I SURVIVED: Is This What Death Is Like?

Summary

Cold Case Files: I SURVIVED – "Is This What Death Is Like?"

Episode Date: November 22, 2025
Host: Paula Barros / A&E, PodcastOne

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode of Cold Case Files presents three harrowing accounts of survival—each tale told firsthand by survivors of shocking violence or near-lethal attack. Maggie, Barbara, and Gary recount distressing incidents that left them physically and emotionally scarred, yet alive against great odds. Their stories explore the horror and randomness of violent crime, the arbitrary nature of survival, the human will to fight, and the long shadows left by trauma.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Maggie: A Teenage Runner's Ordeal

[00:44 – 39:50]

• Setting: September 1994, Gallion, Ohio. Fifteen-year-old Maggie recounts her abduction and assault during an early morning run with her cross-country team.
• The Attack:
  • Maggie leaves her group, is ambushed, and forcibly dragged off the sidewalk by a stranger ([01:02]).
  • She is bound, stripped, and assaulted at gunpoint behind a local YMCA ([02:03], [02:33]).
  • Describes the physical and emotional trauma:

    "To suddenly be raped was so painful. And...traumatizing to see." (Maggie, [08:10])

• Ongoing Captivity:
  • Forced to walk naked, at gunpoint, through dense brush. She focuses on stalling for time, hoping for daylight and rescue ([08:24 – 09:44]).
  • Her abductor torments her psychologically, threatening her with a knife, vacillating between violence and bizarrely tender gestures ([10:14]).
  • She strategizes survival by stalling, complying, and calming her attacker.
• Assault Escalates:
  • The abductor further assaults Maggie and attempts to strangle her ([15:57]).
  • She’s buried under brush but survives the strangulation attempt.
  • Her mother joins the search, calling Maggie’s name; Maggie stays silent to avoid putting her at risk ([23:25]).
  • The perpetrator, panicking as the police net closes in, prepares to kill her.
• Survival and Rescue:
  • Maggie is shot twice in the head, twice in the back, and once in the arm, but survives ([30:16]).

    “I was still alive. And wow. Wow for two reasons. Wow, I’m still alive. And wow, he actually shot me. He did it. It happened.” (Maggie, [30:38])

  • Staggers toward rescuers, collapses, and is found by police ([31:59]).
  • Later, she spends 13 days in hospital, undergoes surgeries, and returns with grit to life and running ([39:01]).

    “I survived because there was no other choice. That was who I was raised to be.” (Maggie, [39:50])

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2. Gary: Chimpanzee Attack in Sierra Leone

[03:16 – 38:38, interspersed segments]

• Setting: April 2006, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Gary and friends travel to a chimpanzee sanctuary near the mountains ([03:29]).
• Attack by Bruno:
  • A massive, escaped chimp named Bruno attacks their car, smashing mirrors, breaking windows, and entering the vehicle ([04:21], [04:04 – 05:39]).

    “The fangs on this thing were huge. And his eyes...You were seeing the devil there.” (Gary, [04:21])

  • Melvin, a companion, is dragged out and suffers severe bites ([11:19]).
  • Gary aids Melvin, using a tree branch as a weapon to fight off the chimp ([19:57], [26:16]).
• Climactic Battle and Escape:
  • Gary and the beast confront each other; he manages to knock Bruno down with the makeshift spear ([26:39]).
  • The party is surrounded by more chimps, eventually rescued by local soldiers ([34:25]).
• Aftermath:
  • Melvin survives after surgery, though mutilated ([38:30]).
  • Issa, the driver, is discovered killed and dismembered by the pack ([37:39]).

    “His jaw was missing both hands, feet, groin. He was disembowelled, just a bloody mess.” (Gary, [37:39])

  • Gary reflects on the experience and the instinct to help a friend:

    “I survived because how could you turn your back on somebody yelling for help? That changed everything in me.” (Gary, [38:38])

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3. Barbara: Surviving Execution in a Coffee Shop Robbery

[05:39 – 36:51]

• Setting: March 2002, Davie, Florida. Barbara, a chef, recounts a predawn robbery at her coffee shop ([05:39]).
• The Robbery:
  • Two men, acquaintances of the staff, force Barbara and her co-workers at gunpoint into a walk-in freezer ([07:03]).
  • Barbara fears for their lives as she realizes she can identify the robbers ([07:38], [13:07]).
• The Shooting:
  • The robber returns, orders the three onto their knees. Barbara resists, pleads, and is shot in the head ([13:42], [14:27]):

    "And on one of those come ons and turn your head, he shot me." (Barbara, [14:27])

  • In an out-of-body moment, she questions her fate:

    "I could hear myself out loud saying, is this what death is like?" (Barbara, [21:11])

  • Christina and Willie, her co-workers, are killed beside her ([21:54], [22:03]).
• Escape and Aftermath:
  • Despite bleeding profusely, Barbara pushes past bodies, escapes the freezer, and staggers across the street for help ([28:54], [35:21]).

    "I'm coming home. I made it to that gas station." (Barbara, [35:21])

  • She is hospitalized with partial loss of vision, but survives ([36:23]).
  • Identifies her attackers; both are sentenced to life or death ([36:51]).
  • Barbara reflects on survivor’s guilt and the mystery of why she lived:

    "I don't know why I survived. But people tell me all the time that I have a purpose." (Barbara, [36:51])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On facing death:

  "Is this what death is like?" (Barbara, [21:11])

• On evil in the eyes:

  “The eyes are the windows of the soul...when I looked in his eyes, it was just...I just saw evil.” (Maggie, [10:46])

• On survival and purpose:

  “I survived because there was no other choice.” (Maggie, [39:50])
  "People tell me all the time that I have a purpose. I don't know." (Barbara, [36:51])

• On trauma and resilience:

  "I wanted to thrive. That's what I'm doing today." (Maggie, [39:50])

• On heroism:

  "I survived because how could you turn your back on somebody yelling for help?...What better way to go that someone lives even if you have to pass away?" (Gary, [38:38])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:44] – Opening: Survivors’ voices and traumatic events previewed
• [01:02] – Maggie’s abduction
• [02:33]/[08:10] – Details of Maggie’s assault
• [10:18] – Knife threat and psychological torment
• [13:42] – Barbara’s face-off with the gunman
• [14:27]/[21:11] – Barbara shot, near-death experience
• [15:57] – Maggie is raped again and survives attempted strangulation
• [23:25] – Searchers and Maggie’s mother call for her
• [30:16] – Maggie is shot five times
• [30:38] – Maggie’s realization upon surviving
• [32:14] – Gary’s team surrounded by chimps
• [34:25] – Rescue by local military
• [36:23] – Barbara’s hospital recovery and long-term disability
• [38:30] – Aftermath for Gary and Melvin
• [39:50] – Maggie’s reflection on survival and thriving

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Conclusion

This episode stands out for its raw, first-person accounts of terror and survival. The courage of Maggie, Barbara, and Gary in the face of near-certain death is vividly rendered through their own words, with the narrative structured to draw out the psychological aftermath as much as the physical ordeal. Their stories serve both as cautionary tales and affirmations of resilience, and they leave the listener with haunting, unforgettable images of both horror and perseverance.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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

[Maggie]

Put the tip of the blade right over my heart. And he just watched the handle vibrate.

[Gary]

Real people, the chimp just screaming teeth. The fangs on this thing were huge. And his eyes, I mean, you could. They have expressions who faced death.

[Barbara]

I could hear myself out loud saying, is this what death is like?

[Narrator]

And live to tell how they say.

[Maggie]

The eyes are the windows of the soul. You know, when I looked in his eyes, it was just, you know, I just saw evil.

[Narrator]

This is. I survived. It's September 1994 in Gallion, Ohio. 15 year old Maggie is a member of her school cross country team. At 6:30am, Maggie and the team are on a four mile practice run before school.

[Maggie]

I wanted to get back to the school. I don't remember if I really had a leg cramp or, you know, I just had enough and I wanted to get back to the school and I decided to turn around at the three mile mark. You know, up until that point, all the girls had been together. I had my headphones on. I was in my jolly jogger mode listening to Paula Abdul's the Promise of a New Day. Not so much the song, but I love that title. And I was up on the sidewalk and again, I'm within the city limits. So there's light overhead and it's September, so it's pitch blackout. All of a sudden it was like I was just clothesline, you know, I was grabbed from behind and I was being pulled back off the sidewalk. I could see enough of him to realize, I don't know who this is. And he's not stopping. He's pulling me back off the sidewalk down this alley between these two houses where the area YMCA was.

[Narrator]

The man pushed a gun into Maggie's side and dragged her behind the ymca.

[Maggie]

There was a baseball diamond dugout, laid me on my stomach and pulled one of my shoelaces, held me down and pulled one of my shoelaces out of my shoe and found my hands behind my back. Then I heard this dull tear up my back and it was a knife that he had and it was cutting my clothes off. All I had on was T shirt, shorts and my shoes and socks. Well, now I'm down to just my shoes and socks.

[Narrator]

Maggie was sexually assaulted at gunpoint.

[Maggie]

I wasn't screaming. I remember just kind of, you know, whimpering, don't do this, don't do that. You know, don't rape me, don't shoot me. I was not a sexually active person. Never have been so. To suddenly be raped was so painful. And, you know, physically and mentally and spiritually. I remember just closing my eyes and I turned my head over towards my left, and we were like, pretty much right under. There was like a light over us, like from the baseball field. And I just remember seeing my silhouette with my legs up in the air like that. And, you know, it's something that'll never leave me.

[Narrator]

It's April 2006, in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Gary and four friends are driving to a chimpanzee sanctuary in the mountains. The sanctuary houses chimps that have been abused.

[Gary]

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I seen just this black flash coming through the jungle. And it was real quick, you know, and all of a sudden, right in front of the car jumped out, and it was like a giant spider.

[Narrator]

A chimpanzee known as Bruno had escaped from the sanctuary.

[Gary]

And I'm yelling, cool. I gotta get my camera out. I gotta get a picture of this. Seeing this in the wild, this chimpanzee, which I thought was a gorilla.

[Narrator]

Isa, the African driver, knew Bruno could be dangerous to humans. He braked suddenly and began to reverse down the road.

[Gary]

But all of a sudden, we're going backwards and we're all yelling, what are you doing? What's going on? I kept saying, what's going on? What's happening here? What's happening? And the creature started running at us. And he was huge.

[Narrator]

The chimp stood 6ft tall and weighed 270 pounds.

[Gary]

Issa never took his eyes off the chimp. And he was just freaking and it was catching up. It hit the front of the car, you know, with its hands, and it was on all fours, running and screaming. I mean, and it had a look of. You were seeing the devil there. The champ come running up alongside the car. And I remember him looking in at Issa and he was. He was leaning away from the window like this, and his. You know, and he's just panicking and chimp just grabbed the mirror and yanked it off like it was nothing off the car. And he threw it and just kept on without missing a beat, you know, and just kept on running. I'm sitting on the right hand side of the car in the back seat. Melvin's sitting in the middle, and Paul was sitting on the far left and his window was up. And I remember that chimp looking over, and I seen him looking in at us, and all of a sudden the window just exploded and he was in the car. And I remember I had hair in my mouth and I could smell him and I was nailed against the back and Melvin was nailed against me and I couldn't see nothing for the hair and it was his shoulder that was in my face but this loud screaming.

[Narrator]

It's March 2002 in Davie, Florida. Barbara is a chef at a local coffee shop. She's doing an extra all night shift as a waitress to help out.

[Barbara]

Five o' clock in the morning or 4:45, something like that. Chip and Jimmy came in and Jimmy was an ex employee that I used to work with on Mondays and so he used to come there on the weekends and just, you know, chill in the back with us. And when he came in he spoke to me and everything and he sat down at the table and I had told Christina to go wait on him because they tip really good. And so Christina went ahead and she waited on him.

[Narrator]

There were no other customers in the shop.

[Barbara]

Chip got up to pay for his ticket and I was walking towards the back to do my duties and that's when I heard a clicking sound. And when I turned around, he had the gun pointed at Christina. And I heard Christina saying to Chip, I have a six month old son, am I going to see him again? And he said, yeah, you know, you do what I say, everything will be fine. And so I was like, chip, we okay? And he said, yeah, just do what I say, everything is fine. He pointed the gun, you know, on the like, you know, everybody to the back, you know.

[Narrator]

Barbara and her two co workers were forced at gunpoint to the back of the shop.

[Barbara]

Jimmy was back there and he was, had a, I think they're called wire cutters or something, a big one. And he was breaking the lock on the freezer. I said to Jimmy, you know, are we okay? And Jimmy kind of dropped his head and so I got kind of worried a little bit.

[Narrator]

All three workers were pushed into the walk in freezer. After checking for cell phones, Jimmy and Chip left, shutting the door.

[Barbara]

Then Chip came back again and he asked us for our money and so we gave him all our tip money after he robbed us. You know, I got kind of scared because I can identify them and I knew them by name and I got worried and I said out loud, they're going to kill us, they're going to shoot us.

[Narrator]

15 year old Maggie is snatched off the street while on an early morning run. Her armed abductor strips and sexually assaults her in a nearby park.

[Maggie]

Any kid who's 15 who's never been sexually active, you know, the pain was horrible, the blood afterwards that was traumatizing to see.

[Narrator]

The gunman pushed Maggie towards a nearby ravine.

[Maggie]

Of course, I don't have any clothes on, so my legs are getting all gouged up and cut up by the brush because I'm blazing the trail for us. Because he's behind me with a gun inside. I was terrified. My heart was jumping out of my chest. I wasn't crying. Amazingly, I wasn't crying. My whole goal was, he's a person, he's treating you like an object, but do everything you can to stall. Let the daylight come. Because I knew people would be looking for me because it was completely out of character for me not to be where I'm supposed to be.

[Narrator]

After Maggie was forced at gunpoint to walk for 10 minutes, the sun began to rise.

[Maggie]

I asked him to untie my hands. I couldn't get away from him. There was no way I could have gotten out of that area. And he felt comfortable enough. He untied my hands. But eventually, as it got lighter out, I got a real good look at his face. He had long, stringy red hair. He had glasses on. He was wearing a black shirt with no sleeves, blue jeans, skinny. I really didn't know who he was. I had no idea where he was from. I didn't know his name. I didn't want to know anything about him. The more I knew, the more trouble I could be in.

[Narrator]

The gunman ordered Maggie to lie down.

[Maggie]

So he sat down my perpetrator and just started talking to me just like we were two people sitting in the woods, you know, after school. So he's trying to clean off my face and, you know, just telling me how, you know, how gorgeous I was and what a knockout I would have been. And I remember, you know, thinking, well, he's talking past tense. You know, he has intentions of shooting me, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Narrator]

The gunman then threatened Maggie with his knife.

[Maggie]

12 inch, real shiny. I wasn't a little pocket knife. My heart's jumping out of my chest because it's trauma. And he put the tip of the blade right over my heart. And he just watched the handle vibrate. He was basically kind of tormenting me. You know, they say the eyes are the windows of the soul. And, you know, when I looked in his eyes, it was just, you know, I just saw evil.

[Narrator]

A 270 pound chimp escapes from a sanctuary and attacks the car Gary and four friends are traveling in. It smashes a window and dives halfway into the back seat where Gary is sitting.

[Gary]

And the scream and the loud, piercing scream and reaction. Get off of me. Get off of me. And shoving. And Melvin was shoving.

[Narrator]

Isa the driver was reversing down the road, trying to get away. He suddenly stopped, changed direction and sped back up the road.

[Gary]

I guess during that melee there, we had switched gears because now we're going forward and going forward fast and we're heading up the mountain. And the chimp flew back out the window all of a sudden. And when he flew back out the window, he took Melvin with him. And I grabbed Melvin's belt loop and was holding him. And Melvin kept beating on the chimp. And I'm yelling at him, get back in the car. You know. And finally I yanked him back in. What it was, that chimp had a hold of his hand and that's why he's trying to get him to let go. Well, it bit his hand, severed all this from him, you know. So he came back in with almost a bloody stump.

[Narrator]

Gary tore off his shirt and wrapped it around Melvin's injured hand.

[Gary]

We came around a bend and there's these huge gates, probably 8, 10ft tall and with a chain wrapped around. And Eason never let up. And we're telling him, no, no, don't, don't hit it, don't hit it. You know, because just like driving into a wall to us, and he never let up. And boom, we hit this gate and it just. The gates flew open and we actually. The whole car came inside and we're in the middle of a clearing. Engine stalled, front crumpled. We're just sitting there and that's as far as the road went. It's nothing but a clearing there. All of a sudden we heard the screaming. And he looked down the road and there coming around the corner was this chimpanzee and he's charging fast.

[Narrator]

At 5am, Barbara and her two co workers are robbed and shut in a freezer at gunpoint. The robbers are searching for cash in the shop.

[Barbara]

When Chip left after taking our money, you know, that's when I felt that we wasn't okay. That's when I knew then that they must didn't get enough money and they were going to kill us. So I said it out loud and I said it to Christina. I said, hey, they're going to kill us. I know them by name. And that's when Christina got upset and started crying. I was looking around and stuff, you know, I'm a fighter. I've always been that way. And all I could think about was, I have to do something.

[Narrator]

It was only a minute before Chip returned.

[Barbara]

When he came back in this time, he kind of like had his foot in front of the door and he had the gun pointed sideways and he said, turn around and put your hands on top of your heads and get on your knees. And I seen Christina and Willie obey and I just couldn't do it. And so that's when I pleaded with him, you know, can we do something else? Please don't do this. Can we talk about it? We can talk about this. That's all. I just kept saying. And he just kept saying, barb, turn around. And I was like, come on. And he was putting the gun closer to my face and I was like, come on. You know, And I kept turning my head, come on, we could talk about this. And on one of those come ons and turn your head, he shot me.

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[Narrator]

15 year old Maggie is abducted at gunpoint and sexually assaulted. The gunman is threatening Maggie with a knife.

[Maggie]

12 inch, real shiny blade. Wasn't a little pocket knife. He put the knife away eventually and he made some comment about, you know, if you bite it, I'll shoot you. I don't know what he meant, but okay, but then that's when he proceeded to rape me orally, so I understood right away what he meant. I wanted to vomit. As soon as he was done, I rolled over to vomit, but didn't happen. Eventually after that, he said, I'm gonna put you to sleep and then I'm gonna leave. He had me on my stomach and again he took me from behind and tried to strangle me. I almost passed out. I can feel my legs kicking, you know, rubbing in the grass. You know, it's a feeling I'll never forget. It's that roughness of my legs just rapidly rubbing in the grass like that. But I didn't pass out and it didn't work. And he eventually stopped and I was, you know, coughing and gagging and so he turned me back over on my back and he buried me under the brush. I couldn't see my perpetrator, so all I heard was the crunch of him walking away. Eventually, I mean, it was only a few minutes, I would say, but it seemed like an eternity. I called out to see if my perpetrator was still around.

[Narrator]

The gunman had climbed a tree to see if people were looking for Maggie.

[Maggie]

And I heard this loud crunch and I thought, oh, he's still around. And sure enough, I mean, he walked over and he's like, what? Nothing. You know, it just confirmed to me, okay, he's still here, so he can't just leave me. For whatever reason he thinks he can't just leave me here. He's gonna do something, you know, he has to finish me off or whatever. I didn't know. So he unburied me and said, come on, we have to move. Of course this is bad news because that means it was like the further back in that ravine he took me, the less likely it was I was going to come out of there alive.

[Narrator]

An hour had passed since Maggie was abducted.

[Maggie]

He was in complete control. He had that gun. And again, you know, he could rape me as many times as he wanted to. Just don't let that gun go.

[Narrator]

While in Africa, Gary and four friends are attacked in their car by a 270 pound chimpanzee. They crash through a gate to escape, only to hit a dead end.

[Gary]

All of a sudden we heard the screaming and he looked down the road and there coming around the corner was this chimpanzee. And he's charging fast.

[Narrator]

It was Bruno, the escaped chimp that had attacked Gary and his friends earlier.

[Gary]

He's probably a good hundred yards in front of us and I can see the gates, they're almost at that point. And we're over here, we're still inside. And the gate's starting to shut and Issa punches it. And he crashed into the gate. And when he crashed, it threw us forward. I remember being just sort of the impact smashing you against the sea. And we just come to a dead stop. And I mean a hard stop. And last thing I seen was the chimpanzee running over the top of the car.

[Narrator]

The impact of the crash knocked Gary out for a few seconds.

[Gary]

And next thing I know, I'm opening the door. I don't know where I'm going, what I'm doing. I'm just opening the door and I hear, oh, God, please help me. Help me. Loud, though. And I turned to look where it was coming from. And I look around in the car and everybody's gone.

[Narrator]

Outside the car, Bruno was attacking Melvin.

[Gary]

As soon as I heard, help me, please help me, everything changed in me. There was a rage in me and I'd had enough. I didn't care where the chimp was. I just started looking for a weapon. And I seen two trees laying cut down. One of them had a Y on the end of it. It was about 7, 8ft long. And I picked it up, carried it like you would a rifle. And I'm yelling, get off of him. Get off of him like that. And that's when he jumped up. And when he jumped up, the chimp, he stood up with his arms up in the air and with his mouth open, and he was just yelling, you know, I mean, screaming teeth. The fangs on this thing were huge. And his eyes, I mean, you could. They have expressions in the eyes. And if, if you could, it's almost. You can see the red in them. And so he come charging, running on his hind legs at me.

[Narrator]

Two robbers force Barbara and her co workers into a walk in freezer at gunpoint. Ten minutes later, one of the men shoots Barbara in the head.

[Barbara]

That's when I said, oh, my God. I think I said that out loud. Oh, my God. I don't remember falling or anything. And all I remember, I went into this beautiful white room. I didn't see no floor, no nothing. I just went into this beautiful white room. I could hear myself out loud saying, is this what death is like? And I could feel me turning and everything. And then I heard myself say, I don't want to die. And so I opened up my eyes and I saw Christina in, like, she was laying, kind of like laying down with her arms and her feet up, blocking something.

[Narrator]

Christina had been shot in the throat and Killed.

[Barbara]

I could feel another body laying across the lower part of my legs.

[Narrator]

Willie had been shot in the head and fallen dead across Barbara.

[Barbara]

My ears was ringing the whole time too. You could hear this ding. I could see like three and four of everything. So I just closed my eyes and I knew I was okay because when I closed my eyes, you know, it gets dark, you can tell. And I just felt wet. Like all this. The shoulder part of my stuff was. Shirt was. Uniform was wet and I could feel stuff running down me and it was blood. I just thought about, I need to get out of this situation that I'm in. Oh, I'm going to bleed to death if I stay here.

[Narrator]

It has been an hour since 15 year old Maggie was abducted off the street by a gunman. She has been sexually assaulted and is being forced naked through a ravine.

[Maggie]

He had a gun, so of course I complied. As we're walking painstakingly slow back in this ravine, I remember hearing this like a plane overhead. And I could tell that the pilot wasn't trying to. He wasn't circling right over our heads to be obvious. But he'd go back and forth and then the wild back and forth.

[Narrator]

A police officer was in the plane looking for Maggie. Her cross country team coach had called the police when Maggie didn't arrive back at school.

[Maggie]

I of course can't see anything because I'm focused on trying to walk and you know, what's my perpetrator doing? Where's that gun? What's happening? Stay calm. He's of course getting more nervous, a little more forceful, you know, walk, walk, walk. As we're walking, I remember hearing some female voice yelled, maggie, you know Maggie twice. And it rippled out to me out in this big ocean of brush. And it was my mom. I knew it was her. I knew she couldn't see me and she was quite a ways away from me, but I knew it was her. I didn't answer her though, because one, I didn't want my perpetrator to know my name was. But most importantly, I want to protect her because I knew if she got close to us, he would have shot her. He could see more people. So of course he's getting all nervous. There's this plane people are calling. The net's closing in on him too. So he says, you know, lay down on your stomach, you know, I have to shoot you. Why stall? You know, stall, stall, stall. They gotta be close. Don't let that gun go off, right? So why do you have to shoot me? He kind of sat down Beside me. He said, I have to shoot you because you can identify me. And if I get caught for this, I'll go to prison for the rest of my life. He was crying, he was swearing a little bit. Just kind of poor me, I'm of course about to crack. But still I wasn't crying, I wasn't screaming. I was really trying to reason with him. I took his hand in mine and I said, look, what you've done is awful, but I can walk away from this. Just get out of here. And he said, no, I have to shoot you. But don't worry, I'm gonna write a letter to your parents and tell them how, how. How wonderful you were and how calm you were. And I tried to imagine them getting that letter from him. And I thought, well, if, you know, if that's how it comes to be, then I hope you know, they're proud. Cause at least I kept my cool. And I heard my perpetrator at some point say, you know, I'm sorry I have to do this to you. And I glanced over my shoulder and he was taking aim.

[Narrator]

A dangerous chimp known as Bruno has escaped from an African sanctuary. It is attacking Gary's friend Melvin, trying to kill him.

[Gary]

And I hear, oh, God, please help me. Help me.

[Narrator]

Armed with a sawn off tree trunk, Gary ran to help his friend.

[Gary]

I was angry, in a rage, and I'm yelling, get off of him. Get off of him like that. When he stood up, he was massive and he was bigger than me. And I'm 5 foot 9 and I weigh 205 pounds.

[Narrator]

Grown chimps are up to 10 times stronger than a heavyweight boxer.

[Gary]

He come charging, running on his hind legs at me, and I did the same thing. And I went charging him, holding the tree like this. And he had his head up in the air like that, and we both ran into each other. But I caught him perfect in the throat. When I caught him, I lifted him off the ground and he came down on his back. And I turned the tree around and started ramming him, yelling at him to get back up. All of a sudden he got out from under me, but this time he took off running. And I took off running, chasing. But he hit the jungle. And just as he did, I stopped. I caught myself, but I had a tree on him. And as soon as I stopped, he stopped about 4 or 5ft in front of me. But he kept his back turned. I turned around and I saw Melvin standing there. And the shirt's gone from his hand, the blood's pouring.

[Narrator]

The chimp had bitten off half of Melvin's hand.

[Gary]

Now his foot is shredded. There's no shoe, nothing. It's just shredded tendons are actually hanging out. And you couldn't tell it was a foot at this time, all of a sudden the hills were alive with chimpanzees. You could hear them everywhere, screaming, thumping around.

[Narrator]

The men didn't know that 30 more chimps had also escaped from the sanctuary.

[Gary]

But the jungle stick, you can't see, see him. I'm sure they seen us. But I couldn't see them all I could just looked around. I said, oh.

[Narrator]

Bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the head, Barbara is trapped in the freezer. Willie and Christina lie dead beside her.

[Barbara]

I was scared I was going to bleed to death. You know, all this right here was just wet and I can feel just, you know, like the drippy blood on my face and neck and stuff. I laid there for about maybe 10, 15 more minutes and I know we had about an hour before the next shift came in and I had to get out of there. And that's when I pushed Willie off of me.

[Narrator]

Barbara didn't know if the gunman and his accomplice were still in the shop. She crawled to the door of the freezer.

[Barbara]

I was kind of cautious about pushing the door open, kind of peeping out everything. And keep in mind, when I got shot, I could see like three and four of everything. I was real slow about doing everything because of my vision too. And plus I was scared, you know, that I might get shot again or something. I got really hysterical and nervous. I got really scared and nervous and paranoid.

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[Narrator]

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[Narrator]

Not available in all states. 15 year old Maggie has been abducted and sexually assaulted by a gunman. He forces her into a ravine and points the gun at her head.

[Maggie]

He's taking aim and I'm, you know, I just tensed up. I thought, whatever's gonna happen now, you know, I never had control of this from the start. I never had control that day. It was always in God's hands.

[Narrator]

The gunman shot Maggie twice in the Head twice in the back and once in the arm.

[Maggie]

And I didn't feel anything, but I was still conscious because I felt myself jumping and I heard myself scream a couple times, but I wasn't hurting.

[Narrator]

The gunman hit Maggie in the head with his pistol before running away.

[Maggie]

I was still in the same place on the ground and I was still alive. And wow. Wow for two reasons. Wow, I'm still alive. And wow, he actually shot me. He did it. It happened. My worst fear that whole morning, don't get shot. Well, that's done. We're here. Boom. I had no idea how many times I've been shot, but I felt my right arm had gone numb and was just dangling there. And I reached up with my left arm and I felt this hole this side of my face that I knew it was a bullet hole. But I thought, oh, you know, but my jaw was just hanging there. I had no idea how many times I'd been shot, but I was bleeding, just. I mean, the police were calling for me and they were so close, but they couldn't see me. So I got to my feet and I thought, my God, they can't see me. I gotta get their attention. I walked about three steps in the direction of their voices and I just collapsed, started to swing my legs in the air because I couldn't get up. But then that's when the police, they found me. They were right there.

[Narrator]

A six foot African chimp has tried to kill Gary and his four traveling companions. One of them, Melvin, is critically injured. Gary fights off the chimp called Bruno, but hears more in the jungle.

[Gary]

You could hear him everywhere, screaming, thumping around, but the jungle stick, you can't see him. I gotta keep looking behind because you never know, big guy might decide to come again.

[Narrator]

Melvin was bleeding from his mutilated hand and foot. Gary looked around for his three other friends.

[Gary]

On the other side of the gate was the two other Americans. Evidently in the melee, they had got across the car to that side. And I said, where's Issa? And they said, the last they seen Issa, he had climbed over the fence and took off running. And I said, good, he got out of here. Good.

[Narrator]

The car was crushed. So Gary told the two Americans to go for help.

[Gary]

They took off running, you know, hesitating. They got to that bend. I remember they stopped and turned and looked. And I said, just go, go. You know. Now I looked at. Sorry. I looked at Melvin and I said, now you sit down. And he says, gary, I'm going to die here. And I said, you Died here. I die here with you. I'm not leaving. Says if you're not going to run. He says, I want to leave. I don't want to sit down. And I lifted him up, and he was hobbling on one foot. And I'll never forget his feet and the tendons dragging in the dirt. You know, my head, I'm just thinking, oh, my God, I'm going to lose him. We walked on, and the chimps kept stomping around. But they followed us. They never showed their face. I look back the last time before I went around the corner. Big guy's still sitting down at Bruno, the large chimp. And he's still sitting there looking, but he has not moved from the spot I left him at.

[Narrator]

The two Americans had made it back to the base and got help.

[Gary]

I told him, I said, you go over there and stand. Because I could hear a vehicle coming up the road, and a big one, you know, because they have to come around the corner. And I made him stand on the side of the road. And just as it come around, it was a white Mercedes army truck, military. The back of it was loaded with soldiers with red Berets on. African soldiers. They were great. They went over and picked him up and they put him in the back of the truck. We made it to the hospital.

[Narrator]

Bleeding heavily. Barbara has crawled to the door of the freezer. She has no idea if her attackers are still in the shop.

[Barbara]

And then I kind of, like peeped around the corner, and I could see all the way down to the kitchen to where the cash register was and the grill, and I could see the booths that was down there, and I didn't see anybody.

[Narrator]

Barbara crawled 20ft to the door.

[Barbara]

And then when I finally stood up, I was like, kind of like a person intoxicated or drunk or something, you know, I was kind of wobbly, and my ears were still ringing, and my vision was off. And I went out the back door, crossed the street a couple ways down. It's a. And I knew that's where I needed to go was to the nearest gas station, because the other places were closed by then. While I was walking across to that gas station, I just kept seeing over and over my kid's name, Gabby and Terry and Gabe. I'm coming home. I'm coming home. I made it to that gas station. Actually, I went to the wrong door, so I had to walk around to the other door. And I pushed the button. And the man came and he seen me. You could see the look in his face, like, wow. And that's when I asked him for help.

[Narrator]

Medics arrived and Barbara was airlifted to the hospital.

[Barbara]

What I found out in the hospital is that I didn't have no side vision. You know, all I saw was a circle. But gradually, as the months went by, it went out and stopped at a certain, like, this is all I can see right here. And on this side I can see, yep, right here. And I have no low vision.

[Narrator]

Barbara identified Chip and Jimmy to the police who arrested them the next day.

[Barbara]

Chip got the death penalty and one life sentence. Jimmy got five life sentences and, and they're running back to back, so he'll never get out. I didn't understand why he did what he did because we talked. Me and him was friends. At least that's what I thought. I just don't understand why he did what he did. And I would like to talk to him. I don't know why I survived to this day. It bothers me, you know, why Christina didn't live and Willie didn't live. But really, I don't know why I survived. But people tell me all the time that I have a purpose. I don't know.

[Narrator]

While Melvin is in surgery, Gary sees a van drive up to the hospital.

[Gary]

And the guy that gets out, I recognize him, he's African, he was male nurse. And he comes walking back to the van and opens up the back this mess. I said, what happened to this guy? And he goes, Gary, that's Issa. His jaw was missing both hands, feet, groin. He was disembowelled, just a bloody mess.

[Narrator]

Isa had been killed by the pack of chimpanzees while running for help.

[Gary]

And see, ESA ran before I fought. This is what was explained to me. That must have been why he was killed because when I fought, I took down the alpha male and that stopped all attacks on humans.

[Narrator]

Melvin survived surgery but lost three fingers and part of his foot. Gary has kept in touch with Melvin ever since.

[Gary]

I survived because how could you turn your back on somebody yelling for help? That changed everything in me. What better way to go that someone lives even if you have to pass away?

[Narrator]

Maggie spent 13 days in the hospital and had three operations to realign her jaw.

[Maggie]

One bullet went in the side of my face and it stopped just below my eye. So that bullet will be in there forever. It shattered my jaw, so my jaw was wired shut for a while. Two bullets went in my back and those bullets stopped in my right lung. Those bullets will be in there forever.

[Narrator]

21 year old Charles Vaughn was apprehended the afternoon of the attack.

[Maggie]

He was charged with two counts of rape, one count of attempted murder, one count of kidnapping. He received 25 years on each count. So 100 years, plus three years tacked on for a gun specification.

[Narrator]

Maggie returned to competitive running and received the NCAA Inspiration Award in 2002.

[Maggie]

I'd had such a short introduction to cross country, but I loved it. And nobody had the right to take that away from me. My perpetrator wasn't going to win. I survived because there was no other choice. That was who I was raised to be. Coming from a single mom, I didn't want to just exist and I didn't want to just survive. I wanted to thrive. That's what I'm doing today.

[Gary]

This November action is free on Pluto tv. Go on the run with Jack Reacher.

[Maggie]

Every suspect was a train killer.

[Gary]

Then buckle up for drive. World War Z. Every human being we save. Just one less fight and Charlie's Angels.

[Barbara]

Damn, I hate to fly.

[Gary]

Launch into sci Fi adventure with the fifth Element and laugh through the mayhem in Tropic Thunder.

[Maggie]

What is going on here?

[Gary]

All the thrills, all for free. Pluto TV stream now Pay Never did.

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