinous assault and jailed for 15 years. Her accomplice was never charged.

[Danielle]

The longer days are brutal, so if.

[Carly]

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[Dan]

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[Carly]

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