I SURVIVED: I Need Them to Find DNA Underneath My Fingernails

Summary

Cold Case Files: Episode Summary – "I SURVIVED: I Need Them to Find DNA Underneath My Fingernails"

Released: May 10, 2025 | Host: Paula Barros

This episode of Cold Case Files delves into the harrowing survival stories of three individuals who faced life-threatening situations. Through their firsthand accounts, the episode explores themes of resilience, the pivotal role of DNA evidence in solving crimes, and the psychological aftermath of surviving traumatic events. Below is a detailed summary of each survivor’s story, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps for reference.

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1. Stephanie's Ordeal: Surviving an Attempted Murder

Background: Stephanie, residing in Puyallup, Washington, was in a tumultuous relationship with her boyfriend, Cesar, an ex-Marine. Despite their plans to marry, their relationship was marred by frequent breakups and reconciliations.

The Attack: Approximately two months before their wedding, Cesar’s abusive behavior escalated. On May 2006, after a series of manipulative interactions, Cesar violently attacked Stephanie in her home.

Key Events:

• Initial Assault: Cesar confronted Stephanie with a gun, forcing her into a marriage against her will. (03:58)

  "When he came and put his hand up to my neck and put a gun to my head... I thought I made him do that because I kept breaking up and taking him back." – Stephanie

• Escalation: Post-divorce, Cesar's obsession intensified, leading him to stalk Stephanie relentlessly. On a fateful night, he ambushed her at her new residence, subjecting her to brutal physical assaults.

  "When I turned around, Cesar was standing there... he hit me over the head with a wine bottle." – Stephanie (05:46)

• Critical Injuries: Stephanie was shot multiple times, sustaining a collapsed lung and a skull wound. Despite severe injuries, she survived, attributing her survival to divine intervention and her determination to live for her children.

  "How does a bullet go in the back of your neck and travel out the back of your skull and not blow your brains off? I think because God veered every bullet." – Stephanie (14:22)

• Resolution: Police apprehended Cesar shortly after the attack, finding incriminating evidence that linked him to the crime. He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Insights: Stephanie’s story underscores the critical importance of DNA evidence in solving violent crimes. Her relentless pursuit of justice and the preservation of forensic evidence were pivotal in ensuring Cesar's conviction.

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2. Witnessing the Columbine High School Massacre

Background: April 1999, Columbine, Colorado. Craig and Crystal were students at Columbine High School during one of the most infamous school shootings in U.S. history.

The Attack: On April 20, 1999, Columbine was thrust into chaos as shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold initiated a deadly assault on the school.

Key Events:

• Initial Confusion: Students initially mistook the attackers’ actions as a prank, not realizing the impending tragedy.

  "I thought some seniors were pulling a prank with firecrackers... but it became real when the shooters came into the library." – Craig (19:01)

• Mass Shooting: Harris and Klebold methodically targeted students and teachers, causing widespread fear and casualties.

  "They were almost playing like they were in a part in a movie... THIS WASN'T A JOKE." – Craig (21:02)

• Survival Tactics: Hiding under tables, praying, and attempting to remain still were common survival strategies among the students.

  "There wasn't a lot of room underneath the tables. It felt as though our arms and our legs were stuck." – Crystal (20:25)

• Aftermath: Twelve students and one teacher lost their lives. Craig's sister, Rachel, was the first victim, a moment that profoundly impacted him and fueled his journey toward forgiveness.

  "Forgiveness was like setting a prisoner free and finding out that prisoner is you." – Craig (29:25)

Insights: The Columbine massacre serves as a stark reminder of the psychological impact such events have on survivors. Craig’s path to forgiveness highlights the potential for personal growth and healing even after unimaginable loss.

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3. Rich and Laura's Terrifying Bee Attack

Background: June 2001, Sequoia National Park. Rich and Laura, along with their five-year-old triplets and two other children, embarked on a family hiking trip.

The Attack: During their hike, the family inadvertently disturbed a beehive concealed in a fallen log, triggering a massive bee assault.

Key Events:

• Unexpected Encounter: A swarm of bees attacked the family, leading to chaos and severe allergic reactions.

  "These bees were so intense. They were all over my head... it was so loud and everybody was screaming." – Rich (33:52)

• Medical Emergency: Laura, unbeknownst to her, was severely allergic to bee stings. Her throat began swelling, leading to a life-threatening situation.

  "They asked me, have you ever been stung by a bee? And I said, no. And they said, well, you're allergic to bees, and this could have been fatal." – Laura (40:58)

• Desperate Measures: Rich prioritized the safety of his children, making the heart-wrenching decision to secure them in a vehicle while trying to save Laura.

  "I can't help you. I have the small kids. I'm gonna get them across the river." – Rich (37:21)

• Rescue: Emergency responders arrived in time to stabilize Laura, who survived the ordeal despite sustaining hundreds of bee stings.

  "I survived because I wanted to live. I wanted to be with my family." – Laura (41:53)

Insights: This harrowing experience emphasizes the importance of preparedness and knowledge of family members' potential allergies during outdoor activities. Rich's quick thinking and deep love for his family were instrumental in their survival.

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Concluding Reflections

The survivor stories featured in this episode of Cold Case Files illustrate the profound human spirit's capacity to endure and overcome extreme adversity. Each narrative not only highlights the immediate struggle for survival but also delves into the lasting psychological and emotional impacts on the individuals involved.

Notable themes across the stories include:

• Resilience and Survival: Regardless of the nature of the threat—be it violent crime, school shootings, or natural disasters—the survivors demonstrate remarkable strength and determination to live.

• Importance of Evidence: Stephanie's story particularly underscores how meticulous preservation of DNA evidence can be crucial in achieving justice.

• Healing and Forgiveness: Craig's journey from anger to forgiveness showcases the potential for personal healing and the pursuit of positive change even after experiencing profound loss.

• Family and Purpose: Both Stephanie and Rich find motivation to survive through their love for their children and their sense of purpose, highlighting the central role of family in overcoming trauma.

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Quotes Reference:

• Stephanie's realization of DNA's importance: (02:33) “I need DNA evidence. I need DNA. I'm gonna die. I need them to find DNA underneath my fingernails.”

• Craig on forgiveness: (29:25) “Forgiveness was like setting a prisoner free and finding out that prisoner is you.”

• Laura's determination to survive: (41:53) “I survived because I wanted to live. I wanted to be with my family.”

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This episode serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the critical role that both personal determination and forensic science play in overcoming and understanding traumatic experiences.

Transcript

[Rich]

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[Stephanie]

When he laid me down, he laid me right in the middle of the grass and he shot two more times at my head.

[Narrator]

Real people.

[Rich]

I just kept thinking that she can't die. She can't die. The mother of my children, she can't die.

[Narrator]

Who faced death?

[Craig]

They came underneath a table where someone was and said peekaboo and then shot.

[Narrator]

Him and lived to tell how I.

[Stephanie]

Think to myself, I need DNA evidence. I need DNA. I'm gonna die. I need them to find DNA underneath my fingernails.

[Narrator]

This is I survived. It's May 2006 in Puyallup Washington. Stephanie has been dating her boyfriend, an ex Marine, for two and a half years. The couple, who each have children of their own, are about to get married.

[Stephanie]

Our relationship was off and on. I had broken up with him a few times and it just never felt right. Each time I just took him back. It was either he was upset or distraught or he was outside my house. It was just really bad situations. And so I'd always go back. A month before we got married, Cesar and I were making plans and he came and put his hand up to my neck and put a gun to my head. He said, you're going to marry me whether you want to or not. I think at that point I just figured that I made him do that because I kept, I was so wishy washy. I kept breaking up and then taking him back and breaking him up and taking him back. So I figured that I kind of dug my own hole and I would just have to live with it.

[Narrator]

Stephanie married Cesar and the couple were together for 45 days.

[Stephanie]

The house that we had, I'd never had the backyard done. And I decided to surprise him. So when he went to work, I called, had dirt dumped and redid the backyard, laid grass, everything. When he came home and he saw that he had a fin, he looked at me and I'll never forget his face. To me it looked like a snake. And I remember him just saying, you didn't ask me. And he was like, you make me sick. Don't ever talk to me again. And if you leave, I'll never chase you. I'll never chase you again. And at that point I just thought, this is my out. I'm gonna, you know, this is my opportunity to go.

[Narrator]

Stephanie divorced Cesar, but he continued stalking her. She moved to a new house in the same town, hoping to hide from him.

[Stephanie]

I ended up going home and it's one o' clock in the morning and I ended up just going into the house. I went and, you know, got dressed for bed and basically laid down. And once I laid down, I got a phone call. I answered it and it was Cesar.

[Narrator]

Cesar was calling Stephanie on her mobile phone. She hadn't spoken to him for over six months.

[Stephanie]

He's just started on what our normal conversations would be like, where you should have never married me and you're this and you're that. And I hung up the phone and I just remember laying there getting this really weird feeling. So I get up and I remember setting the alarm to my house.

[Narrator]

Stephanie went to the bathroom.

[Stephanie]

So as I turned Around. That's when Cesar was standing there. He's dressed with a black bandana around his face, and he's dressed in all black, and he's dressed with a black ski cap. I mean, I just. I'm like. I'm looking at him like, what are you doing? You know, what are you doing? And he hit me over the head with a wine bottle. I remember just collapsing. And when I collapsed, I remember him just hitting me repeatedly over the head with the butt of his gun. I just remember him wailing on me and wailing on me. And I don't know if it was my adrenaline or what it was, but I remember just standing right back up, and I remember getting out of the bathroom, and he's following me behind, you know, behind me with the gun. And I remember just blood spouting out everywhere. And I remember thinking to myself, oh, my gosh, I just moved in this house, and there's just blood everywhere. You know, it's going on my new carpet, you know, And I'm just going around, and I'm just frantic. And he's standing there with a gun in front of my head, and he tells me, I'm gonna kill you, and your kids are gonna come home, and they're gonna find you. And I just said, please, just take me somewhere else. And he says, go get some pants on. I get some pants. I just put anything on. And I'm walking out, and he's following behind me. And I go back in the room, and I'm thinking, I need to trigger something. I need him to wake up. I need him to think, what? So I say, what about your daughter? And I say, your name. And he just, shut up. Shut up. And we used to go to church every Sunday, every Wednesday. So I get down on my knees and I pray, and I said, lord, please forgive this man for what he is about to do. He hits me some more. And every time he would hit me, he'd hit me with just the butt of the gun, just over and over again on my head. And I'd just get back up, and I ran out my bedroom door. I ran down my stairs so fast that I ran into the wall. He ended up catching me. And he just. I just remember him beating me so bad. And it was. The force was horrible. Just him hitting me over and over. And I kept standing up, and he kept saying, turn off the alarm. Turn off the alarm. And he kicked me. He kicked me, and I felt like I was in the Matrix. I flew back in slow motion, and I had the Wind knocked out of me. I think to myself, I need DNA evidence. I need DNA, I'm gonna die. I need them to find DNA underneath my fingernails. And I remember lunging at him and he was wearing a turtleneck. So I remember like lunging and like trying to dig through his turtleneck to try to scratch him.

[Narrator]

Stephanie broke free and ran to the front door. The door had two locks on it.

[Stephanie]

And I somehow unlocked the door and ran out. And when I ran around, he ran towards the back and we ended up meeting face to face. And that's when he shot me for the first time. It went through my chest and I remember it going all the way through. And I remember feeling my fluids just come out the back. I fell to the side and he shot a second time and it went through my hand. And I remember thinking to myself, why did he just shoot me in the hand? You know, what was the point of that? And I remember laying there thinking, okay, I need to play dead. If I play dead, maybe he'll leave. I just laid there, kind of stopped breathing for as much as I could. And all of a sudden I heard footprints. It was him, I guess he had left. And I remember just what I felt like was forever. I got up and just kind of looked around. I didn't see anybody. And I went to the back of the neighbor's house and I remember going to the slanted glass door and I remember just banging on it. Help me. Help me, please help me. He must have heard me because he had come back around and that's when he shot me in the back of the. The head. At that point I just remember feeling lifeless. I fell on the patio and I remember him pulling me by my hair and dragging me down the steps. And at that particular point, you know, I mean, it's amazing the things that you think of. You know, I'm thinking, wow, these extensions in my hair are holding up really good, you know. And as he's dragging my body into the middle of my neighbors lawn, I'd bled so bad that my orange shirt was black and my hair was tousled all over my face and I had bark in my mouth. When he laid me down, he laid me right in the middle of the grass and he shot two more times at my head. I laid there so long that I figured I'm either gonna bleed to death and die or, you know, or he's gonna hear me and he's gonna come back and. And so finally, after I thought was a very long time, I got up and I walked A few steps, and I passed out. I would get up a little bit more and then pass out. And I must have done that three or four times until the last time. I was so mad at myself. And I said, you're gonna make it to this house because that's all you have to do. Once you get there, it's all over.

[Narrator]

Stephanie had already tried in vain to alert one of her neighbors.

[Stephanie]

I ended up going to a different neighbor's house. And then I went to the front door, and I remember banging on their door, and I could hear them fly down the stairs, basically fall down the stairs. And I heard them go. We called 911, and they said, I'm sorry, but I can't let you in. And I just said, that's okay. This is who did it. Jerome Cesar Alberto. This is his date of birth. This is where he lives. This is the cars he drives. I gave him as much information, and I said, could you call my sister? And I gave him the phone number, and I just laid there.

[Narrator]

Police officers rushed to the scene.

[Stephanie]

When they did come, they flew by the house, and then they flew by again. They flew by, like, five times. So I finally had to lift my leg. I lifted my leg to flag them down. The police officer came. I told him exactly who did it. He looked at me and he says, you know, you're not gonna make it, right? And I said, I know. And right then, I just felt at peace. They put me in the ambulance. And I'll never forget when I'm laying there and they're asking me, you know, where I was shot and what had happened. And I remember hearing on the radio, we caught him. They found him a few blocks from his house in his car, and they found him with my blood all over his clothes. They found him with other weapons in his car. And they also found a book, which was a little spiral notebook. And it was. It was labeled list of options. And it had all the different ways that he was going to kill me.

[Narrator]

One of the shots had collapsed Stephanie's lung, while another had exited the top of her skull. Despite her horrific injuries, Stephanie recovered in the hospital.

[Stephanie]

My parents went to my house to clean it up because I had blood everywhere, and they didn't want me to go home to that. And when they were cleaning up, they found knives planted in various locations, some underneath my bed, some in my closet area, all throughout the house. And came back and asked me, like, did you put these here? And I said, no. So obviously, he had been in my house before.

[Narrator]

Jerome Cesar Alverto. Was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

[Stephanie]

How does a bullet go in the back of your neck and travel out the back of your skull and not blow your brains off? I don't know. I survived for my children. I was shot with a.45 by an ex marine and I'm alive today. I think because God veered every bullet. I got down on my knees and I prayed and I'm here for a reason. I'm here to maybe somebody can relate with my story. It's a miracle.

[Narrator]

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[Craig]

Columbine was a big school. It was 2,000 kids. It was your typical American suburban school.

[Crystal]

It was a volatile place just like any other high school. It's hard to fit in, to be accepted. And so I think that that can sometimes be a recipe for disaster.

[Narrator]

Craig and Crystal were both studying in the school library.

[Craig]

I found my friend Isaiah. We were talking and joking around. Matt Koechner was sitting at the table and he had his science book out and he was studying. I heard some popping noises coming from outside the school and didn't know what it was.

[Crystal]

Absolute chaos started to break out in and around the school. Teacher came running through the library doors. She looked panicked. She looked very afraid. She was screaming, there's two boys with guns and bombs. They're shooting students. Get under your tables.

[Laura]

Hide.

[Craig]

It was near the end of the school year, so I thought some seniors are pulling a prank. They brought some firecrackers to.

[Narrator]

The shooters were Columbine students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The pair had already killed two students and wounded 10 more.

[Craig]

Me and Matt got underneath the table and then Isaiah was walking by and I said, you know, hey, Isaiah, you know, And Isaiah got. And he got right in between me and Matt.

[Crystal]

There wasn't a lot of room underneath of the tables. It felt as though our arms and our legs were stuck. I saw a friend of mine, or a classmate of mine, rather. He came stumbling through the door and he was kind of holding onto his shoulder rather tightly. Blood was beginning to soak through his T shirt. And I saw that he had been shot.

[Craig]

I'm still mixed up in My head, I'm thinking, there's seniors and they're pulling a prank, but they're angry. The moment that it became real all of a sudden, where it was not a prank, this wasn't a joke. That was happening was when the shooters came into the library. I was on the far side of the room in the library, and so my back was against the entrance where the shooters walked into. And so I didn't see them come in, but I heard them come in, and they were immediately shooting off their guns at that moment. It was not a joke. And that is when I was scared completely for my life.

[Narrator]

Crystal was hiding under a desk in the middle section of the library.

[Crystal]

I heard their voices, and they sounded so haunting and so evil and just scary. They said, everybody's about to die. We're about to blow this library up.

[Narrator]

The gunmen had made bombs. Using lengths of pipe and gunpowder, they began detonating the pipe bombs in the library.

[Crystal]

A pipe bomb exploded near our table. I remember little pieces of shrapnel hitting my legs. The fire alarms immediately started just ringing out the emergency, and the strobe lights were flashing.

[Narrator]

Harris and Klebold began gunning down students at point blank range.

[Craig]

They went over to a computer. They shot a kid who had a disability. His name was Kyle Velasquez. Everybody called him Big Teddy Bear. One of them says to the other, get anybody else with a white baseball cap on? A lot of jocks wore white baseball caps. I had one on that day. As soon as he said that, I'm underneath the table, you know, very scared. I take off my cap and I put it underneath my shirt. They were almost playing like they were in a part in a movie, like they were acting, talking back and forth to one another, jumping up on tables. They came underneath a. A table where someone was and said, peek a boo, and then shot him. They treated it like it was a game. It wasn't a game. It was real. I thought that this might be, you know, my last time on earth. I thought that I might be dead. Isaiah was one of the very few black students in our school. So one of them calls the other one over and says, hey, there's a over here. And then they start, you know, saying all these stuff to Isaiah, and Isaiah's slowly backing up. The last thing that he said was, I want to see my mom. They shot Isaiah with the shotgun to the head, and then they shot Matt in the stomach with the shotgun. Now, Matt looked like a jock, so I assume that's why they shot him. I Sat there listening to. As you know, Isaiah was gurgling and taking his last breaths and Matt, too. I decided to kind of play dead. I just don't want to draw any attention to myself, so I'm going to be as still as I can be. They went over to the far side of the room, and they were asking one girl if she believed in God. And then I heard a bunch of shots. And then I didn't hear her say anything anymore.

[Narrator]

Crystal was hiding under a desk in the library's middle section.

[Crystal]

One girl yelled out at one point and said, why are you doing this to us? Why are you doing this? And they said, we've waited our whole lives to do this. This is for all you who've picked on us and made fun of us.

[Craig]

It didn't matter if you were a good person or a bad person. It didn't matter if you knew them. They were going to let everybody else feel their pain. They were going to let everybody else suffer for them.

[Crystal]

One of them unsheathed a knife, and I remember one of them said, I've always wanted to stab someone to death. They were breaking all the computers with their guns, and they were breaking all of the glass. They were shooting just rapid fire at the walls and the books, and it just. Things were ricocheting and bouncing off, and it was just absolute chaos.

[Craig]

The only thing that I know to do is to pray. I couldn't think to do anything else. So I just asked God to take away my fear because it was too much.

[Crystal]

They started talking about how they had ran out of ammunition. It was almost as if they knew their bullets and their things were gone, but they had left more in another part of the school. They left the library still trying to do as much damage as they could by smashing things up and throwing chairs.

[Narrator]

The two teenage gunmen had murdered 10 students in the library.

[Crystal]

Not every student that they shot, not every student was killed and died. So you would hear people almost writhing in pain and just crying out in faint fear.

[Craig]

All of a sudden, I felt like I could move a little bit and think a little bit. And then I felt like this thing telling me, get out of there. So I'm the. I stand up. There's nobody else standing up. I turn around underneath the table, and there's a girl, and she's had her shoulder completely blown off by a shotgun blast. And I literally can see her bone. She's rocking back and forth, and she's saying, help me. Help me. And so I helped pick her up. I look around the room I see the shooters are gone, and I yell at everybody, I say, let's get out of here. I think they're gone.

[Narrator]

Craig carried the injured girl towards the door.

[Crystal]

All the students were bottlenecking out one door to try and get out. And it was just chaos because we knew, I think each and every one of us knew that those boys were coming back.

[Craig]

When we run out of the school, there's only one single cop car there. As soon as we get behind that car, the two shooters come back to the library and start exchanging gunfire with the police.

[Narrator]

The gunmen were firing at the police out of the windows of the library.

[Craig]

The cops, they're focused on the two shooters. Us students were taking care of each other. We're. We were taking off some of our clothes and we were tying up some of the kids that had been wounded.

[Narrator]

The two shooters committed suicide in the library. More police cars arrived and began driving students to safety.

[Crystal]

I got into the last car load, drove off into the middle of a field just behind our school, and all the kids jumped out of the car and they scattered in every direction like ants. And I didn't know where to go.

[Narrator]

Craig's sister Rachel was still unaccounted for.

[Craig]

I was walking around the street and I was looking for Rachel. And then I started to go around and I started to ask people if they'd seen my sister. You know, I, you know, have you seen Rachel? You know, just people that, that I knew, and nobody, nobody had seen her.

[Narrator]

Craig went home to wait for news of his sister.

[Craig]

We're waiting, we're waiting. We all. It's turning night. People are, like, bringing food in, just sitting, sat on this piano bench for a long time. At this point, I'm thinking that Rachel's dead. And I was feeling pretty tired, so I asked my mom if I could go to bed. Like, yeah, go to bed.

[Stephanie]

Great.

[Craig]

So I went to bed. These crazy dreams. I slept, worried that I would sleep, just not being home. Woke up.

[Stephanie]

And then.

[Craig]

My mom told me that the police called and said Rachel was the first one. I was shot. They told me she was killed, killed right outside the school library. The popping noises that I heard right outside this school library were the popping noises that were. That were taking her life.

[Narrator]

Twelve students and one teacher lost their lives at Columbine high school on April 20, 1999.

[Crystal]

Everything about what I had known for 16 years of my life was suddenly stripped away. It was gone. I didn't feel safe anymore. I felt like I was forced to grow up far too quickly. It was almost as if my childhood was taken from me.

[Narrator]

The massacre is the sixth deadliest school shooting in United States history.

[Craig]

For a year after the shooting, I was so, so angry. I hated those two shooters. And I carried around that anger and hatred for a real long time. But it started to affect me. It started to make me a bitter person and it started to affect my family. I started to take out all my anger out on them. And so I had a mentor that came into my life and he told me something that that was powerful and true. He said that forgiveness was like setting a prisoner free and finding out that prisoner is you. And I realized I needed to let go of all the anger and hate towards him. So I chose to forgive the two shooters.

[Crystal]

I survived because I believed that God heard my prayers, that he gave me a second chance at life, the second chance of life that I prayed for.

[Narrator]

After the shooting, Crystal traveled to Kosovo to help children affected by war. Craig and his family now run Rachel's Challenge, a non profit organization promoting compassion among students. It has become the largest school assembly program in the United States.

[Craig]

I survive because I have a purpose. I'm meant to do some things here on this world that are meant to be done. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it in honor of Rachel and I'm gonna do it in honor of my friends. I'm gonna live my life to the fullest. And I am. For weeks now, New Jersey residents have been plagued by unexplained drones flying overhead.

[Narrator]

Is there intelligent alien life? And if so, has the government been covering it up?

[Stephanie]

All right.

[Narrator]

UFO sightings the military can't explain, Congressional hearings, Pentagon whistleblower.

[Crystal]

What does it all mean?

[Narrator]

What does it all mean? We are here to try and figure it all out with our new Ancient Aliens podcast. There is a doorway in the universe. Beyond it is the promise of truth. It demands. We question everything we have ever been taught. The evidence is all around us. The future is right before our eyes. We are not alone. We have never been alone. Listen to the Ancient Aliens podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Laura]

Are you ready to rock?

[Narrator]

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[Laura]

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[Laura]

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E n rakuten.com Optimize your nutrition this year with Factor America's number one ready to eat meal service. Factor's fresh, never frozen meals are dietitian approved. Ready to eat in just two minutes. Choose from 40 weekly options across eight dietary preferences like calorie smart, protein plus and keto. Eat [e-mail] Listen50 and use code Listen50 for 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. Code Listen50 It's June 2001 in Sequoia National Park. Rich and Laura have five year old triplets and two children aged seven and nine.

[Rich]

My wife and I decided we want to go on a vacation, go on an outdoor setting and we thought we'd go to the mountains and I thought, well, let's go to the Sequoia National Forest since that's where I used to go just about every year as a small child.

[Laura]

When we got there it was beautiful. No one was there but there was a picnic table and had a little barbecue. The kids were playing and it was a gorgeous day. It was a nice time to be outside.

[Narrator]

The family decided to go for a hike in the forest.

[Rich]

We kind of got in a single file line and we started hiking kind of along the river a little bit. Then we started going up to this little hill and then there was a bunch of sequoia trees and big pine trees and right into the forest. I don't know which one of the girls screamed first. I don't know if it was Sarah or Brianne or maybe it was my wife.

[Laura]

All of a sudden there was like a black cloud around us.

[Rich]

These bees just came from everywhere and it was so loud. It was like a train. It was like a train. Like I was standing next to the train.

[Narrator]

The family had disturbed a beehive in a fallen log and the enraged insects started stinging them repeatedly.

[Rich]

And I just thought to myself, God, I can't think, I can't think, I can't hear, I can't see. All of a sudden these bees were so intense. They were all over my head. They were in my eyes. They were up inside of my glasses. It was so loud and everybody was screaming and the boys were yelling and the girls were crying. So I just told everybody, just run as fast as you can. Just run. I had to reach down in my glasses and scoop them out of my eyes so I could see her. And they were stinging my eyelids. I thought I was picking her up, but it was like I had this big mound of bees in my hand. And I thought I pulled her ponytail off, but it was just this big mound of bees that were all on my hands and I had to wipe them off my hand. And then I reached down to get her and. And she was still on the ground. I picked her up.

[Narrator]

Rich's wife, Laura, was fleeing with their four other children.

[Laura]

The only two I could see in front of me were Eric and Brianne. And so we just kept running and we didn't even know where we were going. I just remember this feeling of being helpless.

[Rich]

We just kept running and running and running. And we came to these big pine trees that had fallen and they were dead and they had these jagged branches. And I just kept telling the kids, run. And the bees just kept. They wouldn't leave us alone. They came with us and they were everywhere. They were in our shirts, in our pants, in our socks, everywhere. And the kids were crying and they were screaming, and we had to climb over these pine trees. And I don't know how the kids got over them, but the kids just all climbed over them. And Laura was kind of grasping for air a little bit. She was kind of huffing and puffing, and I just thought, man, she's really having a hard time.

[Narrator]

Laura was unaware that she was allergic to bees, and her throat began swelling up.

[Rich]

I've always counted the kids ever since they were born. When the triplets were born, I started counting the kids. Every time we get in the car, I'd count them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, to make sure we had all the kids. And I counted them, you know, I was one short. And I thought to myself, oh, my God. And it was Ryan.

[Narrator]

Ryan, aged nine, was rich in Laura's eldest son.

[Laura]

And I just kept thinking, oh, my God, where's Ryan? That was my thought at that moment. We're missing, you know, Ryan's not here. What if he's back there and he's, you know, with all the bees?

[Rich]

I just thought. I thought to myself, how. How could I let this happen? I've got all these small kids, I got a wonderful family. How could I let this happen? The bees were everywhere. It was so thick of bees, I. All I could hear was this buzzing and this sound. It was just terrifying. There were clumps of bees on us, on our back, on our back of our neck, on our hair. And we just couldn't get away from them.

[Laura]

I just remember trying to wipe them off and it just felt like they just kept coming back and kept coming back.

[Narrator]

The whole family had each been stung hundreds of times.

[Rich]

So I yelled down the river, I yelled as loud as I can, his name. And way in the distance I could hear. I could hear him calling me, dad, I'm here, I'm here. And I yelled, are you okay? And he said yes. And I said, can you get across the river? And he said yes. And Laura was really having a tough time. She had her hands on her throat and she was really, really grasping for air.

[Narrator]

Her throat was beginning to close up from swelling.

[Rich]

And I said, laura, can you get across the river? And she said nothing. She just looked at me and I said, laura, I can't help you. I have the small kids. I'm gonna get them across the river. You have to get yourself across the river.

[Narrator]

Rich's youngest children were five year old triplets. The river was waist deep and extremely cold.

[Laura]

I remember standing there and thinking, I've just got to do this, I've got to get across the river. I got in the water and I remember it being cold. I remember the pain of the bee stings. It was the most frightening thing that I've ever had to do.

[Rich]

And I got the small kids and I carried them across the river. And the river was really super cool and the kids were crying. The bees never left us. They just kept coming around. I don't know if they're coming out from our clothes, if they were coming out from in our hair, but they were still flying around us. They never left us. And the stings were just. The pain was just unbelievable. We came back to the picnic area and I knew we were really close. We were really close to that car. There was a little hill we had to get up. And I just, I just kept pushing everybody, pushing everybody because I knew, I just knew we had just moments to get Laura, get her some medical attention. We got to the car and Ryan had beat us to the car. And Ryan actually was doing pretty good. So the kids just jumped in the car, they just piled in the car. And I ran around to the, to the driver's side to get in the car. And I started climbing in and I looked over and Laura wasn't in the car. She was standing at the passenger side. So I went over there to help her get in, and that's when I realized how bad she was. She wasn't breathing at that point. She was just grasping for the air, and she couldn't get in the car.

[Laura]

I felt like my throat was closing up. And I remember my hands being on my throat, and I just remember coughing and coughing. And I was wondering, why am I coughing so much? What's happening? What's going on?

[Rich]

The kids were screaming. Their bees were in the car. They were buzzing around in the car.

[Narrator]

Rich started the car and headed for a fire station four miles away.

[Rich]

I looked over at Laura, and she was slumped over, and her breathing. I've never heard anybody breathe like this, but I knew it was bad. It was like a gargle. I'll never forget that. Those breaths. I looked over, and her eyes were closed, and she was really struggling just to live. I just kept thinking that she can't die. She can't die. The mother of my children, she can't die. There was no way I brought my family into this spot, and there was no way I was going to allow that to happen.

[Narrator]

The family were in their car, speeding to get help.

[Laura]

Rich kept saying, I know there's a fire station. We're going to go get help for you. We're going to go get help. And I just was trying to hold on to every breath. I felt a sense of panic. I felt a sense of being overwhelmed with the pain of the coughing.

[Rich]

I just kept going, and I got us to the fire station. I ran around to the other side, and the kids already started to go inside the office to the fire station. So as I came around to help her out, the emergency workers, as soon as the kids came in, they saw that there was a problem, and they came running out. I just watched them as they took her, and I just thought to myself, thank God. Thank God she got here and she's alive.

[Laura]

They brought me into the. The room that they had set up, much like an emergency room. They had asked me, have you ever been stung by a bee? And I said, no. And they said, well, you're allergic to bees, and this could have been fatal.

[Rich]

After a while, the kids kind of started to calm down a little bit in the fire station. So I thought, you know what? I'm gonna go check on Laura. So I walked over and I opened the door into the emergency room, and there she was. And she had all kinds of things plugged into her, and she had oxygen on. And she was laying there in the bed and they were there tending to her and working on her. And she looked up at me and that was the first time since this happened that her eyes were really open and she was breathing. And I thought, we did it. We did it.

[Narrator]

Rich, Laura and their children sustained between three and 400 stings each. They no longer take their vacations in the mountains.

[Laura]

I survived because I wanted to live. I wanted to be with my family. I wanted to have many more happy memories with my kids.

[Rich]

I survived because I have five children and I love my wife. And there was nothing gonna get in our way from our family. Surviving and living on.

[Narrator]

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[Rich]

You're gonna need some backup.

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[Craig]

Very cool.

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[Rich]

We can't outrun this.

[Narrator]

Someone is gonna pay for all this crime. But it's not gonna be you. Take care of business, fellas.

[Rich]

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[Laura]

We got you.

[Rich]

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[Rich]

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