I SURVIVED: We Could See This Fire Tornado Devouring Our Pickup Truck

Summary

Cold Case Files: "I SURVIVED: We Could See This Fire Tornado Devouring Our Pickup Truck"

Host: Paula Barros
Release Date: March 8, 2025
Description: Delving into some of America's most harrowing survival stories, this episode of Cold Case Files hosted by Paula Barros explores the resilience of individuals who faced life-threatening situations and managed to survive against all odds. Through detailed narratives and emotional testimonies, the episode sheds light on human endurance, fear, and the will to live.

---

Sydney's Ordeal: A Night of Terror

The Attack

The episode opens with Sydney recounting her terrifying experience on a December night in Gary, Indiana. At 15 years old, Sydney was left alone at home while her parents attended a performance. Her peaceful evening took a dark turn when intruders broke into her home.

Sydney:
"I was laying on the ground and my son was screaming into the phone, he's shooting her. He's killing her."
[01:52]

Sydney describes the harrowing moments leading up to the attack, highlighting her initial fears and the desperate measures she took to protect herself. She vividly recalls the intruders' menacing presence and the overwhelming sense of helplessness she felt.

Sydney:
"If I can just get him away for even a few minutes, maybe I can run. Maybe I can, you know, get out of here."
[06:00]

The Escape

Despite being shot in the knee, Sydney's determination enabled her to escape. She narrates the frantic dash to her parents' bedroom and the perilous leap from a balcony to safety.

Sydney:
_"I realized what it was, the first thing that I thought, and even the officer said, how did you jump and get all the way down here after you had been shot? How did you even do that?"*
[13:33]

Aftermath

Sydney's attackers were never apprehended, leaving her with unresolved fears and scars from the incident. She reflects on her survival, attributing her will to live to her youth and fighting spirit.

Sydney:
_"I think that I survived because I fought. I was too young to, you know, die and to not live my life. So I fought and I survived."*
[13:28]

---

Dina and Roger's Battle Against the Fire Tornado

The Prelude

Transitioning to a different yet equally intense survival story, Dina and Roger share their harrowing experience during a wildfire in October 2007 in Escondido, California. Their home, perched on a ridge top overlooking San Pasquale Valley, seemed idyllic until the Santa Ana winds ignited the surrounding forests.

Roger:
"When the Santa Ana winds come along, it is so dry. Everything, it's just Like a tinderbox."
[16:55]

The Firestorm

Despite their preparedness and escape plans, the couple found themselves trapped as the fire rapidly approached. The power outage left them isolated, with flames engulfing their property and threatening their lives.

Dina:
"I had to get up to go to the bathroom. About 1:00 in the morning, standing in our bedroom, I looked down into the valley and the electric line... had sparks and fire started."
[18:12]

Seeking Refuge

Choosing the garage for its airtight conditions, Dina and Roger attempted to wait out the inferno. However, the toxic smoke and intense heat forced them to abandon shelter and seek safety in their pool, the only escape route.

Roger:
_"We took a bunch of rags, soaked them with water, and laid on the floor of the garage right in front of the car, waiting for the firestorm to pass over."*
[20:31]

The Fire Tornado

In the pool, they faced a surreal and terrifying sight—a fire tornado devouring their pickup truck. The intense heat and chaotic environment tested their survival instincts to the limit.

Dina:
"We could see this fire tornado devouring our pickup truck. It literally was just stuck on the truck."
[23:00]

Rescue and Loss

After enduring over three hours in the freezing pool, their ordeal was finally over when a compassionate man and his son stumbled upon them. While Dina and Roger survived, their neighbors, Chris and Vicki, tragically did not make it.

Roger:
"We survived the fires, incinerated an area the size of New York City. Two people died, and over 1,000 homes were destroyed."
[28:58]

Rebuilding Lives

Though they lost everything materially, Dina and Roger emphasize the importance of their survival and the preciousness of life. They have since begun rebuilding their home, focusing on what truly matters—their lives and each other.

Dina:
"I lost everything. Absolutely everything I ever owned. That's okay. I gave up everything. So I keep my wife."
[29:22]

---

Jennifer's Survival: Confronting a Violent Ex

The Threat

Jennifer, a single mother from East Marlboro, Pennsylvania, shares her story of survival from an ex-partner named Kenny. After ending their relationship, Kenny became increasingly possessive and aggressive, culminating in a violent confrontation that left Jennifer severely injured.

Jennifer:
"He was always happy, very carefree... Then he started becoming more possessive. We would argue a lot."
[31:07]

The Attack

One night, Kenny barged into Jennifer's home with a gun, threatening her and her young son. Despite being shot, Jennifer's quick thinking and her son's brave actions—calling 911—played a crucial role in her survival.

Jennifer:
_"I've never showed my son how to use the phone, so I couldn't even comprehend that he actually knew to pick up the phone and call 911."*
[34:32]

The Siege

Unbeknownst to Jennifer, the police had already surrounded the house. After a tense three-hour standoff, negotiations led to Kenny's surrender. He was subsequently sentenced to nine to twenty years in prison.

Jennifer:
_"I survived because of my son. He's my hero. He's what kept me together during the whole time I was laying on that floor."*
[38:05]

---

Insights and Reflections

This episode highlights the extraordinary resilience and courage of individuals who have faced unimaginable horrors. From escaping violent attacks to surviving deadly wildfires, Sydney, Dina, Roger, and Jennifer each demonstrate the human spirit's capacity to endure and overcome adversity.

The Role of Community and Preparedness

Both Dina and Roger's story and Jennifer's account underline the importance of community support and preparedness. Whether it's having an escape plan for wildfires or the presence of a compassionate stranger who can offer immediate assistance, these elements can make the difference between life and death.

The Impact of Traumatic Events

The survivors reflect on how these traumatic events have reshaped their lives. Sydney grapples with the unresolved fear of her attackers fleeing justice, while Dina and Roger focus on rebuilding their lives and valuing what truly matters. Jennifer emphasizes the pivotal role her son played in her survival, showcasing how love and familial bonds provide strength during crises.

Sydney:
_"I think that I survived because I fought. I was too young to, you know, die and to not live my life. So I fought and I survived."*
[13:28]

Jennifer:
"I survived because of my son. He's my hero. He's what kept me together during the whole time I was laying on that floor."
[38:05]

---

Conclusion

"I SURVIVED: We Could See This Fire Tornado Devouring Our Pickup Truck" offers a profound exploration of survival against the odds. Through the harrowing stories of Sydney, Dina, Roger, and Jennifer, listeners gain insight into the depths of human resilience, the critical importance of preparedness, and the unyielding will to live. These narratives serve as both cautionary tales and inspiring testimonies of strength in the face of overwhelming adversity.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Sydney:
  "If I can just get him away for even a few minutes, maybe I can run. Maybe I can, you know, get out of here."
  [06:00]

• Dina:
  "We could see this fire tornado devouring our pickup truck. It literally was just stuck on the truck."
  [23:00]

• Jennifer:
  "I survived because of my son. He's my hero. He's what kept me together during the whole time I was laying on that floor."
  [38:05]

---

This episode serves as a poignant reminder of the fragility of life and the incredible strength individuals can summon in the direst of circumstances. Through detailed storytelling and emotional depth, Paula Barros brings these powerful survival tales to the forefront, ensuring that the voices of the survivors are heard and remembered.

Transcript

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[Sydney]

I was laying on the ground and my son was was screaming into the phone, he's shooting her. He's killing her.

[Advertiser]

Real people.

[Roger]

Even though we were in the pool and the water was freezing, I was deathly afraid that our hair was going to catch on fire.

[Advertiser]

Who faced death?

[Dina]

We could see this fire tornado devouring our pickup truck. It literally was just stuck on the.

[Advertiser]

Truck and live to tell how.

[Narrator]

I'm like why isn't God helping me? Why is this happening? You know at 15 I'm probably going to die.

[Advertiser]

This is I survived. It's December 2003 in Gary, Indiana. Sydney is a 15 year old high school student. Her parents are out for the evening and she is home alone.

[Narrator]

I had been on a play that evening and my Parents attended the performance. I was really tired when it was over, so I told them, you know, I just want to go home and get some rest. So they dropped me off at home and they kept going, you know, out to spend some time together. When I finally went to sleep, it was probably about 9:00 and I was really tired, so I fell asleep pretty quickly. When I woke up out of my sleep, it was almost like an urgent feeling. My heart was racing and I couldn't figure out why. And I just. I kind of sat there for a minute and I listened. Something just kept, you know, making me feel that, you know, Sydney, something is not right. So I crawl under my bed and I'm just, you know, I'm scared. I don't know really why. And I picked up the phone, I called my mom, and it went straight to voicemail. Maybe 30 seconds later, I hear footsteps. By this point, I'm terrified. My heart is racing, and I'm just thinking, okay, maybe it's my parents. But then I would have heard the front door open, so it couldn't be them. So if it's not them, who is it? The footsteps stop. My bedroom door opens. The light comes on, and I see these red tennis shoes. They're red and white. And he's just walking around the room looking for things and, you know, going through my drawers. And I'm just carrying under the bed and I'm praying. I see him kneel down and he's at the opposite end of the bed. And immediately I just closed my eyes because I knew, you know, my feet are down and he's going to see me. He grabbed me by my hair and he pulled me from up under the bed. And I am just. I'm terrified and I'm screaming and I'm just saying, you know, just please don't hurt me. Just, you know, let me go. And he dragged me out of my room by my hair into the hallway in front of my bedroom door. And I hear him say, get something to put over her head. So now I know that there's more than one person there. They put the paper bag over my head, and then a gun is placed to the back of my head. They're like, you know, lady, just give us the money. Lady, just give us the money. So, you know, I hear them calling me lady. I'm thinking, well, maybe if I let them know that I'm just a child, they won't do anything. So I said, you know, I'm only 15. My parents, they have the money. I don't have anything. And they're just like, you know, we don't care. Just give us something. I don't know. I don't have any money. I don't know where my parents keep anything. I don't. I don't have anything. You know, he's mad, he's yelling, they're cursing, and he's, you know, if you don't give us the money, we're gonna kill you. We're gonna kill you. So you need to come up with something. And I just. I didn't know what to do. I just kept praying. And honestly, the one thing that I was wondering was, you know, I'm 15 at the time. Like, why isn't God helping me? Why is this happening? You know, at 15, I'm probably gonna die. He was, you know, really mad, and he's like, you know, you're playing with me. You know where the money is. He says to the other guy, find something to tie her up with. The other guy went into my dad's office, which was down the hallway. I could hear him walking. He comes back and he hands him something. And I just hear this noise, like he's unrolling tape. And he grabs my arms, and they. He ties my hands behind my back. He snatches the bag off of my head, and they just take the tape and just loop it around my eyes just several times over and over again. They just loop it around my face. And he pushed me down on the floor, face down, and he put the gun, you know, back to my head, and he's like, you know, I'm tired of playing games. We're going to take your clothes off. I had on some sweatpants, some socks, a T shirt, and a sports bra. And he pulls my. My sweatpants off. Then he pulled my underwear off, and he took the tape off of my hands. He just kind of, you know, ripped it off. And he pulls my shirt just like, you know, just pulls it over my head. And he's just, you know, tossing me everywhere. I'm laying face down in the hallway, and he just starts, like, you know, grabbing and rubbing all over me. And he's, you know, under my sports bra, and he's touching me, and I just, you know, I'm saying, you know, just please just take, you know, whatever. Whatever you want. Just, you know, please just leave me alone. And he's like, no, that's not enough. You didn't give us what we wanted. So he raped me. The thing that I kept thinking about was, my mom's gonna come home and she's gonna find me naked and dead. And I just kept thinking, you know, I haven't done anything. I haven't even. I haven't had my. I was thinking, I haven't even had my first boyfriend. I'm just. I haven't even had my sweet 16. And here's this guy that's probably gonna kill me. He smelled like. Like he was just dirty. And I could smell it. Smell like, you know, gasoline and marijuana. And he's just. He's raping me. When he was done, I can hear him, you know, zipping his pants up and. And I guess he's, you know, fixing his clothes. And, you know, he's not saying anything. I didn't say anything. I'm just, you know, just laying there. I thought to myself, you know, if I can just get him away for even a few minutes, maybe I can run. Maybe I can, you know, get out of here. I'm right by the stairs. I said to him, you know, I know where some money is. I know where, you know, there's a few dollars. And he said, where is it at? And I said, it's in my room. He got up and as soon as he walked down the hallway, as soon as I heard him, you know, get far enough away, I kind of. I wriggled my hands out of the tape and I stood up. And as soon as I stood up, I tried to pull the tape down off of my eyes. And I looked down and the other guy's at the bottom of the stairs and he's pointing the gun at me. And he didn't say anything. And I didn't say anything. It was just like for that moment, we were just, you know, looking in each other's eyes. And he shot. He shot twice. I took off running. I ran into my parents bedroom. I jumped over the bed and I opened the balcony door as fast as I could. And it's far down. I'm looking at it, and I was just sure that, you know, I was probably gonna hurt myself.

[Advertiser]

The balcony was 12ft above the ground. Sydney was unaware she had been shot through the kneecap.

[Narrator]

I scooted, you know, kind of slid down to the edge. I took a breath and I jumped. As soon as I jumped and hit the ground, I just got up and ran. There are cars going down the street and nobody stops, nobody comes out the house. There's nothing. And the guy finally catches up with me about four or five houses down in the yard of one of my other childhood friend's grandmothers. It was in front of her House. He tackles me to the ground. So I'm just, I'm fighting, I'm scratching, I'm clawing, I'm punching, I'm, you know, pulling away from him. I'm just trying everything I can to get away from him. And then he gets me kind of by my neck and he's grabbing me and I see the other guy coming running towards us. And I know he has the gun and he says, take her in the alley. Get her in the alley. If they get me in the alley, they're gonna shoot me. They wanted to take me in the alley so they could shoot me. And so I'm just, I'm screaming her name and I hear the window open. And she says, sydney, is that you? And I'm just, yes, just help me. And I'm just, you know, I'm screaming her name. And as soon as they heard her, they dropped me and they ran around the side of the house into the alley and they were gone. I just got up and I'm just. I'm banging on the door because I'm scared, you know, what if they come back? And finally she opened the door and I just collapsed on the ground. And I'm. And that's when I cried. I finally started crying. And she's just, you know, what's wrong? Where are your clothes at? And she's hysterical. I'm crying. I know that, you know, I probably wasn't saying anything that made sense because I just want her to close the door and lock it. And she called the police. I was shot in my knee. It entered through the side of my leg and it exited through the top of my kneecap. Once, you know, I realized what it was, the first thing that I thought, and even the officer said, you know, how did you jump and get all the way down here after you had been shot? How did you even do that?

[Advertiser]

Sydney's attackers were never caught. The investigation is ongoing.

[Narrator]

If the bullet had exited just a few inches over my knee would have been shattered and there would have been no way I could have, you know, ran out of my. I mean, ran into my parents bedroom, much less jump off of a balcony. So I probably wouldn't have made it. I think that I survived because I fought. I was too young to, you know, die and to not live my life. So I fought and I survived.

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[Roger]

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[Narrator]

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[Roger]

I'm comfy. I'm cozy.

[Advertiser]

I have zero blisters on my toes.

[Narrator]

Blisters.

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And that's because I wear bombas the softest socks, underwear and T shirts that give back. One purchased equals one donated. Now go to bombas.com wondery and use code WONDERY for 20% off your first purchase. That's B O M B-S.com Wondery and use code WONDERY at checkout. It's October 2007 in Escondido, California. Dina and Roger's home overlooks San Pasquale Valley.

[Roger]

It was on a ridge top. It had a 340 degree view. It was absolutely beautiful. We loved it. It was a second marriage for both of us and it was our dream home.

[Dina]

Our house was on a private road that you had to go through in Avocado Grove to get to. And there were five homes on this ridge top and we could not see our neighbors. They were that far apart.

[Advertiser]

One Sunday afternoon, Dena and Roger saw distant smoke.

[Dina]

As we looked out, the Santa Anas were starting. We looked out way in the distance to the east we could see smoke and that always sets up the alarm bells. And so we checked and there was a fire that started way east of Ramona.

[Advertiser]

Santa Ana's are the hot desert winds that drive California's wildfires.

[Roger]

And when the Santa Ana winds come along, it is so dry. Everything, it's just Like a tinderbox. Over the years we've had fire scares several different times.

[Dina]

There was a pretty good fire right next to our home in 97. An arsonist had started a fire down on Bandy Canyon, which was below us.

[Advertiser]

Alarmed at the possibility of another wildfire, the the couple began monitoring News reports.

[Dina]

The TVs were turned on to two different stations and the radios were turned on to two different stations. And we started watching everything we had evacuated in the past. We had a system all set up, ready to. Because we had escape plans, we had emergency procedures. If our areas were appearing on those maps or. Or if we got a 911 call, we were gone. We weren't going to stick around.

[Roger]

And we were in the chairs and we were dozing off and we finally said, you know, this is ridiculous. The fire is still 20, 30 miles, 30 miles away. We might as well get some sleep. It was about midnight, I think. And so we went to bed and we laid down.

[Dina]

I had to get up to go to the bathroom. About 1:00 in the morning, standing in our bedroom, I looked down into the valley and the electric line that came across the valley across this old dirt road, it had disconnected from one telephone pole, stayed connected to the other telephone pole and was like a cowboy whip whipping out into the shrub and it was sparking and it was flipping through the shrub and the grass and. And the fire started. I woke Deena up and showed her the fire down below in the valley. And I said, we're leaving and we're not sticking around. The firemen aren't going to get to that.

[Roger]

I threw on some clothes and just grabbing whatever I could. I grabbed a suitcase and threw a few other things into it and then.

[Dina]

We ran downstairs to the door to the garage. And I had my hand on the handle to the garage door and the electricity went out.

[Roger]

It was the middle of the night. I'm not sure where my cell phone was. The phone was plugged into the wall, but there's no power, so the phone's not going to work. The alarm started going off. It just happened so fast. At that point in time, the sparks were flying all around both sides of the house already.

[Advertiser]

The couple were now totally isolated with no phone or power.

[Dina]

The fire just north of us down in the valley was now coming up the hill and it was 30 to 40 foot wall of flame. The fire north of us and the fire east of us got to our home almost simultaneously. Dina says, well, we gotta leave. I said, oh no, sweetheart, we can't Leave. I said, that fire's coming too fast. We'll never get out of the grove and onto the road and out of here. We're gonna have to stay here.

[Roger]

It was just bright as daylight outside, and the flames were just huge. There was fire everywhere. There was nowhere. We couldn't get to the car. The smoke alarm was going off and it was wailing. And so we're trying to decide, okay, well, what's our next game plan? The garage was sealed better than the rest of the house, so that's why we went there instead of staying in the house itself. It seemed to be more airtight.

[Dina]

We took a bunch of rags, soaked them with water, and laid on the floor of the garage right in front of the car, waiting for the firestorm to pass over.

[Roger]

So we were right next to each other, and the smoke just kept getting thicker and thicker and thicker in the garage, and it became smelling toxic. You could start to smell a chemical smell. And I said, rog, if we don't leave now, we're going to die of asphyxiation in here because this smoke is going to kill us.

[Dina]

And Dina says, you're going to open the garage door. And I said, no. And she said, why? I said, backdraft. I said, we have terrible winds out there with horrible fire. I open that door, it's going to suck all the air out, and the fire is just going to come swishing into our garage and we're going to die. We had this escape plan for years, hoping I'd never have to execute it. I knew that if we could get to the pool, we might survive. If we did not get to the pool, I knew it was over. The only escape valve we had was to go back into the house across the kitchen floor. I'm thinking, okay, Lord, help me get Dina to the pool. I'll take it from there. When we stepped back into the house from the kitchen, it was solid black soup. It was terrible smelling, and we could hear the snap, crackle of things burning someplace, but you couldn't see anything, and you could not take a deep breath. It was just gross, gross air. I'm just thinking, oh, let me get a few more feet, a few more feet, a few more feet. Then we hit the cement of the family room and stepped outside onto the deck.

[Advertiser]

The pool was a few yards from the deck.

[Roger]

We raced down. We ran along the side of the house and got into the shallow end of the pool, jumped into the pool.

[Dina]

We were in the shallow end of the pool for five or ten minutes, and my Lovely wife said, this is not a very safe place to be because when the house falls down, it will fall on us. So we went to the farthest portion of the pool away from the house, which was the deep end, and that gave us some protection from the flames that were coming over our heads.

[Roger]

Basically, you're watching all this in front of you, and it seems so surreal.

[Dina]

We could see this fire tornado devouring our pickup truck. It literally was just stuck on the truck.

[Roger]

And we're sitting there, and, I mean, I'm 50 years old, Roger's 60. We're watching 50 and 60 years of your entire life. Your travels, your kids, pictures, your. Everything that you ever had is burning before your eyes, and there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do.

[Dina]

The water from our chin down was 58, 59 degrees. Above us was in the hundreds.

[Roger]

I was deathly afraid that our hair was going to catch on fire. And even though we were in the pool and the water was freezing, that we were still going to catch on fire. So I kept looking at Roger and telling him, you got to wet your hair, wet your head down again.

[Dina]

The pool was filling up with stuff. First several inches on the pool was just garbage. So we take the water, take the rags, get them wet, and put them on our head, saturate our hair, and then put the wet rag in front of us to breathe. Probably half hour after we got in the pool, pieces of my neighbor's house came flying by. Chris and Vicki lived a thousand yards from us. And part of the escape plan for everybody on the hill is that if the road from our houses down to the main road ever got blocked or on fire, everybody was supposed to get to our pool. Earlier that night, when I was talking with Vicki on Sunday evening, I reminded her, if we can't get out, you'll get here. And she says, oh, we'll be there.

[Roger]

The wind was howling, it was noisy, the fire was noisy. So we didn't talk a whole lot. We just huddled together. But we. Where's Chris and Vicki? Why aren't they here? It was just unbelievable to sit there and watch and see. It was like, oh, my God. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

[Dina]

My God, Dina, look at that. That's a refrigerator. I said, our brand new refrigerator is melting. And we were watching the bottles of wine explode. And I told Dina, I said, you know, it's one thing to have your refrigerator melt down. I said, but I'm really upset. That's good wine. It's gone.

[Roger]

We were in the pool for probably three, three and a half hours. It was still very much in flames, burning. But the bulk of the house was. It was down. It was a three story house, was about two feet tall.

[Advertiser]

The 58 degree water was dangerously cold.

[Dina]

If we got really hot, we'd just dip in the water because it was really cold. But after about three hours, the coldness of the water started giving me terrible cramps.

[Roger]

We were both shivering and I got really scared because I thought with shivering that we were going to. That we were going to be hypothermic, that we were gonna freeze to death in the pool before we could get out. There was no choice but to get out of the pool.

[Dina]

Portions of the eaves had fallen into the pool. So we pushed them out of the way to get out of the pool. And we're laying on the cement, and cement felt really good. Cause it was hot and we were freezing. And I remember laying there looking up at the palm tree right above my head. The palm tree was on fire.

[Roger]

It was still so dark and so smoky, you couldn't see anything. We laid there long enough that the light had come up, the sun had come up.

[Dina]

And then the winds stopped. They just literally stopped. And blue sky was up above and there was smoke. And Dina grabbed my hand and led me down the hill because my eyes were so swollen with debris in them. And we're walking down the hill and railroad ties are on fire. Trees are on fire.

[Roger]

It was eerie. There were no helicopters, there were no policemen. There were no fire trucks, There were no firemen. There were no people sounds. There was nothing but the sound of quiet and fires still burning. I don't even think it was three minutes later, I hear the sound of a. And I just. I went, oh, my God. This car pulls up. And it was like an off road vehicle kind of car. And it was a man and his son. I could tell from the expression on his face that they were absolutely in shock that they had encountered anybody. And then to look like what we.

[Dina]

Looked like, we were black from head to toe. We were black.

[Roger]

My hair was still in a ponytail, but it was dried out. And it was all matted and filled with debris from the fire and chunks of soot. My eyes were bright red. There was no white to my eyes whatsoever. The man and his son that picked us up on the road were kind enough to take us to their home and give us a change of clothes and shower. And throughout that, during that process, we discovered that his wife worked with our daughter and had her number on the cell phone. So we were able to contact our kids and let them know we were safe.

[Advertiser]

Their neighbors, Chris and Vicki, perished in the fire.

[Roger]

We got a call from Vicki's brother who said that the investigative teams had gone back up there again and that they had found them in their garage. That they didn't make.

[Dina]

It sort of puts the preciousness of life really high on your priority list. My neighbors died. We didn't. They're a thousand yards away. They didn't get to the pool. We got to the pool.

[Advertiser]

We survived the fires, incinerated an area the size of New York City. Two people died, and over 1,000 homes were destroyed. Deena and Roger are rebuilding their home.

[Roger]

We loved our house. It's gonna be similar, just kind of reconfigure the rooms a little bit. And no wood decks. But the pool stays. The pool stays.

[Dina]

I lost everything. Absolutely everything I ever owned. That's okay. That's okay. I gave up everything. So I keep my wife.

[Advertiser]

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[Narrator]

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[Roger]

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[Sydney]

If I come off of the GLP1, it's not going to automatically make my weight.

[Narrator]

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[Advertiser]

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[Narrator]

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[Roger]

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[Narrator]

FDA for safety, efficacy or quality.

[Advertiser]

It's June 2007 in East Marlboro, Pennsylvania. Jennifer is a single mom who lives with her 8 year old son Matt. She has recently ended her relationship with Kenny.

[Sydney]

Kenny started off being a great person. He was very funny, very outgoing. He was always happy, very carefree. Didn't have a lot of money and didn't care. He was just the type of person that you liked being around. My son needed that. He needed a male role model. And then that slowly changed. As we started becoming closer, he started becoming more possessive. He was angry. We would argue a lot. I had pretty much told him, that's it, we're done. I don't really want to, I don't want to see you anymore. We can still be friends. But were not having any kind of relationship. I stopped taking his phone calls and thought, I really need to do this. I even called my friends at work and said, well, I finally did it. I finally got him out of my life. Then I met somebody. My parents set me up on this blind date. We hit it off. We didn't stop talking the entire evening. And it was just, it was great. So I thought that this was really going somewhere. I thought this could, could be somebody that I've been looking for.

[Advertiser]

Kenny kept calling Jennifer.

[Sydney]

That's when he started on, who is this guy you're seeing? What's his name? Started asking a whole bunch of questions. I don't know why we can't work this out. Why are you doing this? I don't understand. Just on and on and on. And he just wouldn't let up. At that point I just said to him, look, I don't ever want to see you again. And I don't ever want to speak to you again. And I hung up the phone.

[Advertiser]

After spending the day with friends, Jennifer returned home.

[Sydney]

I had put my son to bed and I was getting ready to get in the shower and I heard my door downstairs open. And then I heard this barreling up the stairs, like, almost like a, like just stomping. And my. I just got a sick feeling. I turned to look down the hallway and Kenny was standing in the middle of the hallway asking me where my boyfriend was. I said to him, my son is sleeping. Let's take this downstairs. So I walked down the stairs and he followed right behind me down the stairs. Kenny and I just argued back and forth. At that point, my son came downstairs. I turned and looked at Matt. And then I looked back at Kenny and. And when I looked back at Kenny, he had pulled a gun out and was pointing it at me. I was pretty frightened because I'd never expected a gun. I never expected him to do anything like that. And my son immediately started crying and saying, what are you doing? I don't want my mom to die. And it just escalated from there. He didn't really respond to Matt. He was directing his conversation to me. He just kept saying to me, you need to get him out of the. And I kept insisting no. He told me to call my parents to come and get my son. And I said, why? And he said, because I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to shoot myself, and I don't want him here for that. Then all of a sudden, I heard talking, and I actually thought it was crying. And then I asked permission to go upstairs and check on him. I said, I think he's crying. He's really upset. He just needs to be reassured. Is it okay if I go upstairs and check on him? So I started going up the stairs, and he followed right behind me with the gun pointed at my back.

[Advertiser]

Jennifer found Matt in his bedroom calling 911.

[Sydney]

I've never showed my son how to use the phone, so I couldn't even comprehend that he actually knew to pick up the phone and call 911. He said, My mom is being threatened. There's a man with a gun threatening her. You need to get somebody here. At that point, Kenny's phone rang. While he was distracted with that phone call, I thought that I would be able to get myself into Matt's room and get the door shut. So as I was shutting the door, that's when he shot me through the door. I'm screaming, my son's screaming, he's killing her. He's shooting her now. And it was just chaos. And then I fell to the floor. Kenny opened the door completely and looked right at my son and said, I'll talk to 911 now. And I said, give him the phone. Matt gave him the phone, and he got on the phone with 911 and said, I just put a bullet in her leg. I'm going to kill her, and then I'm going to kill myself. After Kenny shot me and I was laying on the ground and my son was screaming into the phone, he's shooting her. He's killing her. All I just felt was pain, just excruciating pain. And all I could do was scream, which I think made it worse. For my son because he thought I was dying.

[Advertiser]

As Kenny was talking with 911, his cell phone rang again.

[Sydney]

It was his cousin. So he decided he was gonna pick up that phone and have a conversation. It was almost like he was bragging. I put a bullet in her leg. She's cheated on me for the last time. I can remember screaming at him, I never cheated on you. We're not dating. I have a bullet in my leg and I'm still yelling at him that we're not in a relationship. When he shot me and I was laying on the floor, I was angry because my 8 year old had been through so much in his lifetime already that he didn't need any more trauma in his life. So I thought about that and how this was going to affect him. I thought about, how am I going to get this guy out of my house now? Now I'm shot, now I can't move. How am I going to get out of here? I'm laying there thinking, why aren't the police here? Why aren't they coming in? Why aren't they trying to help me? Why aren't they trying to get my son out of here?

[Advertiser]

Jennifer was unaware that police had the house surrounded. After a three hour siege, negotiators persuaded Kenny to give himself up.

[Sydney]

I think I realized when it was over, when he started talking to the negotiator about what window he needed to go to. They wanted the weapons out of the house before he actually walked out. And that's when I realized things were coming to an end. He's getting ready to go to a window and dump the weapon. Once the weapon's gone, then I knew that I was okay. The SWAT team came into the house and they were screaming, clear. Clear. It was just like this whirlwind of people storming into my house.

[Advertiser]

An ambulance was waiting to rush Jennifer to the hospital.

[Sydney]

The bullet just annihilated the whole upper part of my leg. It went in the upper part of my leg and lodged behind my knee. So the entire upper part of my leg, all the nerve, all the tissue, all the muscles, gone.

[Advertiser]

Clarence Kenny Love was sentenced to nine to 20 years in prison.

[Sydney]

I survived because of my son. He's my hero. I don't think that I would be alive if it wasn't for what he did for me. He's what kept me together during the whole time I was laying on that floor. And he's what kept me going after. It's been for him. He's my little hero.

[Roger]

Are you looking for your next case.

[Advertiser]

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[Roger]

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[Dina]

You're gonna need some backup.

[Roger]

Which means suspense is free.

[Dina]

Very cool.

[Roger]

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[Dina]

You can't outrun this.

[Roger]

Someone is gonna pay for all this crime.

[Advertiser]

But it's not gonna be you. Take care of business, fellas.

[Roger]

Watch all the cases. All for free from all your favorite devices.

[Advertiser]

We got you.

[Dina]

Feel the free Pluto TV stream.

[Narrator]

Now pay. Never.