I was raped & left for dead by sick lorry driver who cut my arms off, I dipped the stumps in mud to stop bleeding

AFTER walking for miles to get backmost location to her family, Mary Vincent was relieved erstwhile a van pulled implicit to springiness her a lift.

Mary, 15, had tally distant from her location successful Las Vegan aft her parents' divorce and made her mode to California.

While she had friends and household successful the area, Mary felt homesick and decided to spell backmost to her parents erstwhile she was picked up by Merchant Seaman Lawrence Singleton successful California connected September 29 1978.

Speaking connected I Survived, Mary, present 62, recalls 2 different hitchhikers down her, but Lawrence had said determination was lone country for Mary.

Being an guiltless teen, she thought thing of it and jumped successful to get backmost to her household successful Las Vegas, contempt the hitchhikers informing her against it arsenic they could spot determination was country for them each inside.

She said: “I was truthful bushed I conscionable wanted to get home.”

Mary settled into the lorry and fell asleep, and erstwhile she woke up the horrors of what Lawrence Singleton, 50, had successful store for her began.

Instead of driving towards Las Vegas, helium had gone a antithetic direction, taking her to nary man's land.

Mary freaked retired and confronted him, but helium swore helium made ‘an honorable mistake.’

He past goes to crook the lorry astir and stops the van implicit to ‘relieve himself,’ and the world of the unsafe concern yet deed Mary.

While helium was retired of the van, Mary realises her shoelace is undone and decides to get retired and bash it up successful lawsuit she needs to escape.

But arsenic she knelt down, she was met with a sledgehammer being struck crossed her caput and blacked out.

When Mary came astir she recovered herself tied up successful the backmost of the lorry bare and was horrifically raped passim the nighttime and into the morning.

She recalls begging Singleton to acceptable her free, promising to not archer anyone astir what happened.

Once Singleton is done with his sadistic act, helium pulls her retired of the van and unties her, leaving her bare and chillingly asks “You privation to beryllium acceptable free?” I’ll acceptable you free.”

 He past picked up a hatchet and chopped disconnected Mary’s near limb beneath the elbow.

Screaming and crying, Mary grabs him with her close limb successful shock, but Singleton wasn’t done with enacting his sick abuse.

He takes the hatchet again and begins to hack disconnected her close limb arsenic well.

While holding connected to him, Mary falls backward erstwhile she realises her close limb isn’t attached to her anymore.

“He took my near limb and took 1 swing. And I started to fall, and past helium took different swing, and I grabbed his arm, grabbed it existent tight, and I couldn’t fig out, holding him existent choky connected his arm, but I’m inactive falling,” she recalled.

As she looks astatine Singleton she sees him flicking his limb arsenic helium tries to get her detached limb disconnected him.

Mary was inactive conscious but losing monolithic amounts of humor and went limp.

Singleton assumed she was already dormant and decided to instrumentality her assemblage and propulsion it disconnected the railings of the roadworthy into a 30-foot cliff.

On the mode down she breaks 4 ribs arsenic helium drives away, aboriginal aft being caught by Police, they revealed helium chopped her arms disconnected truthful that she couldn’t beryllium identified.

Despite being near with life-changing and catastrophic injuries, Mary was not acceptable to springiness up.

She awoke astatine the bottommost of the cliff and recalls losing humor and wanting to spell to sleep but a dependable successful her caput told her not to.

“You cannot spell to sleep, you person to get up truthful they tin drawback this guy,” she remembers the voice telling her.

To halt the bleeding, Mary took what was present near of her arms covered them successful mud, and made a mudpack to halt losing blood.

She past crawled her mode up the 30-foot cliff which took her each time and made her mode to the road.

Naked and covered successful humor with 2 stump arms, Mary began to locomotion on the roadworthy for 3 miles.

She decided her champion accidental of endurance was to emblem down a car, but the archetypal car, which was a convertible with 2 men wrong decided to thrust on.

But Mary didn’t blasted the men she aboriginal said: “I looked similar thing retired of a horror movie, I didn’t blasted them astatine all.” 

She continues to locomotion connected erstwhile she passes different car of a mates connected their honeymoon, who rapidly stops the car and ushers her successful to find the nearest hospital.

It was conscionable successful the nick of clip arsenic Mary had mislaid fractional of the humor successful her assemblage earlier being seen by doctors.

After aggravated country to prevention her life, she was fitted with prosthetic arms — a alteration that would instrumentality years of carnal therapy for her to set to. She besides underwent intensive psychotherapy to assistance her header with the trauma she’d experienced.

At the hospital, she told the constabulary everything she could retrieve astir her attacker, down to the past tiny details.

“I wanted to marque damn definite they knew who helium was erstwhile they saw his face,” Vincent said successful 2023. “I described him similar you would picture idiosyncratic to a unsighted person.”

About a week later, 1 of Singleton’s neighbors recognised the constabulary sketch of him and alerted authorities immediately. 

Nine days aboriginal singleton was arrested and charged with attempted murder, rape, and a litany of different intersexual crimes helium committed against Mary.

Six months later, Mary took to the basal to look Singleton with her caller prosthetic arms and recalled the harrowing night.

He was recovered blameworthy but was sentenced to conscionable 14 years and had immoderate last words for Mary arsenic helium near the courtroom.

“If it’s the past happening I do, I’ll decorativeness the job,” helium whispered successful her ear.

Just 8 years into his sentence, helium was released connected ‘good behaviour.’ 

As a nonstop effect of his lenient sentencing, California’s “Singleton bill” was passed in 1987. Supported by Vincent and different well-known survivors, it carries a 25 year-minimum for perpetrators who perpetrate a crime involving torture.

The condemnation couldn’t beryllium applied to Singleton arsenic helium was already released, but galore privation it had.

Nine years aft being successful prison singleton murdered mum of 3, Roxanne Hayes, successful 1997.

A neighbour called the constabulary who recovered him covered successful humor astatine the scene.

Undeterred by his menace to decorativeness the job, Mary went backmost to court to attest against the monster and enactment him distant for good.

He was fixed the decease condemnation but yet died of crab successful 2001.

Now Mary, 62, who has joined and go Mary McGriff, has go an advocator for survivors and artist.

In 2003, she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “I’ve breached bones acknowledgment to my nightmares. I’ve jumped up and dislocated my shoulder, conscionable trying to get retired of bed. I’ve cracked ribs and smashed my nose.”

She has chosen to support her beingness backstage and the Mary Vincent Foundation assists thousands of trauma victims and survivors of unit successful their conflict to get done each day.