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[Music] foreign [Music] country Horse Country [Music] bucolic upwardly mobile wealthy type of community
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flew in it's a quiet place [Music] tiny unassuming house thank you just a simple farmhouse
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called snack has a lot of these yes this beautiful little Farmhouse with this beautiful Farm star you know in the
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middle of it [Music] in July of 2013 I was an assistant prosecutor in Monmouth County New Jersey
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Donna and Chaco was alone she had just gone to bed for the evening an intruder came into her house and
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attacked her stabbing her repeatedly 9-1-1 where's emergency oh my name is Donald Chuck I just got stabbed really
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bad the kid just came in and stabbed me crazy I'm pouring gushing beloved I'm losing consciousness
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keep your eyes open Donna yeah Donna I was driving home it was maybe like three o'clock in the
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morning 3 30. as I pulled up closer I saw big SUVs cop cars lights flashing everywhere
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I was like aware is my mom and they were like well she has been attacked and she's on her way to the hospital
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they couldn't tell me whether she was alive or she wasn't [Music] I was new into Major Crimes I didn't
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have the experience at some of the older detectives so I'd never seen that much blood and before
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why would somebody do this who did this what did she ever do to anybody you know
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on that night in the early morning hours we got a 9-1-1 call from a worker from this restaurant
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about how far from Donna's house are we standing right here this is about an eight minute drive
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they called because they saw a subject walking through their drive-through average detention police
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knocking on Windows carrying a knife one of the witnesses who saw the young man she agreed to come in and give us a
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sketch everybody was asking about the police question it was in every store people were
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frightened can you tell me about the tip I get a call the woman on the other end says that
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she's calling about the stabbing in Colts Neck she said I think my cousin may had something to do with that
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[Music] thank you [Music] tiny Colts Neck New Jersey sits just 50 miles from New York City
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but it might as well be a world away so in July 2013 this quiet community was rocked by news of a violent home
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invasion where the victim was stabbed repeatedly the only thing more shocking my name is
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Donna unchako the victim survived I lost in total close to three quarters of the blood in my body
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[Music] there's no earthly reason why I'm alive none if I had asked you at the time to
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give me a list of a hundred things you're worried about where would have home invasion been oh no never
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[Music] worked for a company that brokered fuel for ships on the nearby Jersey Shore
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she and her daughter Kirsten lived in this farmhouse on the edge of flower fields
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she was 20 when she had me so we're only 20 years and one day apart friend Sharon sharp hired Donna decades
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ago Kirsten had just been born yeah Kirsten was a baby I thought she was really Brave being a
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single mom very young [Music] I was by her side all the time Kirsten who now works as a welder
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recalls what life was like just prior to her mother's attack we were going to the
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gym multiple times a week Not only was she like mentally strong but she was physically strong she was so fit she did
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Tough Mudders with Kirsten I like that competition I like to show strength physical strength things couldn't have
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been any better at that time that's when Saturday of July 4th weekend rolled around Monmouth County detective
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Andrea tazi says they were having a heat wave it was humid but we had no rain or
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anything like that I mean it was a dry night so Donna had her windows open she had her windows open just to start
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obviously to circulate air Kirsten was out at a party so I was home doing laundry I'd say about
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11 11 30 um I decide I'm gonna get ready for bed I let the cat out I went brushed my teeth
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but just as she was drifting off to sleep I heard what I thought was the cat I heard
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something and I remembered oh I forgot to let the cat in without turning on any lights Donna
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headed downstairs to open the front door for her cat but instead when I opened the door I saw
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someone standing there in the Split Second after seeing this person on my porch I saw the knife
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I was trying to cut into the screen of the window that was right next to the front door
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she says she didn't recognize the young white male standing right in front of her holding a large knife I tried to
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slam and shut the door my fingers were protruding out he stuck the knife through the opening and cut my
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finger so that I immediately let go of the door and then he pushed his way in I'm backing into my kitchen we're face
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to face it didn't register to me that he was actually going to stab me but without a word that's exactly what
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the stranger did he slashed my cheek and you can see that here and actually it starts back here there was no way to
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process that that happened Donna's attacker came at her with the knife again he then slashed three times
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on the side of my neck she tried grabbing the knife but only cut her own hand in the process did you
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feel like you were dealing with somebody who was really strong no but I felt like he was very sure
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like he was very in control of himself Donna was starting to weaken from the injuries
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I felt like my legs were going to give out so I braced myself against the corner of
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my bathroom right next to the front door sure enough she slid down to the floor I
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was in fetal position and I'm bleeding and he came over and it was kind of like he was playing you know with the knife
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and just started jabbing at me so that's when he caught me here um and he got me in the back of my neck
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here finally Donna's attacker spoke to her this was when he decided to ask me for my car keys and if I had a lighter a
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lighter I just answered him there's a lighter in my purse and my purse was on the
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table back in the kitchen so he went over and was rummaging through my purse and got the keys got the lighter
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Donna's assailant ended up taking her entire purse with him but not before returning one last time to Donna still
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bleeding on the floor he said you dead [ __ ] and plunged the knife into my chest
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once he plunges the knife in and then removes it what does he do then he just walked out the door
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with no Neighbors in earshot Donna knew she must get help somehow your phone isn't in reach no my phone was upstairs
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in my bedroom charging Donna had no landline in the house but even as the blood was draining rapidly
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from her body she had one pressing concern above her own Survival Kirsten could come home and find me I just
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didn't want her to have to experience any level of the horror that I had just gone through or any other levels in
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finding me there dead so this is a mother's instinct as pure as it gets yes absolutely yeah
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you know you have to get upstairs if you're going to be able to make a call for help right
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how do you get up those stairs so that I don't know there was divine intervention
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that helped me up those stairs No Doubt no doubt in my mind [Music] she's a tiny little woman
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you have to imagine that many stair wounds and she just willed it she was not going to die there
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former Monmouth County assistant prosecutor Lori Gerhart says Donna unchako was determined her daughter
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Kirsten would not come home to find her dead she knew she had to get to her cell
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phone upstairs I don't remember my feet or my hands actually touching the stairs
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the energy that it took for me to get up off the ground and up those stairs I was
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definitely guided the amount of strength that goes into that is just unimaginable but the motivation
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was you yeah yep maybe I was there guiding her in spirit once Donna made it upstairs she faced a
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new challenge after peering out her bedroom window she had a car sitting right here and she
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had a car sitting right in this area I could still see the car was there and I could see he the car was on and he was
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in it if I take my phone off the charger it's going to light up he's going to see
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the light a freighter attacker would come back for her Donna did her best to hide the light of the phone then just
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getting it to work became the next hurdle my hands are covered in blood my touch screen I was trying to swipe and
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swipe so I ended up having to wipe my hands off wipe the phone off wipe it down on the bed and then I was able to
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do the touchscreen and get through to 9-1-1 my name is I just stabbed I mean he stole my car
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okay okay just stand up on me okay where did you get stabbed in the next one is Cushing out and in the chest
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detective Andrea tazi says Donna's ability to place that call despite her injuries was amazing but then Donna did
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something even more extraordinary she gave a detailed description of her attacker
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I'm white real skinny curly hair blonde dirty blonde hair backpack it was pretty chilling to listen to Donna and
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be able to hear her accurately talk about this is what happened this is what he looks like I'm losing consciousness
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and then hear her Fade Out yes ma'am you're right my finger just sat down for a minute
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police and paramedics arrive less than eight minutes after Donna dialed 9-1-1 but her attacker had already fled
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Donna was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center and into trauma surgery
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it would be a few more hours before Kirsten arrived home from her party to a house surrounded by flashing lights I
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saw the caution tape and that her car was gone police told Kirsten what happened to her mother you were deeply
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shaken oh yeah I remember at one point my knees buckled they had the SUV the undercover cop car the trunk was open so
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I was like can I sit here because I feel like I'm gonna pass out as Kirsten was processing the news an all-out Manhunt
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had already begun for Donna's a salad detective tazi says another 9-1-1 call had come in shortly before Donna's
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attack now it was fun to pick up my daughter and there was a kid hitchhiking from a driver who saw someone walking
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along the road near Donna's house they saw a young man with a backpack and khaki pants he was walking close to the
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fog line and kind of stepping into traffic and she felt that he was kind of a hitchhiker
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how old about I'm going to say like 18 19 20 some something like that she was concerned because she just thought that
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maybe he needed help in some way and was a car dispatched yes yes they didn't find him though
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still the Good Samaritan driver had inadvertently given the investigation its first leave I felt that the
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hitchhiker was my person it was too coincidental for that time of the night in that area for somebody to be walking
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and then 15 minutes later Don is calling say that she was stabbed and there was about to be another tip
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not long after Donna's 9-1-1 call from a fast food restaurant five miles from her
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house they saw a subject walking through their drive-through knocking on Windows
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carrying a knife and it looked like it had blood on it employees from the Taco Bell quickly
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called police you have any description of them yeah he was wearing um we know like those army pants and he had no
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shirts he was white but like really like bushy hair but it was like long like the skater type hair how old was he
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I don't know he looks like he was like 18. police rushed to the Taco Bell and started canvassing the nearby shopping
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center they didn't find their suspect but they did find something else so there had been a bolo put out on on
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Donna's vehicle be on the lookout right and in the process of looking for this person here they found the car Donna's
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stolen car this BMW had been ditched behind a movie theater it was lights on and it was running so
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it clearly was an abandoned vehicle tazi says the car would become crucial there was blood all over it and so we
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were hoping that we would get some kind of DNA evidence of our suspect did you we did
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[Music] Sharon sharp will never forget the dread she felt when she arrived at the
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hospital to see her friend Donna onshaco only to be told she wasn't there I'm picturing the color draining from your
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face in the air leaving your lungs like totally no this cannot be there's no waste she has to be here did you think
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maybe she had died yes it turned out with her attacker still on the loose the hospital had admitted Donna under an
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alias to protect her Sharon was allowed to see Donna the next day an intensive care room I've never seen
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before it looked like an enlarged massively enlarged cockpit wall because there were tons of machines
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behind her and she looked almost like a puppet surgery was seven hours I believe
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despite losing three quarters of the blood in her body trauma surgeons had saved Donna's life
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but at a tremendous cost you may find the pictures you're about to see disturbing I pretty much looked
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like a living cadaver I had 37 Stitches on my face and neck 38 Staples in my chest seven stitches in my
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hand and now internally my sternum is wired shut and as for that final stab to Donna's
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chest just before her assailant left it missed my heart by the edge of a dime is one I remember them telling me
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the edge of a dime when she talks about the margin that the knife missed her heart by yeah if she was any
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slouched over anymore that would have been it Kirsten says as soon as her mother was
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able to talk she had one simple request I remember her saying all I smell is this blood in my hair
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can somebody please wash my hair Sharon says they got permission and then she and two of Donna's family members
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did their best to wash down his hair as she'd lay in her hospital bed we were determined to see if we can make her
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smile so we turned it into a ridiculous idiot session with three of us like a factory line we
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laughed through our tears and anytime anybody would get too serious we'd make it funny
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but her hair was far from Donna's biggest concern she was sure her attacker would find her and finish the
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job she was convinced that he was in the hospital and we kept telling her know you're here under an alias I survived I
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stood face to face with him I could 100 percent positively identify him he's coming back for me detective tazi
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says they were pretty sure the young man knocking on windows at the Taco Bell drive-through shortly after Donna's
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attack was their suspect within two days a customer who saw him met with a police
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sketch artist and was able to provide pretty great details on the person she saw that night
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investigators then took the sketch to the hospital what did Donna say when she saw that sketch she said yeah that's it
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was incredibly accurate she tweaked it a little bit she said that yes that looks
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like the person who stabbed me his his curly blonde hair he was like a surfer kid or a
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skateboarder or something like that former assistant prosecutor Lori Gerhart says the sketch of the suspect was soon
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plastered all over Monmouth County and on law enforcement social media so people are obviously talking and trying
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to figure out do we know where is he from who is this kid and it's scary because
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you'd like to have a sense of Security in your community investigators reviewed the cameras of
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stores in the shopping center near the Taco Bell to see if they'd get lucky and spot their suspect hoping the more
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images they had the more likely the chance of identifying him we were trying to go back and look at video from
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various businesses to see the description and really to put out the bolo like this is who we're looking for
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security cameras had captured the suspect once again the surveillance we got from this store over there was from
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the inside the store but it was pointing outwards I see and it definitely caught
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him oh yeah you could see him walking as police kept looking for the suspect Donna was turning a corner at least
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physically amazingly after just four days Donna unchako was released from the hospital
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Sharon says that was all due to the training Donna had done prior to the attack clearly she's very physically fit
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she wouldn't have survived this if she wasn't it's an amazing thing you were out in
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four days but as you leave the hospital you are also walking back into a world where whoever did this to you is still
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out there right but also I wasn't going back to the farm I wasn't going back to my house
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no there was no way in fact Donna would never step foot in her house again she and Kirsten moved in
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with family living in New Jersey then just eight days after the attack not long after the police sketch began
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circulating detective tazi's phone rang I take the call and the woman on the other end says that she's calling about
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the stabbing in cold snack I said okay I said how can I help you and she said I think my cousin Brennan
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Doyle may have something to do with that it was the first time tazi had heard the
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name Brennan Doyle he was just 16 years old his cousin told tazi word was going around her family that Brennan was
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involved in the Colt's neck stabbing the cousin had seen Brennan just days prior
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to Donna's attack between July 3rd and 6th because he was up in Connecticut for her wedding with his family he had
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attended her wedding he attended her wedding and she was able to provide us a picture of what he looked like during
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the time he was up there for the wedding the photo she sends is Brennan with long
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curly hair wearing camouflage shorts looking very much like the kid in the sketch and more importantly on the
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videotapes Brennan's resemblance to the sketch all around town was about to become even
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more important because of what the cousin told detective Kazi happened a few days later she was staying at
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Brennan's family's lake house in New Hampshire as a wedding gift and Brennan his brother and the mother
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showed up there unexpected hang on this woman is in Lake Winnipesaukee she's on her honeymoon yes and all of a
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sudden there's Brennan Brennan's mother Brennan's brother crashing her honeymoon
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yes and the dog but what was even more surprising was Brennan's appearance Brennan's hair was
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cut and next time she sees him he's cut his hair yes so that's a big red flag yes
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Brennan Doyle's cousin told investigators that Brennan showed up just days after Donna's attack hundreds
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of miles from home with his hair suddenly cut short similar to this like Donna the doyle family resided in
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Colt's neck former assistant prosecutor Lori Gerhart we lived in a very nice house
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two sons a mom and a dad the life of a typical Colt's next teenager it's a life of wealth it's a life of privilege
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Doyle was a student athlete on wrestling and hockey teams detective tazzy started
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digging into his background he had never been arrested there was never any charges filed against him prior to our
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investigation according to the prosecutor's records police had been called to the doyle house for what they
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referred to as family conflicts the location of the home would turn out to be very important where did Brennan live
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so if you make a right up here and you go up maybe a quarter of a mile on the left so that's close yeah
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the teen and his family lived within walking distance of Donna's house up the very road that driver had reported
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seeing someone she described as a young hitchhiker just prior to Donna's attack when does the doyle family return to
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Colts Neck later in July with Brennan and his family back in town tazi reached out to the family saying
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investigators were canvassing the neighborhood what happened when you went to the house we spoke with Mrs Doyle she
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was nervous her voice was cracking and did this raise an eyebrow for you it did we asked if Brennan and his brother
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could come and look at the composite sketch and if they had any idea who that person might be on the sketch did
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Brennan come out he did tazi says she wanted to see Brennan's hair to confirm what his cousin had told
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her that it had been cut much shorter it seemed the teen tried to stay a step ahead when it came out to greet the
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detective he was wearing a hat he was wearing a baseball hat I think wearing a baseball cap was a
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calculated move it might have been but it didn't work you could tell his hair was cut short
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next tazi showed Brennan the police sketch of the suspect the same one Donna helped tweak to look just like her
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attacker how did he react he looked away he looked at it looked away and said I don't know
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I don't know he was nervous and he was scared and he got very quiet there is a reaction eyes are down no eye contact
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people are nervous Mom starts redirecting the conversation Doyle's family and his attorney denied our
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request for an interview we asked CBS News consultant defense attorney Matt troiano to study the case File and I
00:29:12
think that that probably confirms what they believed going in Brennan's odd behavior and resemblance
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to the sketch and video evidence may have been striking but with nothing else to go on yet tazi thanked the Doyles for
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their time and left did you know that was your guy I was pretty confident that we were on
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the right track with him but we also have a duty we had other leads that were coming in so we were doing a lot of
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follow-ups as investigators worked the case Donna was struggling weeks after the
00:29:45
attack the reality of what had happened to her had taken hold I lost everything that night I lost my home had nowhere to
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go I lost my car they took it into evidence Donna you lost more than half your blood exactly I
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lost I lost a lot Donna says that's when in addition to her physical recovery she faced a new
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challenge symptoms of PTSD started to show up I'm not eating I'm not sleeping I don't care
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about anything I'm angry I'm sad I'm happy I'm you know every emotion Under the Sun at any minute I felt like I was
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going crazy I was always thinking I don't know who this kid is but he climbed through the window in that
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second that I fell asleep and now he's hiding in the closet you know kind of crazy thoughts Sharon sharp says Donna's
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fear meant even friendly visits required a new protocol including announcing her
00:30:45
arrival every step of the way so as not to trigger Donna I'm gonna come around the hedges now and I'm going to enter
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the backyard I'm going to be touching the gate in three two one I would shake my keys first which had bells on them
00:31:00
say it's me Sharon I'm coming the investigation lasted through the summer of 2013. Brennan Doyle remained the only
00:31:09
likely suspect detect says investigators took the next step in September we got a
00:31:16
warrant to obtain his DNA his fingerprints photographs of him just things that are personal to him
00:31:24
when the results came back there's a fingerprint match then ultimately there's a DNA match Brennan Doyle's DNA
00:31:32
was a spot on Match to unknown DNA found in Donna's car in a number of places 11 different DNA samples and pieces of
00:31:43
evidence found in that vehicle and really there's no reason why Brennan Doyle's DNA should be in This Woman's
00:31:50
vehicle he's a stranger to her one more crucial piece of evidence was found in early October in the most
00:31:59
unexpected spot repairmen were servicing an air conditioning unit that was on the
00:32:04
top of the strip mall they found the knife on the the roof right near the air conditioning unit a knife looking
00:32:11
weathered as though it had been there for months found on a bowling alley roof in the very same shopping center where
00:32:18
the Taco Bell was located and where Donna's car had been abandoned how important was the knife it ended up
00:32:26
being very important because the knife was from a set we determined that that knife matched another knife that we knew
00:32:34
came from the doyle household that had been taken months earlier through a Twist of timing and fate the
00:32:42
Colts Neck police already had another night from the Doyle home taken after police were called to the house a few
00:32:49
weeks prior to Donna's attack following an altercation between Brennan and his brother there's a knife that's
00:32:56
apparently used by the younger brother in a threatening manner police are called police take the knife and the
00:33:02
situation ends there was no charges or anything that came of it but they secured the knife in their evidence
00:33:07
Vault it was the same brand name the same look it was a silver knife it was from the same collection correct
00:33:15
that was kind of the icing on the cake to get a search warrant they had moved during the course of this
00:33:21
investigation so we got a search warrant for their new home the search of the new Doyle residence
00:33:27
also in Colt's neck turned up the rest of the knife set matching the one found Atop The Shopping Center
00:33:34
in late October 2013 Brennan Doyle was arrested what kinds of charges was he facing
00:33:43
serious ones attempted murder carjacking weapons possession these are the most serious of crimes that we have
00:33:55
what do you make of the evidence against Brennan Doyle take a look at the complete investigation at 48hours.com
00:34:11
months after Donna's brush with death her alleged attacker Brennan Doyle was in custody facing six counts including
00:34:20
attempted murder and carjacking he pleaded not guilty and you have to look at the seriousness of the offense the
00:34:28
prosecution felt the crime warranted triang Doyle as an adult even though he was 16 at the time in a juvenile court
00:34:36
Brennan is looking at four years maximum in her Youth Detention Facility in adult
00:34:42
Court he's looking at up to 30 years a judge would rule an assistant prosecutor gerhart's favor but there was
00:34:49
a catch Doyle would now be entitled to post bail said it's 760 thousand dollars which he did
00:34:58
when you heard he was out did all of the fear come rushing back it wasn't so much
00:35:03
fear as it was anger that he was even allowed to be bailed out the thought of running into Doyle
00:35:12
terrified Kirsten she says he even haunted her dreams I didn't realize how much it was affecting me I had no idea
00:35:20
until I was like falling asleep and all I see is his face as prosecutors developed their case the
00:35:27
details of what happened that horrific night began to emerge what does Brennan Doyle say happened the night of July 6th
00:35:37
heading into the morning of July 7 2013. mushrooms he says he was under the influence of a
00:35:45
hallucinogenic mushrooms according to investigative reports he examined Matt troiano says that on the
00:35:53
night of Donna's attack Doyle claimed he was losing touch with reality and had gotten into a fight with his father he
00:36:01
has a knife in his hand dad kicks him out and he kind of loses his mind makes bad decisions police thought it was
00:36:08
likely that Doyle who lived a short distance away approached Donna's home looking to steal her car I don't know if
00:36:16
his intent was to kill Donna certainly when he started stabbing her that became his intent to me what he's doing is he's
00:36:23
getting rid of the witness Gerhart believes Doyle did not act like someone incapacitated by drugs Doyle
00:36:31
drove five miles to that shopping center after leaving Donna's house this kid manages to ditch a knife he abandons the
00:36:40
car and that's not a kid who's so high on mushrooms he doesn't know what he's doing
00:36:45
troiano says while a lot of the evidence against Brennan Doyle was strong the knife the security camera videos one
00:36:53
thing put this case over the top what is going to seal the fate of this boy this
00:36:59
kid is that there's DNA in her vehicle that links to him it's indefensible but as it turned out there would be no
00:37:10
need for a defense in August of 2015 Brennan Doyle agreed to a plea deal in return the prosecution dropped all but
00:37:19
the two most serious charges carjacking and attempted murder it was very important for me that he
00:37:26
admit his guilt if he took the plea he would have to confess his guilt to the court in October 2015 Brennan Doyle now
00:37:37
18 years old appeared in Monmouth County Superior Court for sentencing Donna who'd attended every court
00:37:45
appearance was there to face him one last time even though I felt overpowered by fear I wanted him to see
00:37:55
me as strong and as a survivor it was an emotional day for Kirsten there to support her mother when you
00:38:07
would look at him in court what do you remember feeling anger he's very angry sorry
00:38:20
the drugs turned me into the monster that night Doyle was permitted to address the court
00:38:26
I pray and hope her wounds will lessen and she will recover eventually I am asking you
00:38:34
to forgive me going to prison will be the hardest thing I will ever have to face my life
00:38:40
I'm afraid Brennan Doyle was sentenced to 15 years in state prison the law requires him to
00:38:49
serve at least 85 percent of that time justice has to be done on both sides and we we have to be sensitive to that we
00:38:57
have a 16 year old kid who for the most part had absolutely no prior history the
00:39:02
court has a balancing act to do it did it feel like justice it did not what would have felt like
00:39:09
justice to you more like 30 years 40 years 50 years if not longer even with Doyle off the streets Donna
00:39:22
was still struggling she had found PTSD and domestic violence support groups but says there were none
00:39:30
for victims of random attacks so in 2015 she decided to create her own survivors
00:39:37
of violent crimes reason we took to the support group was to help each other cope Donna connected
00:39:46
with fellow survivors Tiffany Ott and Dana Richards together they held meetings and felt gratified they could
00:39:54
help when more survivors joined they are finding relief and knowing that they're
00:40:00
not alone but Donna says her work isn't done her future plans include helping victims connect with trauma therapists
00:40:08
and offering self-defense classes as she grows her support group she's also educating others she travels to
00:40:16
prisons meeting with inmates and addresses police Cadets so they can understand the victim's point of view I
00:40:25
got up I made it up the stairs cell phone was but I got through to 9-1-1 she survives
00:40:38
and she's building a life how could anyone not applaud that [Music] Donna says the physical scars that
00:40:47
remain are a reminder of the surgeons who saved her life this is artwork they're beautiful artwork
00:40:58
you could either get sucked into the darkness or you just keep going I did what I had to do to
00:41:08
to be here today and go another day [Music] the heartbreaking case of Gabby Patito
00:41:36
[Music] Insider disappearance the story you haven't heard hear from Gabby's close
00:41:43
friend a lot of couples look nice on Instagram there's everything behind the scenes you don't know 48 hours Saturday
00:41:49
on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus