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- [00:01]
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- [00:34]
Lily Chiu
Summer getaway escape with Rich Girl Summer, the new Audible original from Lily Chiu the exquisitely talented Philippa Su. Returning to narrate her fifth Lily Chu title this time, Philippa is joined by her real life husband, Steven pasquale. Set in Toronto's wealthy cottage country, a.k.a. the Hamptons of Canada, Rich Girl Summer follows the story of Valerie, a down on her luck event planner posing as a socialite's long lost daughter while piecing together the secrets surrounding a mysterious family and falling deeper and deeper in love with the impossibly hard to read and infuriatingly handsome family assistant Nico. Caught between pretending to belong and unexpectedly finding where she truly fits in, Valerie learns her Summer is about to get far more complicated than she ever planned. She's in over her head and head over heels. Listen to Rich Girl Summer now on audible. Go to audible.com richgirlsommar hi, I survive listeners.
- [01:28]
Marissa Pinson
I'm Marissa Pinson, and before we get into this week's episode, I just want to remind you that episodes of I Survived as well as the A and E classic podcast, Cold Case Files, City Confidential and American justice are all available ad free on the new A E Crime and Investigation channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple plus for just 4.99amonth or 39.99 a year. And now onto the show. This episode contains stories involving violence against children. Listener discretion is advised.
- [01:58]
Martin
I had to get out of was so afraid. And then he looks me straight in the eye and he says, I've got bad news for you. You've just been kidnapped.
- [02:08]
Marissa Pinson
Real people Wow.
- [02:09]
Joe
I can't believe I'm gonna die like this. And the water went up over my face and I didn't have a choice. I was gonna drown.
- [02:17]
Marissa Pinson
Who faced death?
- [02:19]
Jason
We just couldn't hold anymore and just in this violent rush we just got propelled out the mouth of this canyon.
- [02:27]
Marissa Pinson
And live to tell how he had.
- [02:30]
Martin
Tied me with wire within 10 minutes. I was stripped naked and raped for the first of four times that day.
- [02:40]
Marissa Pinson
This is I survived it's January 1973 in Portsmouth, Virginia. 13 year old Martin and his family have moved from the country to the city. When a heavy snowfall closes schools, Martin has to babysit his brothers and sisters.
- [03:03]
Martin
My parents were went to work and the kids were at home. Six of us without milk or provisions for things for kids being home. So I went to the store. On the way up the street to the convenience store, a blue van pulls up beside me. The man inside was very friendly and told me he had a job to do and if I could help him I could earn a few dollars in the process. The man told me his name was Pee Wee. I later found out that his name was Richard Osley.
- [03:41]
Marissa Pinson
Richard Pee Wee. Osley told Martin he lived in the neighborhood.
- [03:45]
Martin
Every kid is warned about strangers. You know, don't get into cars with strangers, be wary of strangers. But growing up out in the country, anyone in your neighborhood was a friend. I thought that was a good deal. I was, you know, a neighbor that needed help, going to pay me. I thought nothing of getting into his van.
- [04:09]
Marissa Pinson
Martin did not know that Osley was a convicted pedophile who was out on parole. Osley was due back in court that day on charges of raping a 14 year old boy.
- [04:19]
Martin
We headed off in what I thought was going to be just around the corner, but we headed towards the interstate and we kept going further and further and I became more and more nervous. At one point along the trip we stopped. He went in to get a few things that I think was a truck stop of some sort. At that time I considered running, leaving. I was very nervous at the time. I really wanted to go back home. But what kept me there was that I was so afraid of what my parents would say, that I had done something so stupid. I'd gotten into a van and gotten myself in this situation. Of course I didn't know where I was at. I would, you know, I would be at in the middle of nowhere. We traveled another, another 10 minutes or so and he came to a snow covered road. We got, oh, I'd say about half a mile down this lane.
- [05:18]
Marissa Pinson
Osley told the 13 year old he needed him to carry supplies to his hunting hut in the woods.
- [05:24]
Martin
We came to a clearing and he stops and he points to a hill, just a little raised area and in the ground was a little room built into this hill. 4 by 4 by 8 foot plywood box that he had built and buried in that hill. Osley got down into the to the box and I handed him the groceries. He asked if I Could come down to help him straighten out some things. There were some leaves and things in there. And so I got down into the box. We were straightening up a few things that were in there, kind of putting some things away. And he tells me to stop. And then he looks me straight in the eye and he says, I've got bad news for you. You've just been kidnapped. My blood ran cold. I became filled with fear. It was this feeling you get like when you've been caught in a lie almost. It was just overcome with fear and adrenaline and you start to sweat. And all I could think of was getting out of that box. Osley was not a big guy, but I was a 13 year old boy. He was much, much stronger, much bigger than I was at the time. I told him that I knew karate and to try and make him as scared of me as I was of him. And he said, oh, you're scaring me. And then he jumped me and attacked me and pulled me to him. There was this big butcher knife with old hickory burn into the handle. And I went for that knife and after him. And we struggled and fought what seemed like a long time, but it wasn't a lot. But he had the upper hand. And he punched me several times in the face and then subdued me. Told me that if I ever touched that knife again or even looked at it, that he would kill me with it within 10 minutes. I was stripped naked and raped for the first of four times that day. I had no idea that things like that could be done, especially to me. And him forcing himself on me over and over and over again four times that day was humiliating. I asked Osley, why me? Why me? And he said that if it wasn't you, it would have been somebody else.
- [08:15]
Marissa Pinson
Osley had already spent a decade in prison for the kidnapping and rape of a 10 year old boy.
- [08:22]
Martin
So a lot of it in between the times he was raping me. That day we were setting up house. He had plans to stay there and stay there with me.
- [08:36]
Marissa Pinson
The box had been purpose built by Osley and buried in the isolated clearing.
- [08:41]
Martin
Osley that night tied me with wire, bound me my hands behind my back and both my feet together and left me in the box. I tried to struggle to get away a little bit, but I was bound tight. I was very fearful that even if I had tried to get away, he told me that he could. He was going to look at my bonds to see if I'd even tried to loosen them. I was completely under his control. I knew that I could not get away. I knew that it would cost me my life if I tried. I remember lying there, trying to sleep at night and. And thinking about the knife, thinking about him, thinking about trying to get away. I thought about my family very much, you know, what was going through my mother's mind. Would she be worried? Would she be crying? I think that bothered me more than anything, that my mother would be crying about me, you know, that I was gone and. And never to know what happened to me. The next morning, I wake up and Osley is kneeling over me with his pants down, wanting me to perform oral sex on him. I was constantly, you know, gagging and throwing up. And it made him. Infuriated him, actually. Well, he stopped because he wasn't getting where he wanted to get, and then proceeded again to rape me.
- [10:21]
Marissa Pinson
Over the next two days, Martin endured numerous sexual assaults by Osley.
- [10:26]
Martin
He would sit and get quiet. That's when I knew things were going to turn bad. He would be very quiet. He would start and start rubbing his eyebrow, and you knew something was coming. On the shelf at the back of the box, there was a big jar of lubricant that Osley kept there. And whenever he would reach for that, I always knew what was coming next. I learned that if I could keep him talking, if I could keep him engaged, I could keep him from getting into those moods where he would want to rape me.
- [11:08]
Marissa Pinson
Osley never let Martin outside the box without him.
- [11:11]
Martin
We would go out at night, and it was much like a camping trip. We would set fires and cook our meals. And it was at those times he was very friendly, and it was like being on a camping trip with your uncle or your. Or your dad even. He was very nice. He was interesting to talk to. He had a lot of knowledge about carpentry in the woods, about Boy Scouts. He didn't usually want to rape me or have any sexual relations with me outside of the box. So being outside of the box was very, very important to me to get out. We never got very far from each other. He never got far from me. It was funny that he always made me walk in his footsteps so that it would be a single set of footsteps in the snow. As we walked around, I thought about trying to get away from him, but I had no idea where I was at. Osley always kept his knife with him. Sometimes I think he was fantasizing. I think he was coming up with different scenarios. Once he stripped me. I was naked, and I thought this was going to be another rape session. But this time, he told me that he was going to take me outside and tie me to a tree and that he was going to whip me with this chain until I bled and that the cold air would freeze my blood and that he would come back and whip me again. I was so afraid. And then he looked at me and he said, can't you take a joke? I would pray the prayers of a 13 year old boy, asking God, promising God anything to return me to my home, to go get me out of there, to keep me safe.
- [13:23]
Marissa Pinson
This episode is brought to you by Better Help. It seems like every time I've searched online for mental health or wellness tips, I get totally overwhelmed by all the options. Cold plunges, gratitude journals, meditating with your pets. The list goes on and on and it's hard to know what actually works sometimes. I've spent so much time trying to figure out the right thing that I end up stuck and don't do anything at all. That's why having a trusted live resource is so important. Instead of wandering through endless online advice, talking with a licensed therapist who really understands your needs can make a huge difference. Therapy isn't just for major life events. It helps with daily stress, building positive coping strategies and setting boundaries that improve your life. Everyone deserves support to be their best self. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform with over 30,000 therapists and more than 5 million people helped globally. Their live sessions have an outstanding 4.9 out of 5 rating from over 1.7 million reviews. Plus, it's super easy to get started just a click away and you can switch therapists anytime if you need to. Life gets complicated, but finding support shouldn't be. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com survived. That's betterhelp.com survived. I survived is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies so you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. 13 year old Martin has been kidnapped by convicted pedophile Richard Osley. Osley imprisons Martin inside a wooden box buried in a remote clearing for three days. Martin is sexually assaulted by Osley.
- [15:32]
Martin
He began to start talking on the third day about returning me home and different scenarios that could get me there. And the one that he liked best was that I would. He would take me home, go back to my mother, and that I would tell her that I had run away. In exchange for that, you know, for doing that, he would send me $50. I didn't really like that plan a lot because my mother would know that I was lying. I would never run away. Osley also said that if I didn't keep my word and tell her that I had run away, that he would be watching and that I would never be safe, that he would kill me. His second scenario would be that he would leave me there and then call my mother and tell her where I was at. And I chose that scenario. He again bound my hands behind my back and my feet together. And just as I thought he was leaving, he gets over top of the kneeling, looking me in the face, and then began to beat me with his fist, back and forth, you know, punching me, punching me, yelling at me, calling me a goody two shoes. And then he began to cry as he's beating me, beating me over and over again. Why I couldn't lie to my mother. Why can't you lie? Why can't you lie over and over and over again. He never saw the end game. I don't think he planned for it. And now he's stuck. He's stuck with this boy. He's stuck in a situation where it's going to cost him even more years in prison. And that's why he was very upset. That's why he began to cry. I think he was working himself up to kill me, and I don't think he could. I came away with it with two black eyes, cracked tooth. My nose was broken. I was hurting very bad.
- [18:00]
Marissa Pinson
By Martin's fifth day of captivity, Osley had become sullen and withdrawn.
- [18:05]
Martin
Obviously, we couldn't live out there forever, and I think he was beginning to understand that his fantasy might have been good to begin with. It was not real good in reality. I still prayed that I would go home. I still had hopes that I would go home, but I couldn't focus on that. It wasn't so much about going home. It was staying alive. On the seventh day, Osley decided on a scenario announced in the afternoon that he was now going to leave me there and to call my Mother. I was very, extremely happy that this was going to happen and very confident that he was going to follow through with it. Right before he was going to leave, he looked me in the eye and said, I've got to have that one more time. He raped me for the last time and then put a chain around my ankle, fastening it with a lock, gathered his things and left. I went to sleep that night thinking that she would be there in the morning, at peace after seven days, that he was no longer there, that I would no longer be tortured by him, that I would be going home, that my mother would be there in the morning. I woke the next morning and I started to hear an engine and gears shifting. And I thought, that's my mother. My mother is here to come to get me, to rescue me, to take me home. I became so excited. I could just stretch out with my leg behind me. I could reach up and open the top of the box and got my head just above the edge. And what I saw was, were two pickup trucks coming through the woods and just entering into the clearing. I began to yell at them and scream at them. And the truck stopped. One of them opens the window to their truck and lowers a shotgun out the window of the truck at me and yells for me to come up out of that hole. And I said, I can't. I've been kidnapped. I can't come out. They walked over to where I was at and looked in the hole. And two of them left to go get to call the police. The other two stood over me back to back with their shotguns, not knowing if Osley was still in the area. So they stood over me as protectors until the police came. The police tried to pull the chain from the back of the box to get me out, and they couldn't. So they waited for the rescue squad to come. And in the meantime, they decided to take photographs. Photographs of me in that box. The miracle of this was that those four men decided not to go with the rest of their hunting club to another section of woods in another part of the state. If they had not been led to come to that very spot of woods, I feel that I would probably still be buried in that spot. My mother never knowing what happened to her son, still chained inside that box.
- [21:45]
Marissa Pinson
Four days after Martin was rescued, Richard Osley surrendered to the police.
- [21:50]
Martin
The trial really is sort of blurry to me almost it was. I remember being. I was in the courtroom facing him, and he never looked at me. I had no fear of Osley. I feared the things that he could do. I had no hate for Osley. I still have no hate for him. You know, I saw him as someone who was sick.
- [22:18]
Marissa Pinson
Richard Osley was found guilty of kidnap and rape. He spent the next 31 years in prison.
- [22:25]
Martin
There were times, you know, to cope with the depression, to cope with the shame that I felt, the fear that I felt that I turned to alcohol, I turned to drugs. It was a call by the president, President Bush, to go to church to pray for our soldiers that led me to church one night and I began to heal. I no longer had the depression. I no longer needed those things to go on with my life. I was at peace with what had happened, at peace with myself, peace with my God, and at peace with Richard Osley as well.
- [23:12]
Marissa Pinson
At Osley's 2002 parole hearing, Martin told his story publicly for the first time in almost 30 years. Osley was denied parole and in 2004 was murdered by a cellmate who had been abused as a child. Today, Martin is an advocate for rape survivors.
- [23:30]
Martin
I survived because God gave me the peace to be able to keep my mind, my wits about me. If there's anything that I could say to children who are being abused, who have been abused, to adults who were abused as children, is that you've done nothing wrong, that you have nothing to be ashamed of as long as you keep it to yourself. They get away with what they've done. They've not paid the price for what they've done to you. And you can take hope that there can be a life that you can live without that fear. You can live without that pain. Foreign.
- [24:23]
Marissa Pinson
The one can feel impossible. And in today's world, it's even harder. False profiles, inaccurate pictures, incompatibilities, ghosting on dates. Is this sounding familiar? But if you're ready to make your move to a new place, it doesn't have to feel like dating. All it takes is a simple search on apartments.com to find your perfect match. Whether you're looking for a three bedroom condo downtown, a two bedroom duplex in a quiet neighborhood, a cozy studio in a walkable city, or even a single family home in a cul de sac, you can find a place that checks all the right boxes. So whichever stage of life you're in, settle down in your perfect home by using apartments.com. no more swiping and awkward first dates. Make it easier to get a place that gets you. Visit apartments.com, the place to find a place foreign.
- [25:15]
Lily Chiu
Hi everyone, this is Jillian with Court Junkie. Court Junkie. Is a true crime podcast that covers court cases and criminal trials using audio clips and interviews with people close to the cases. Court Junkie is available on Apple Podcasts.
- [25:29]
Marissa Pinson
And Podcast1.com It's July 2010 in Zion National Park, Utah. Jason, Dave, and Joe are all avid outdoorsmen. One weekend, the three friends decide to go canyoneering.
- [25:49]
Dave
We thought we'd take a weekend trip out to Zion national park and try an offshoot sport of rock climbing, which is canyoneering. What you do in canyoneering is you would hike to the top of a canyon, and then you would descend sometimes by hiking, and then when you get to more extreme edges and cliffs, she would rappel down with ropes through a series of rappels, and then eventually reach the canyon floor.
- [26:13]
Marissa Pinson
Rappelling is the controlled descent down a rope fixed to a top anchor point.
- [26:18]
Jason
We all have families, so we're not, you know, we don't consider ourselves big risk takers. We tend to take it easy and climb, you know, well within our ability level and make sure that everything we're doing is safe.
- [26:28]
Joe
We rock climbed quite a bit together in Las Vegas and decided that this would be a great, fun getaway for us, you know, to go as a little guide trip to get away and experience Zion National Park.
- [26:38]
Marissa Pinson
The men hiked to the top of the canyon to start their descent.
- [26:42]
Joe
It was July in Zion, and it was, you know, when we started, it was a beautiful sunny day, blue skies, and we were taking some pictures.
- [26:51]
Dave
Spry Canyon is the name of the canaring route. And you would hike in an open area, you know, going up steep, slick rock slope, and from there you would reach a drop off. At that drop off, there would be drilled anchors on chains, and you would set up your rappel, and you would rappel down to the next station.
- [27:12]
Jason
And then you hike for a while and, you know, you repeat the process. And then in certain sections, you know, there might be two or three or four rappels that are kind of like back to back because you're in a very steep section. But it varies.
- [27:24]
Joe
As you descend down through the valley, it tends to get more and more narrow Going into what we call a slot canyon. Imagine a hallway that's about 50ft long and about 50ft sheer up on both sides. We were probably four or five hours into the descent of this canyon, really getting to the last part of the canyon, which is the, coincidentally, the worst, most narrow part of the canyon. And when we heard thunder in the distance and realized that, wow, we need.
- [27:58]
Marissa Pinson
To speed this up, the men did not know that the National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning.
- [28:04]
Jason
You know, initially started to hear some rumblings, faint rumblings of thunder, and then some clouds started to move in. And it happened pretty quickly.
- [28:14]
Dave
At that point, there would have been no way to go up. It would have taken a long time to ascend. That last rappel, the three of us, the smarter choice was to continue down.
- [28:23]
Marissa Pinson
There were only three more rappels down to safety.
- [28:26]
Joe
It started raining, the thunder starting now, you start to see some lightning.
- [28:31]
Dave
We're standing there on an edge maybe 3ft wide. All around us, the canyon walls sloped down at probably close to 70 degrees.
- [28:41]
Jason
Our timing couldn't have been worse. I mean, we were right at the steepest, you know, belly of the canyon in terms of not being able to easily get out or have any place to hide.
- [28:52]
Dave
This is pretty much a drain. All the water would come down the canyon walls right to where we were. They could easily wash us right off the canyon, off the Canyon Cliff edge. 200 foot drop straight down.
- [29:06]
Joe
And Jason was right next to me and Joe was right across from me. And we're looking at each other just saying, what do we do now?
- [29:14]
Jason
That's where we were. When the rain really started to come.
- [29:18]
Dave
Down, we had the choice to make. Either stay right there and take a chance and see where this water runs or get out of there as fast as we can. We chose to descend further.
- [29:29]
Jason
I was the first guy to rappel down into this section. So I lowered myself on the rope, I unhitched from my harness, and I walked over to the edge of the canyon. It was about a 40 foot drop. I just saw rocks down below and just kind of sized up the situation. And then I walked back and waited for Jason, who was the second guy to come down. Jason unhitched from the rope and we were waiting for Dave.
- [29:57]
Dave
When he was about halfway down, the water started to funnel down the canyon walls right where we were. And we were looking up above and saying, wow, you know, if we stayed right where we are, we would have easily been washed right off of there.
- [30:09]
Jason
The thunder and lightning, the sounds echoing off the walls and whatnot. I mean, it was really loud and the water sheeting off. I mean, it was just incredibly noisy, like violent noisy.
- [30:19]
Joe
As I turned around, there's Joe and Jason. They've braced themselves in. I'm braced with myself, and we're all holding onto this rope that's going up to where I had just rappelled from.
- [30:29]
Marissa Pinson
A group ahead of Jason. Dave and Joe had made it to safety.
- [30:33]
Jason
We were hoping that we'd have enough time to all get down, pull our rope down, put our rope through the next set of anchors and get down to this next spot. But by the time the three of us got there, it was all we could do to basically just hang on to this rope.
- [30:46]
Joe
As Joe went down first, the water was up to about his calf. When by the time Jason got down in there, it was sort of at his thigh. By the time I dropped into the canyon, it was now over my waist.
- [30:58]
Jason
And it's like rushing through and rushing past us. And then right behind me is this huge waterfall where it's flowing off.
- [31:05]
Marissa Pinson
The 40 foot cliff they were about to rappel down had become a raging waterfall.
- [31:10]
Joe
We're looking at each other. What do we do? What can we, what are the options? And Joe had said, I'd been to the end. There's nothing there. It's rocks and dirt. And Jason said, if we let go of this rope, we're going to die. It was getting worse and worse as this water's coming harder and harder.
- [31:28]
Jason
And it started to froth. There was like this foam, like this brown foam that was kind of building up.
- [31:35]
Dave
The water started to rise, rise, rise, come above us. The foam started to build. It started to come up to our necks. At that point, we had a choice, stay there and drown because the storm wasn't subsiding, or we would have to let go of the rope.
- [31:50]
Joe
As the water came over my head, I took that last breath and the water went up over my face. And I didn't have a choice. I was going to drown if I tried to stay there or I was going to let go of that rope.
- [32:02]
Jason
All three of us almost simultaneously just got swept off the rope. We just couldn't hold anymore. And just in this violent rush, we just got propelled out the mouth of.
- [32:13]
Joe
This canyon and I shot off that waterfall just thinking I was dead. I remember thinking, wow, I can't believe I'm gonna die like this. And I went shooting off that first waterfall. Remember free falling, waiting for the big impact.
- [32:31]
Dave
It was such a huge torrent. I remember going over the edge and shooting through the air. I remember being tossed around like a rag doll.
- [32:39]
Jason
We basically went off this 40 foot drop that was a sheer drop. And the sensation was, when am I gonna hit? When am I gonna hit? When am I gonna hit? And then finally I felt the water.
- [32:51]
Marissa Pinson
Plummeting over the waterfall. All three men had landed in the flooded canyon below.
- [32:56]
Joe
The only thing that saved us was that we had held on long Enough to allow enough water to accumulate there. And I remember being amazed that I was still alive.
- [33:07]
Dave
All I remember is hitting the water, being under some dark, swirling current. I knew that I was still alive at that point. And I came to the surface and I was elated. I knew I was uninjured. My legs worked. I couldn't believe. I said, I can't believe I survived this. I'm going to actually get out of this. Uninjured.
- [33:26]
Marissa Pinson
Jason and Dave were washed down the canyon by the roar.
- [33:31]
Dave
The current was so strong that I was grabbing onto a rock with both hands. No matter what I did, I could not pull myself out. I hurried and hurried and just tried to crawl, crawl and grab and scratch anything it took to get out of that water.
- [33:44]
Joe
Jason, you know, he was trying to make it to the side fighting the current. I was so turned around and upside down, I didn't have any thought of trying to make it to the side.
- [33:55]
Marissa Pinson
As his friends were swept away, Joe was trapped under the waterfall.
- [33:59]
Jason
I could feel the water from the waterfall just pounding me and keeping me under. And I didn't know which direction was up. And I started to run out of air and started thinking, great, I survived the fall. Now I'm going to drown in this little water pocket. Your life flashes in front of your eyes. And I had this kind of vision, you know, thought in my head of my wife having to explain to my two small children, you know, that daddy's not coming home.
- [34:30]
Marissa Pinson
Jason and Dave were shot down the canyon towards another waterfall. It had a 60 foot drop.
- [34:37]
Joe
I knew I had another fall coming, and I figured there was just absolutely no way that I would survive.
- [34:43]
Dave
I was near the edge of the second fall. I was holding onto a rock at that point, trying to pull myself out, but the current was so strong, so fierce that it sucked me off the rock.
- [34:56]
Joe
And when I went off that second fall, I was in the air long enough to really understand how far I was falling. And it was terrifying.
- [35:07]
Dave
I was shot out over that second waterfall. I was thinking, what more can I possibly endure here? I was so lucky on that first fall. How am I gonna survive this?
- [35:17]
Joe
I was flung out in the air. And I remember going and taking a breath, but then instantly thinking, well, that's my last one.
- [35:24]
Dave
I remember falling through the air just, you know, for that second, that free fall. And then at that point, I just hit with such a huge impact that I knew at that point I was injured. But then I was sucked under the water again, twisting, turning, swallowing, you know, quartz of this brown, you know, muddy water.
- [35:46]
Joe
I knew this was the bigger fall. I knew this was a 60 foot drop and thought for sure I'm landing on a rock this time. Imagine just getting launched off a six story building, you know, cattywampus, like a rag doll, and landing in three feet of water. I believe I landed on my back and I remember putting my feet down and I felt sand on my bare feet and my shoes and socks had been blown off of my feet.
- [36:14]
Dave
I couldn't breathe at that point. I felt myself drowning. And then miraculously, just for some reason, I popped out of the water. And then I was able to make my way over to a boulder, but I kept falling at that point and I couldn't understand why I couldn't stand on both feet. Something was broken, but I didn't know what.
- [36:31]
Joe
And I look over and I see Jason and he's standing on the edge of the water, bracing himself up against a rock and he's crying out for help. And I'm looking for Joe. I can't see him anywhere. You know, we just thought he was gone.
- [36:49]
Marissa Pinson
Joe was still trapped under the waterfall in the canyon above.
- [36:53]
Jason
I'd been pinned under this water and turned around and started to feel like I was going to drown. And then the next thing I knew, I popped up and I could see the, the sky. I pushed off the ground and, you know, made my way over to some rocks. When I started to scramble up a little bit and look around and I didn't see the other guys and I imagined that they were, you know, knocked out or pinned under some rock or something, or had, you know, gotten swept further below and then drowned. And I really felt like I was probably the sole survivor at that point.
- [37:23]
Marissa Pinson
In the canyon below. Jason and Dave also thought Joe was dead.
- [37:28]
Joe
And I made it over to Jason and he said, he's in a lot of pain. And I said, I'm sorry, buddy, but I gotta get you out of here because I didn't want us to go, you know, get down the river anymore. And so I hauled him back over to the side of the pool area and hauled him up.
- [37:52]
Dave
I remember him grabbing onto my shirt and pulling me and tugging me and, you know, clawing in the dirt. Just try to get up this dirt as much as we possibly can. The last thing I wanted to do was tumble further down this rapid wash while this water is streaming down the canyon. If I knew if I went down that wash, I'd be dead.
- [38:10]
Joe
The water's just roaring over this waterfall and you could barely see anything. You could barely hear anything. It's just this mist is being turned up and we're both yelling for Joe and can't find him anywhere. And we think Joe's dead. And it was just horrifying, you know, and to think, what am I gonna tell Joe's wife? What am I gonna tell Joe's kids?
- [38:35]
Dave
I couldn't stand. I only had one leg that was working and I had a claw with my hands through the mud, slipping through the branches, grabbing on anything to climb up so the water wouldn't continue rising and perhaps drown us.
- [38:50]
Joe
He was in a lot of pain. I could tell it was apparent that it was an internal thing, but he was, I mean, the slightest move, he was in agony.
- [38:59]
Marissa Pinson
The impact of the 60 foot fall had driven Jason's thigh bone through his pelvis and broken his hip.
- [39:05]
Joe
He was going into shock. You know, his pupils were huge and we were shivering, we were freezing. And I knew that he was in a lot of pain. There was unfortunately not a lot I could.
- [39:17]
Marissa Pinson
The force of the water had torn the pack off Dave's back.
- [39:21]
Joe
Food, water, emergency GPS locator, signal beacon, I mean, everything you could imagine that you would need for exactly this kind of situation had gotten washed down the river. We're both now crying out for Joe and looking for Joe, and I'm not in any shape to mount a rescue attempt. I can't see him anywhere.
- [39:44]
Dave
And the first thought we had is that he's dead. We lost our friend and shouting and yelling and at that point just happy to be alive, but still disappointed that Joe wasn't with us.
- [39:57]
Joe
It was probably 15 or 20 minutes of us sitting there when I heard a voice and it was the people that had been ahead of us in the canyon. They were trying to communicate with us from 70ft up this cliff. They were yelling to us, telling us that they had Joe and they had.
- [40:18]
Jason
Seen me or heard me or something. And they threw a rope down to me and said, grab the rope. And they helped pull me up to this little spot on higher ground where I basically at that point collapsed. And I felt like I have a pretty good chance of getting out of this. I probably am going to get out of this. Whereas minutes earlier I thought that was it.
- [40:38]
Dave
And right there, I mean, that to me was a gift that I was so thankful for that all three of us survived.
- [40:47]
Marissa Pinson
The group assisting Joe alerted authorities who launched an air rescue.
- [40:51]
Joe
They airlifted Joe out and then they came back and they airlifted Jason out.
- [40:58]
Marissa Pinson
Joe was hospitalized with a shattered tailbone, bruises and puncture wounds. Jason was rushed into surgery and his severely broken hip was operated on.
- [41:07]
Joe
That evening it had just gotten dark and they were supposed to airlift me out, but because of the light, they ran out of time. So they gave me a choice of spending the night in the canyon with the ranger or hiking out. This spending the night option wasn't going to work for me. I was free. I was miserable and I just wanted to get out of there. Took me about two and a half hours to get out of this canyon.
- [41:35]
Marissa Pinson
Dave was taken to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and discharged. Two months later, Dave and his wife went back to Spry Canyon.
- [41:44]
Joe
I hiked back up to the base of that fall from the bottom. I'm not going through the canyon again. But I wanted to get some closure as to, you know, this whole experience. And I took a bunch of pictures of that area and that waterfall which was at the time obviously just dry.
- [42:03]
Dave
I was amazed that three of us, all of us survived it. The amount of water, the debris, the drops, it's just amazing. I survived because of my two friends and myself working together through this extremely emotional, this extremely terrifying situation.
- [42:26]
Jason
Under these really tough circumstances, we were able to keep relatively calm. And that combined with a little bit of luck really was what did it.
- [42:34]
Joe
To have all three of us survive this thing. To me, I just, you know, thank God every day for my blessings.
- [42:49]
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