Are you the good samaritan type? I think I am, but thankfully I’ve never been in a situation to find out.
The good samaritans in this true-crime may have saved the victim’s life.
The victim and her assailant were at a downtown bar when the victim became separated from her friends. One of her friends had her cell phone. The assailant offered her a ride home—she accepted. They had just met.
Her assailant, a 37-year-old male, didn’t follow her directions to her home. Instead, he drove erratically and often at high rates of speed to another state. His young female victim attempted to get out of the vehicle several times.
She asked him to stop the vehicle—he ignored her requests and would shove her head into the floorboard area when a car would pass by.
Her tortuous car ride and assault lasted 12 hours. He threatened to sell her into sex trafficking. When they stopped for gas, the female again tried to escape He dragged her back to the car. Good samaritans saw this and phoned 911.
Before they were located, the assailant took her to a wooded area and bound her to a tree (he was a big man) and raped her. She got loose and ran for the highway, screaming for help. Local authorities were combing the area because of the emergency call from the witness. They located her before her rapist could do more harm. They arrested him at the scene.
Unbeknownst to the victim, her assailant was a serial rapist who’d served time in prison for similar crimes.
After his arrest, he and his victim reached a plea agreement—he pleaded guilty to kidnapping. A federal judge sentenced him to over 25 years in prison with five years of supervised release after completion of his sentence. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
At the sentencing, the judge said,
“If the parties had not reached an agreement, I would have sentenced him to much more time.”
The victim said to the good samaritans who were present at the sentencing,
“I want you to know that you saved my life. You are my angels.”
Source: United States Court, U.S. Department of Justice, StarTribune