Bridget Kelly is raped, shot three times, and left for dead by an intruder in her home. Daryl is caught in a freak blizzard that threatens to bury him alive in his jeep. Two boys, Ryan and John, survive a plane crash and maintain cell phone contact with a 911 operator as rescuers desperately try to find them.
Brandi and her friend, Liz, offer a ride to man who turns on them, stabbing Liz repeatedly and beating Brandi and then throwing her into a river. Joseph and two other men are stranded on a rocky, barren island for 13 days. And Sam and Suzanne are kidnapped by a hitchhiker who forces them to drive several hundred miles at gunpoint.
Christine's and Heidi's trip on a Greek ferry becomes a nightmare when the boat begins to sink and the crew abandons the ship, leaving the panicked passengers to fend for themselves. Debbie suffers a five-day ordeal at the hands of an attacker, who keeps her blindfolded and gagged, rapes her, and forces her to sleep next to him. And a simple act of kindness results in a vicious assault for Jim when he is brutally attacked in his apartment by his neighbor after inviting the young man into his home to chat.
Lonnie plays dead for four agonizing hours after her boyfriend chokes her and shoots her four times in the head. Rulon, a super-strong Olympic wrestler, gets stuck in a semi-frozen stream when he goes snowmobiling and faces a big decision -- should he wait to be rescued or submerge himself in the freezing water to save his snowmobile and find a way out? And when a wise-cracking federal prosecutor is abducted by men with machine guns, he uses his unique talents and personality to show rapport with his captors in hopes they'll release him.
When Dollar Store manager Denise is savagely attacked by robbers, one thing keeps her alive -- her determination to make sure that her father would not have to attend her funeral. Nick, a former Marine, is put to the survival test when he's stranded on a mountain in a snow blizzard with no cell phone, no food, and no winter clothing. And Leonilda must quickly think of a way to escape when her boyfriend forces her into his car at gunpoint, and tells her he's going to shoot her and dump her body in the river.
Wayne and Mary woke up to find their farmhouse surrounded by a cloud of lethal chlorine gas following a rail derailment. Thus began a harrowing six-hour ordeal where they struggled to take a breath, coughed up blood, and watched their metal appliances literally melt before their eyes. While Holly and her boyfriend Chris were taking a quiet stroll near the railroad tracks, they were accosted by a man demanding money. Linda was driving to her lakeside cabin when she was run off the road in the middle of the night by four strangers. High on drugs, they viciously attacked her, demanded money, set her car ablaze, and left her for dead in a deserted field.
Cari, a young mother living in Chico, California, is brutally stabbed, beaten, and sexually assaulted by an intruder in her home, but knows she must survive the attack to save her son. A four-inch steel tow hook accidentally lodges into Kevin's throat, and any movement could sever his jugular vein and end his life. When a gunman shoots and injures several people at a mall in Tacoma, Washington during Christmas time, Katherine, a store manager must obey his demands or risk having her co-worker Joe shot point-blank in the head with a machine gun.
Three masked gunmen burst into Michelle's home and order her to rob the bank vault where she works or they'll blow up her 7-year-old. And teenagers Troy and Josh take a small sailboat out to an inlet to go fishing when they get caught by a dangerous current and are swept out to sea for six days. They must struggle to survive against heavy seas, freezing temperatures at night, burning hot temperatures during the day, and sharks that keep circling their boat.
Maria feared for her safety as one of her fellow employees at the hospital where she worked became increasingly volatile. Jerry swerved his car to avoid a deer and crashed over an embankment where a tree branch became lodged in his throat. Melissa and her two-year-old daughter were sleeping at home when she was woken by an armed intruder who slashed and sexually assaulted her before stuffing her in the trunk of her car.
This episode tells the harrowing story of how two students and a professor at Virginia Tech University managed to survive the April 16, 2007, massacre at the school. One of the students, Colin, had to lay motionless and play dead as the gunman shot him four times. We also chronicle the amazing story of the Minneapolis school bus with 52 children that plummeted 45 feet when a Minneapolis bridge collapsed in August 2007. Trapped in her seat, driver Kim held the brake, keeping the bus from rolling backwards, as counselor Jimmy and his co-workers rush to evacuate the children, including Kim's own daughter.
Jennifer, a young lawyer, must use all of her instincts to fight off an intruder who sexually assaults and stabs her. Sampson is a corn farmer faced with the agonizing decision of whether to amputate his own arm or risk burning to death when his hand is pulled into a harvester that catches on fire. Norina, a primary school principal must fight off a crazed man with a machete to save the lives of her students.
A romantic walk turns into a nightmare for two young friends when a man forces them into his truck at gunpoint and shoots them both. A snowmobile outing ends in a near-death experience for two brothers when they plunge through the ice of a frozen river. A woman is brutally attacked twice by the same gang of hoodlums.
A heart-wrenching drama unfolds when a man struggles to save himself and his family from drowning in frigid waters and a female prison officer uses her strength and quick thinking skills to stay alive during the longest prison siege in U.S. history.
An ordinary Friday at the Seattle headquarters of the Jewish Federation turns nightmarish when a crazed gunman demands an end to the war in Iraq and shoots four workers. A criminal justice teacher is shot multiple times and poisoned twice by an unknown assailant. A young woman swims through shark-infested waters in a desperate bid for survival.
A single mother is kidnapped, stabbed and left for dead by three hardened criminals and her heroic survival is unforgettable. A long-haul truck driver must drive his 40-ton rig through the biggest fire in Utah History. A woman is stalked and brutally abducted by an ex-boyfriend.
After five ruthless highjackers take control of an EgyptAir flight and begin executing passengers, a woman silently says goodbye to her loved ones when the hijackers pick her to be the next one to die. A surfer loses half of the blood in his body when a great white shark clamps its jaws around his entire torso and shakes him like a rag doll. A young mother is repeatedly assaulted and strangled in front of her 3-year-old son.
A couple hiking in a national park must fight for their lives when they're attacked by a ferocious mountain lion. A young mother and her cousin are shot by a deranged gunman. A quick stop at a gas station threatens the life of a woman when she's taken hostage by a violent criminal on the run from the police.
A family is subjected to a vicious attack during a brutal home invasion. A rail yard worker risks his life to save a town. A realtor is attacked by a man posing as a client.
A convenience store worker plays dead to escape her abductor. An endurance athlete faces her greatest challenge ever after falling 60 feet in a remote canyon. A couple put their lives on the line to protect their children in a home invasion.
A mother of three survives a prolonged attack from her estranged husband. A newly pregnant woman is horrifically injured when she is caught in a fish processing machine on a boat 160 miles from land. Ten people are held hostage in a library by a man armed with a bomb and a gun.
A heavily pregnant woman is viciously attacked by a woman obsessed with making the unborn child her own. A couple cling to the rafters of their home as Hurricane Ike unleashes its fury on them. A woman fends off a man who has hidden in her family home for days before brutally attacking her.
A mother is jammed into a trash can filled with snow and left to die by her ex-husband. A young woman scrambles to escape a gruesome pile up of injured bodies after an escalator malfunctions at a sports stadium. A bar owner is savagely set upon by three men in a random attack carried out as part of a gang initiation.
Three survivors from the ill-fated UA Flight 232 relive the terrifying moments leading up to and after one of America's worst ever aviation disasters. A young woman violently assaulted by two men displays extraordinary courage to flee her attackers.
A young woman is brutally assaulted then set on fire by her attacker. A man is forced to amputate part of his leg after it is caught in a drive shaft. An act of kindness backfires on a long-distance motorist who is left fighting for his life at the roadside.
Two friends, Jim and Jens, and their fathers fly to Mexico for a fishing trip, but turbulence forces their plane to crash land and the foursome must fight for their lives in the ocean. Dawn is plunged into a nightmare when four armed men invade their beach home and threaten to shoot her right in front of her two young daughters. And while working at a convenience store, Agnes is abducted by an armed robber, who takes her to an open field and forces her to open the car trunk, where she finds another terrified woman bleeding from a gunshot wound.
After finishing a surveying job in a remote forest area, Brent finds himself face to face with a massive seven-foot-tall grizzly bear that begins to attack him. In a desperate attempt to save her and her husband's life, Susan grabs the .22 caliber pistol in her bedroom and engages in a gun battle with three masked men who invade their house late one night. And Denise must fight for her life when she is brutally assaulted by a man who gains entrance to her apartment by claiming to be a maintenance man.
While on a spear-fishing outing, Patrick's friend is pulled out to sea and struggles to survive as four-foot waves batter him in the darkness. Anne and her son, Ian, fight for their lives when they're attacked by Anne's gun-wielding ex-boyfriend. Driving home from a friend's house late one evening, Sharon is shot by another driver, who then takes her to an apartment where he continues his vicious assault on her.
While out walking his dog in the woods, Timothy is attacked by a 400-pound grizzly bear as his faithful dog valiantly tries to distract the bear. Scott and Sean enjoy a fishing trip on the Appalachian Trail when a drifter arrives at their campsite, pulls a gun, and shoots them both. And Stacey and her best friend must call upon all their inner strength and remain calm when an attacker invades their apartment and seems ready to kill them both.
Roger and Dena's home overlooking the San Pasqual Valley is everything they've ever dreamed of until Roger awakes one day to find a 40-foot wall of fire racing up the valley towards their house. Sydney, only 15 years old, bravely leaps 12 feet out of her house in a desperate attempt to escape two attackers. And after Jennifer ends her relationship with her overly possessive boyfriend, he breaks into her home with a gun and terrifies Jennifer and her son for hours while a SWAT team descends on the house.
A young runaway has her arms cut off in a horrific assault. A pregnant woman and her father flee a deadly firestorm. A woman survives multiple stab wounds in a drug fuelled attack by her enraged boyfriend.
An Emory, Texas man's family suffers a deadly home invasion arranged by his own daughter. Two mountain bikers are mauled by a mountain lion on a remote trail in Mission Viejo, California. A hotel receptionist in Columbus, Mississippi goes into fight mode to survive a brutal attack by a man posing as a guest.
A 15-year-old is snatched off the street on an early morning run. A man goes head-to-head with a killer chimpanzee, and a woman is shot and left for dead in a freezer with two slain co-workers.
A 14-year-old girl from Eau Claire, Wisconsin is kidnapped and held captive by her neighbor who has sexually assaulted her numerous times before. A man crawls down Mount Adams in Washington State after breaking his ankle. A pregnant woman is attacked in Memphis, Tennessee by her meth-addicted neighbor.
A Fort Worth, Texas couple fight for their lives in a terrifying home invasion. A lineman is electrocuted while working alone up a 35-foot power pole in Rowley, Iowa. A Charlotte, North Carolina woman makes a desperate dash for safety after being repeatedly stabbed by her ex-boyfriend.
A woman is left for dead when two terrorists storm the hotel she is staying in. A 14-year-old saves her brother when their home is destroyed in a tragic house fire. A woman is left permanently scarred in a deadly domestic abuse incident.
A single mom is attacked by an old classmate after spurning his affections. A gold prospector survives five days in the Australian Outback. A woman is left for dead after being carjacked and then shot several times at close range.
A doctor's assistant is violently attacked at home by a former patient who she spurned several years earlier. A man in Georgia is attacked by a swarm of hornets on the roof of his holiday home and falls down a 100 foot bank. In Missouri, a man is shot and assaulted by his girlfriend when he tries to end their relationship.
A man and his wife survive a plane crash that killed 125 passengers and crew after 3 men hijack it. A heroic rescue bid goes horribly wrong when 2 men are stranded on an iceberg with several other people on frigidly cold Lake Saint Clair. A woman is beaten, raped and left for dead after 2 men break into her remote Tyler, Texas farmhouse and kill her husband.
A 16-year-old girl is abducted and assaulted by two gunmen. A deer hunter drags himself up a dry creek bed after falling out of a tree and breaking both legs. A college student is used as a human shield by a gunman on a rampage.
A woman fights back when attacked in her home. A family survives shark-infested waters. A restaurant manager is left for dead.
A man is taken hostage by Marxist rebels. Two girls walking home from school are abducted, sexually assaulted, and left for dead.
A woman survives three shotgun wounds to the head. A family is attacked by bees. Two teenagers narrowly survive the infamous Columbine massacre.
Attacked and abducted by a church handyman, an elderly woman is left in the trunk of her car to die. A miner and eight co-workers survive 77 hours trapped in a rapidly flooding coal mine. A student and his roommate are held captive by two masked gunman who make no secret of their intention to kill them.
A boy witnesses a stabbing attack. A family's pilot collapses in midair. Two sisters are caught in the middle when a shooter goes on a rampage.
A woman is lucky to be alive after being assaulted by a man who has murdered before. A family's snowmobiling outing on a frozen lake turns to horror when the father falls through the ice. Two teenage girls encounter a killer, but only one survives the nightmare.
A missionary working in Haiti is shot and held for ransom by a gang. A man goes into a flooding underground cavity to rescue two co-workers. A wife is viciously assaulted by her husband.
Attacked in her home by her mother's boyfriend, a 17-year-old girl fights to stay alive after having her throat cut. An experienced sailor escapes from a sinking yacht only to watch three of her fellow crew members die in horrific circumstances. And an elderly couple are terrorized by an escaped convict who holds them hostage in their own home.
A soldier at Fort Bragg is attacked by a fellow soldier who wants to kill him. A British hiker breaks his leg and survives in the New Zealand mountains for 11 days. A 14-year-old girl comes home to find her sister murdered by a killer who's still in the house.
A self-proclaimed prophet turns a young girl into a sex slave. A man is brainwashed by a dangerous cult. A young woman breaks free from a violent religious organization in which she was raised.
An 11-year-old girl is stranded on a sinking yacht. An aid worker in Haiti is buried alive in the aftermath of an earthquake. A truck driver's cab is invaded by armed men.
A couple is kidnapped in the Philippines by Islamic militants. A woman is impaled in the neck by a branch that smashes through her car window, A man is attacked by a home intruder.
A girl is abducted and raped. A diver on a boat has an accident in the middle of the night. A restaurant manager gets in the middle of a deadly domestic argument.
A California couple faces life-threatening danger during a robbery in Mexico. A pastor is disemboweled during a home invasion. A walk in the woods turns into a tornado survival story.
A woman is attacked by her boyfriend, who stabs her in the chest and skull. A man is trapped in his basement for three days with his arm caught in a boiler. A teacher is kidnapped and held hostage by a carjacker.
A live theater actress is abducted by a teen and shot in the head. A hiker is critically injured in a 60-ft. fall into a ravine. A man is attacked on his docked boat by an intruder with a knife.
A pregnant woman is abducted by another woman who wants to remove her unborn baby from her body. A geologist is attacked by a grizzly bear. A woman is held hostage and wounded by a drunken ex-marine.
A nurse is kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer. A mother and her daughter are trapped in an attic during a flood.
A pregnant woman is abducted, assaulted, and has her throat cut. A man survives a plane crash and is stranded in an icy river. A man plays dead when his ex-co-worker shows up at the warehouse where he works and starts executing people.
A 15-year-old girl is abducted and raped by a man who has already killed three other young women. A photographer is trapped during the Haitian earthquake under debris in a hotel. A woman in Texas is beaten and slashed with scissors by her neighbor.
A canyoneering trip becomes a terrifying fight for survival when a flash flood launches three men over two massive waterfalls, and a 13-year-old boy is abducted and raped by a serial pedophile before being chained up in a buried box and left to die.
A mother and her two young children are abducted and taken into the Florida Everglades by a crazed attacker. A man is mauled by a hungry bear and fights for his life in the driveway of his holiday cabin.
A store manager in Saint Louis is shot during a robbery; a Minot, North Dakota teen loses his arms in a farming accident; a girl from Tampa, Florida is kidnapped by a serial killer.
Outside Salt Lake City, Utah a 17 year old and her boyfriend are shot late one night, in the parking lot of the deserted reservoir they were hiking in. Two people's lives collide in a split second when two Los Angeles bound trains collide on the same track. A 14 year old, walking home from a school dance in New Orleans, Louisiana, is attacked 3 men- all at different times- in a hellish night she'll never forget.
A woman in Kokomo, Indiana is kidnapped, raped, and forced to live, chained up, in a metal box, for 13 days. 2 brothers are struck by lightning in a cabin at Yosemite National Park. A propane truck driver in Miami, Florida displays extraordinary courage when she is viciously beaten by a stranger.
A De Soto, Missouri woman is raped and choked by a man she met at a party. A snowboarder is caught up in an avalanche. In Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, a 13-year-old boy and his 12-year-old friend spurned a school bully. They thought they were safe, until he shows up at one boy's home. After repeatedly sexually assaulting the 13-year-old, he slits both boy's throats, leaving them to die in a burning house.
A Fort Wayne, Indiana woman is carjacked and raped. When a tornado sweeps through Huntsville, Alabama, a woman and her husband become trapped in their collapsed apartment complex, not knowing they're the only survivors in the entire building. An 8-year-old is abducted from her Dickinson, Texas condo and raped, before her attacker slits her throat and leaves her to die in a sawgrass prairie.
A woman in West Palm Beach, Florida is attacked by a man with a Machete. 2 friends are attacked by a bear in Alaska. A Wauwatosa, Wisconsin teenager is attacked with an Arkansas toothpick while jogging, but manages to stab her attacker before he flees.
A courageous story unfolds when a college student and her friend go out clubbing in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, but are abducted by a man who drives them out of town and sexually assaults them. He shoots Lisa after she escapes, leaving her to die in the desert winds. A man survives a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A 9-year-old girl has to assume the patience of an adult when she is abducted, raped and stabbed by a friend's father.
A Laurel, Delaware insurance agent is sexually assaulted and stabbed over 150 times in the chest, face and neck, but miraculously survives. A Mount Hood, Oregon man crashes his car into a deep ravine. In Rockland County, New York, A man and his best friend are abducted at gunpoint and driven to a snowy construction sight where the two are shot at point blank range in the head.
A man is kidnapped, tortured, given tainted blood, shot and held in a small box for more than seven months.
Two women fight for their lives when a knife-wielding attacker ambushes them on a mountain trail and two men on vacation survive 14 hours adrift at sea after their ship sinks in 15 to 20 foot waves (survivors of The Erik which sank in the Sea of Cortez[8]).
A 13-year-old is abducted in McKeesport, Pennsylvania and sexually tortured over a span of 10 years. A Littleton, Colorado man is attacked by a mountain lion. A woman is stalked by a man on the subway in Brooklyn, New York. She thought nothing of it, until the man follows her home one night.
A Burnsville, Minnesota man is stabbed, shot, and left to die in his burning home in a botched robbery. A man and his friends are stuck on a sunken fishing boat for days in Port Aransas, Texas. Snow falls in Memphis, Tennessee as a woman is robbed, abducted at gunpoint, and locked in the trunk of her car as it begins to sink in a lake.
A Young woman from Chicago, Illinois is kidnapped and raped. A farmer in Auburn, New York loses his arm in a crop harvester. A woman is stabbed in Spring, Texas home by a man she thought was her friend.
A Fairfield, Ohio woman is attacked by her psychotic boyfriend who forces her to drink boiling water and whacks her with a meat cleaver. A father-son rafting trip turns into a nightmare when the boat capsizes and the two men must survive in the bitter cold conditions of the North Alaska wilderness. A college student in Tucson, Arizona is attacked in her home by a serial killer who sexually assaults her and slashes her throat.
A Bakersfield, California woman and her infant daughter are attacked. A man must stay afloat when his plane crashes over Lake Huron. Sheila fights for her life, when she is attacked in her Kettering, Ohio home by her husband and his friend. After raping her and stabbing her in the throat and face several times, they toss her in a dumpster, leaving her to die.
A Sacramento, California man stabs his young daughter, before unleashing his anger on their next door neighbors. After a man decides to move to Washington state, he purchases a fixer-upped in Freeland, Washington. But his life becomes a nightmare when his contractor shows up at the house, beats him with a wooden board and kidnaps him.
A Carlsbad, California woman is raped by her husband after a rocky breakup. A 17-year-old from Euclid, Ohio is stabbed, raped and shot in the face at point-blank range with a shotgun by her jealous ex-boyfriend.
Second segment: Steven Berk, a physician in Amarillo, Texas, is kidnapped for four hours in 2005 and released unharmed. In 2011, he wrote Anatomy of a Kidnapping: A Doctor's Story to show how the ordeal changed his perspective on life.[10
An 8-year-old is kidnapped while walking home from school and sexually abused over 2 horrifying days. A Clayton County, Georgia woman is abducted in broad daylight, taken to a salt quarry, stabbed, raped, and left for dead. 2 newlyweds, enjoying their honeymoon in the Trinity Alps near Weaverville, California are gunned down by a mentally insane man who believes that they have contaminated his Distilled water.
A Colorado Springs, Colorado woman is Taken hostage with her daughter and raped by her ex-husband. An Ashdown, Arkansas man becomes trapped when an airplane crashes into him. A Bethlehem, Pennsylvania man is attacked in his basement by a man with a golf club, who then burns him with chemicals.
Students and teachers are taken hostage during the Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis in Cokeville, Wyoming. A couple is attacked while on their honeymoon in Jamaica.
While eating lunch in Killeen, Texas, two strangers are caught up in the infamous Luby's shooting when a man crashes his car into the restaurant and open fires. A mother of two is stalked by her ex-husband and beaten in the face with a crowbar in Rochester, New York.
A Shingle Springs, California woman displays extraordinary courage when she is attacked and raped by her former boyfriend, whom she met on an online dating website. A young mother from San Luis Obispo, California is stabbed several times by her boyfriend, Shelley Malil.
While driving on the highway in Gaston, Oregon, a woman is stabbed with a screwdriver by a man she offered to give directions to. A New Haven, Connecticut woman is sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a man she and her husband knew well. And a girl working at a gas station in Winthrop, Minnesota is viciously attacked by a robber, who takes her to the beer fridge and saws through her jugular vein (usually a fatal injury).
In London, Ontario, Canada, Sandra is attacked by Carl Eugene Watts, who slashes her face open. A Tweed, Ontario, Canada woman is beaten and sexually assaulted by serial killer, Russell Williams. When Carl Eugene Watts moves to Houston, Texas, he attempts to drown a woman and her roommate in the bathtub of their apartment.
A Colorado Springs, Colorado woman is shot in the back when she and her infant son are taken hostage by her ex-husband. A man is stranded on the remains of his sunken boat in the Gulf of Mexico. An Akron, Ohio woman is sexually attacked at a public payphone and will stop at nothing to bring her attacker to justice.
A Williamsburg, Virginia woman is attacked in her kitchen and raped in the woods outside her home. A small get-together with 3 friends in Indianapolis, Indiana turns into a nightmare when a woman's friend's jealous ex-husband kills everyone but her.
An Edmonton, Alberta, Canada man is led into the lair of a serial killer. A man and his wife are attacked by a bear in their Pennsylvania home. And a vampire movie comes to life when a Nanuet, New York man awakes to find his neighbor ready to pound a sharpened crucifix into his chest.
A model in Memphis, Tennessee is stabbed and raped by a close friend of hers. A man is kidnapped and held for ransom in Colombia. A Vancouver, Washington woman's family movie night turns into a bloodbath when her home is broken into by 3 armed men.
People witness a shooting at a mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. A woman working on a cruise ship is scared for her life when the boat begins to sink in the south coast of Africa
A Manhattan, New York woman is raped on the roof of her apartment building. A man working at a chemical plant in Jacksonville, Florida is victim to a large explosion. A young woman in Orlando, Florida is attacked by a man who rapes her, beats her with a Tea kettle and slashes her throat to the bone.
A mother of two teenage boys in Apollo Beach, Florida filed for divorce when she found that their father was a compulsive liar. Outraged, her husband attacked her one day, beating her with a hammer, dousing her in Gasoline and setting her on fire. A man in Sun Valley, Idaho survives for days in a freezing cold blizzard, after his car breaks down on a deserted road. A woman in San Francisco, California jumps 8 feet out her apartment window to escape her attacker.
A journalist is kidnapped and held captive in Pakistan.
After witnessing their mother and grandmother being shot dead, and their father critically injured in their Oakley, Utah home, 2 young sisters are abducted by 2 men and driven off a cliff. A man and his friends are buried in a Montana avalanche while going snowmobiling. A Concord, New Hampshire woman is held hostage at her law office by a man who has stalked her for years.
A deadly bombing and shooting spree in Norway is recalled.
2 Canadian forest workers are attacked by a bear. In Pensacola, Florida, an 8-year-old and her little sister are abducted by their mother's pedophile ex-boyfriend. He drives them into the woods where, after repeatedly raping the older girl, slits both girls throats leaving them to die.
A Kirkwood, Missouri man is shot by a friend. A man is subjected to a vicious storm that lashes against his fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. A 17-year-old is raped at gunpoint in Santa Barbra, California
An Atlanta, Georgia stockbroker is attacked by Mark O. Barton, a man who used to trade at his facilities. 2 sisters must find shelter after their rowboat capsizes on a frozen Alaska lake. A Hackettstown, New Jersey woman is kidnapped for ransom.
A routine drug surveillance mission over the Colombian jungle turns into a nightmare when Keith and Marc's plane crash-lands and they are captured by FARC guerillas and held hostage for five grueling years.
A New Haven, Connecticut bartender is raped and beaten with a tree branch by a co-worker. A family seek shelter as a tornado rips apart their Henryville, Indiana home.
A woman is shot and run over with a car in Webster, Texas. A snowboarder survives an avalanche in Washington state. A Dallas lawyer is shot in the neck by a former client.
2 minor league baseball players are held hostage in a Bonifay, Florida motel. An Alaskan fishing boat catches fire. A convenience store worker in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is abducted, taken to an apartment and raped.
A college student is abducted in Newark, Delaware and sexually assaulted in a cellar. A man swims to shore after his boat sinks in Strawberry Reservoir, Utah. A 12-year-old from Baraboo, Wisconsin is kidnapped and tortured by his neighbor, who twists his ankles until they snap.
Hurricane Sandy hits the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, causing devastation and bringing New York City to its knees. One man is swept out to sea in pitch dark as his beachfront cottage is torn apart by waves.
A 14 year old and her friend are abducted and taken to a house in the orange groves outside Vero Beach, Florida whre they are repeatedly sexually assaulted. 2 men are horrifically burned in a plane crash.
A 13-year-old boy from San Bernardino County, California is abducted and raped. A nanny is attacked by a crocodile in Africa. A Pacifica, California woman is carjacked and stabbed 4 times.
Four young Americans, kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan, face a desperate situation: kill or be killed. And a young couple's dream holiday at a Thai beach resort turns into a terror-filled fight for survival as a tsunami strikes.
A mother in Eustis, Florida is abducted, raped and shot 4 times. A man picking blueberries in Clayton, Georgia is bitten by a timber rattle snake. A gunman open-fires at a swimming hole in Niagara, Wisconsin.
3 people are shot at a televised school board meeting in Panama City Beach, Florida. A Birmingham, Alabama woman is kidnapped and raped at gunpoint.
A Pensacola, Florida woman is kidnapped, stabbed and raped, but fakes amnesia to escape her attacker. A Henryville, Indiana man clings to his mobile home when a tornado threatens to rip it from the ground. A man is brutally shot by his brother-in-law at his family Thanksgiving dinner in Jupiter, Florida.
A woman and her boyfriend are shot by her ex-boyfriend before he sets their Los Angeles, California home on fire. A man is trapped after he wrecks his car. A single mom from Grape Creek, Texas is attacked and stabbed in the throat with a knife.
A woman is imprisoned on a remote rural property by a man who sexually assaults her and murders her boyfriend. A young mother is abducted at gunpoint, taken to the desert and subjected to hours of assault, beatings and mental torture.
A mother of three children is sexually assaulted, stabbed and left to die in her burning home while her children are murdered. A man is carjacked at gunpoint, taken to a remote field, shot and left for dead when his ATM card fails to work.
A young woman is abducted by four armed men in Gladstone, Missouri and held captive and sexually assaulted for 15 hours. Two teenage sisters are attacked and raped in their Port Arthur, Texas home, after their uncle is shot by a masked gunman.
A Bethlehem, New York woman is attacked in bed with a fireman's axe by an unknown man after he murders her husband; A cook is left to die in a burning room after she is shot twelve times at close range by an unknown assailant in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
A Gilmer, Texas, woman is abducted from the prison where she works by a convicted murderer, and held captive at gunpoint for 26 hours on the run with him, sparking the largest search in Texas history; a heavily pregnant woman is stabbed 27 times at a gas station in West Swanzey, New Hampshire, by a man who accuses her of beating up his sister.
A man is held hostage on a shuttle bus with several others by a man with a gun for over 8 hours in Atlantic City, New Jersey; a Bullhead City, Arizona, woman is sexually assaulted and shot after a botched home invasion leaves her friends and her husband dead.
A 15-year-old boy from Bothell, Washington, is shot through the jaw and plays dead for three hours during a horrific school shooting; and an elderly woman, whose daughter deals drugs, winds up stabbed four times in her yard in Barnardsville, North Carolina, in a case of apparent mistaken identity.
This special profiles the extraordinary stories of three ordinary people who literally died and then came back to life. Deb's heart stops shortly after delivering her second child, Steve is brutally stabbed by his schizophrenic brother, and Michaela is severely injured in a deadly car accident--each one literally flatlines, yet has inexplicable but very real experiences while they are clinically dead. None of them had a preconceived notion of the afterlife--what happened to each of them during the period they flatlined is described with such compelling honesty that even the staunchest cynics will be left pondering these extraordinary experiences.
The stories of 12 survivors from the Sept. 11 attacks are recalled.
