[Applause] [Music] this happened way back in 2005 I was 18 I was living in Uvaldi Texas a very lowincome neighborhood the kind you'll find sprawled out all over the place in rural Texas when you're not right outside of a city the closest city to me was San Antonio I was going to some local Community College because that's all my parents could afford for me one of my best friends from high school Andrew moved to San Antonio to go to San Antonio College he was living in some small apartment a little outside of the city with a roommate his girlfriend would also often stay with him since the city's only really an hour and a half away I would visit him all the time he invited me this one weekend to come crash for the night so I took my trusty old 1995 Toyota Pickup Truck N just kidding the thing was a piece of crap the gas gauge didn't even work on it I'd have to always just keep track of when the last time I filled the tank up was then reset the trip mileage I took Route 90 which was a straight shot from Uvaldi to San Antonio I was on the road at like 3:00 p. m. on a Friday and there was no traffic at all I got to Andrew at a reasonable time his girlfriend wouldn't be getting there until tomorrow so tonight we were going to go out we stopped at a liquor store and we drank in his apartment for a while with his roommate then the three of us went to this dive bar that would kind of look the other way with fake IDs that was basically our night we got back to their apartment around 2: a.
m. after getting food I slept on the couch the next day would have almost been the same thing but Andrew and his girlfriend were having issues all day and as the two of them got drunker as the night progressed she started yelling at him in front of me and it got really awkward and uncomfortable I didn't really have much to drink that day because I was already iffy about staying the night with her there I eventually decided I would just head back home I said goodbye to everyone and started my journey home it was very late at night I want to guess midnight maybe a little earlier route 90 was deserted at this time so I would fly or fly for my pickup standards but suddenly the engine started sputtering I felt my heart completely drop as I realized I forgot to fill up the tank I slowed down but it was too late the engine cut I pulled to to the side of the road and tried starting it a few times but it did no good I took out my cell phone which was equally as shitty as my truck and I tried to get a signal no shot I couldn't even call for help I had to just put my hazards on and hope a Good Samaritan would pass you wouldn't believe how long I sat in the side of the road before seeing headlights I waved my arms as the car approached but it zoomed past me ignoring me this happened again after another 10 minutes or so I was starting to feel hopeless like maybe I should just sleep in my car and wait till sunrise to get help so that's what I was going to do I got inside my car took the key out of the ignition to cut the battery and just angled my seat back to go to sleep I would hear the occasional car zooming pest like once every 10 minutes but it didn't feel worth waving people down in the dark it seemed sketchy for myself and to the people in the cars but when I was starting to actually drift away to sleep a car door closing from behind me woke me up I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a car pulled up behind me with its headlights off I turned around now to get a better look there was some big pickup truck but I couldn't see anyone inside of it nor did I see anyone outside of it maybe someone pulled over to help I got out of the car and said excuse me to no response I walked closer to the truck just to confirm no one was inside then I walked back to my car this was weird I looked towards the tree trees on the side of the road maybe someone was pissing in the woods I went back inside of my car and locked the door this was just too weird suddenly there was a tap at my window I jumped I looked to see a man looking down at me into the car smiling I didn't do anything yet he said hey buddy need a hand I lowered the window a crack and said hey I ran out of gas the man said that's quite the predicament step out and give me a hand with this real quick when he said this I thought he meant help him with a gas jug to fill up my tank or something honestly and so I stepped out of the truck and shut the door expecting him to lead me to his truck but he stood there looked down at me because he was much taller still smiling and said I need you to empty your pockets please it took me a second to process what he meant I was literally a broke college student driving a piece of pickup truck I wasn't about to get robbed of the only cash I had and my phone I ran for it in the direction of the trees I'm small but fast I turned around and saw he was chasing after me once I made it into the trees I zigzagged all over the place until I seemed to lose him then I crouched behind a big tree to catch my breath when I heard him approaching closer I quieted my breath I heard him say out loud I'll kill you you piece of I don't know if he was just saying it out loud out of anger or if he wanted me to hear it but I was too scared to move even after I heard his footsteps move away I didn't move in fact I stayed in this position the rest of the night eventually laying behind this big tree up until dawn I went back over to the highway to my truck and the truck behind me was gone but my truck's doors were both open I found that my glove box had been gone through and completely emptied of anything somewhat valuable my flannel hoodie was also taken which had something in the pocket I'm sure I finally managed to wave down a good samaritan and he gave me a ride to the closest gas station I bought a fuel can filled it with gas and the man brought me back to my car where I filled my tank just enough to drive the truck to a gas station to fill up completely then I went straight home this was a real life learning experience for me that there are bad people out there who will try to take advantage of you when you're in a vulnerable spot but there are also good people like the man who helped me when I was 18 I was very immature and naive I was kind of a jerk when I was on the road honking whenever I got impatient borderline cutting people off looking back now it was very stupid and if I ever have kids I'll be that much more strict with them as far as their driving that being said I did drive a lot for someone my age I went away to school 5 hours away from home no matter what day of the week traffic always gets atrocious the closer I get to home so during breaks I'll drive home at night to avoid this goes from a 4 to 5H hour drive down to a 3-hour drive it was the beginning of winter break as the fall semester just ended all my friends left for home on the same day I just waited till later on in the night to head out because there's nothing I hate more than traffic I used to drive a Mazda 3 that I would beat the ever living crap out of and admittedly I used to be known for driving my car to a near empty tank consistently people would comment on it whenever they'd be in the car with me and I'd always assure them that the car would still have at least 30 m to go even after the needle would hit E I found out the night I was driving home from school that I was wrong I was only like an hour into my drive on the interstate the needle was on E and I was pushing my luck waiting for a gas station sign instead of looking up the nearest one on the map the car started making these weird sounds suddenly and jolting and that's when I realized I may have actually run the tank empty this time I got off the first exit ramp and hoped it would lead right to a gas station this exit was dark though with no street lights and there was just Woods on either side I was scared to slow down and lose my speed because I didn't know if I'd have enough gas to find a gas station I blew through the stop sign at the end of the ramp and made a sharp Fest turn on the intersecting road which was another dark Road surrounded by Woods I was screwed the car eventually came to a stop and the engine died things only got worse when I took out my phone and saw I had no bars I have T-Mobile which is the worst possible reception anywhere far from a major city I tried calling 911 because I was stupid and thought that 911 works even without reception of course it didn't I was terrified because I didn't know what to do I turned on my hazard lights and just waited for someone to pass by it was a long time before I saw headlights approaching when I did I flashed my headlights at them and they passed me made a u-turn then pulled up on the grass behind me I didn't know who was getting out of that car though and I was an 18-year-old defenseless girl I just cracked the window down a little bit as this man approached my car I told him I need help I ran out of gas he offered to give me a ride to the nearest gas station he was this bald and guy with glasses on he kind of looked trustworthy I had no other apparent options but to accept his offer I got out of the car and followed him to his car making sure to lock my doors first his car was a black Honda year probably a 2010 it smelled funky in his car it couldn't pin what the smell could be though he banged another U-turn and started driving in the direction he was driving before he made conversation with me asking where I was from and basic questions I was honest with him that I was driving home from school he said he lived in the area and that they don't get too many Out of Towners getting off the interstate for this quiet little town the route we were taking lacked any buildings anywhere it was just Woods everywhere I asked if he knew of any gas stations and he said yeah just a ways up the road I started hearing bumping and thumping coming from the back of the vehicle it sounded like the trunk at first I thought it was maybe just bumps in the road or a loose object in the trunk he seemed to keep talking and talking like he wouldn't stop finally we got to a sort of town looking area there were some lights and buildings at last a Diner and a few small houses there was a red light at the first intersection since I got in his car we came to a stop and for the first time there was silence and then I heard the unmistakable sound of someone screaming in the trunk followed by thumps and bangs I looked at the man who looked at me in a split second I unbuckled my seat Bel opened the door and ran while at the same time he tried grabbing me and pulling me back into the car I heard him get out as well but instead of chasing me he ran to close his passenger side door then I heard him floor it down the street I ran into the diner and asked for help making a scene I used their phone to call 911 I waited there and it became this whole huge thing with multiable police showing up to the diner to take a report given the gravity of the report that I was making that I heard someone in the trunk of the car they had to get every Last Detail for me about the man's car his appearance and where he picked me up I was also given ride back to my car so that they could also include the pickup location in the report they also helped me get a hold of AAA which eventually would come to my location to fill my car with gas this was overall the scariest experience of my life I was shaken to the core the whole rest of the ride home I hope they found that man I hope whoever was in that trunk is still alive today for all I know that man could have been bringing me to his house or somewhere else and I was just lucky I had a chance to get out at that red light [Music] I live in Burke County North Carolina in Morganton I'm used to the quiet lifestyle that comes with living in a rural place you get some weird characters here and there but it's usually nothing too bad I own a nice plot of land with my husband my work schedule fluctuates sometimes I work days sometimes I work nights this happened on a night that I was on my way home after a night shift so it had to be like 3:00 a. m.
