“The day my nightmare came true,” child rape survivor says

A kidnap victim who was raped and left for dead in a deserted field in the US almost 30 years ago has spoken about the night she was dragged from her bed when she was eight.

Jennifer Schuett was taken from her bedroom in Texas in 1990 by a man who police later discovered was Dennis Earl Bradford, a father of three from Arkansas.

Ms. Schuett, an outspoken victim advocate, told the CBS crime program 48 Hours of the terrifying night she nearly lost her life.

In 1990, Jennifer Schuett had an eight-year-old child who was afraid of the dark and often slept in her mother’s bed.

But one night in August, she slept in her own room and awoke to find that her worst fears had come true.

She was being carried down the street by a man who clamped his hands over her mouth and nose to muffle her screams before cramming her into a car.

Ms Schuett told 48 Hours about her panicked ride through the streets of her hometown of Dickinson with a man named Dennis who told her he was an undercover police officer with a large gun.

Finally, Bradford led her to a desolate, overgrown field. He choked her, raped her, tried to break her throat and cut her throat from ear to ear.

“He held a knife to my throat and said, ‘Are you scared, little girl?’ Does it scare you? Then he choked me as hard as he could, I blacked out for a while,” Ms Schuett told 48 Hours.

“I woke up when he was dragging me by the ankles.

“He left my legs. I realized I couldn’t scream and I couldn’t figure out why.

“I had enough strength to throw my right hand into the top of my neck. That’s when I felt this gaping wound.”

The near-dead little girl was found almost 12 hours later, still lying in the field, when children playing hide and seek came across her.

She was told she might never speak again, but even in her injured state she helped police build a sketch of her attacker. It would prove strangely accurate when it was finally found nearly two decades later.

The handwritten notes also told the story of a little girl who managed to absorb an incredible amount of information despite her panic.

She described what the man looked like, the brand of cigarettes he smoked and the brand of a six-pack of beer found in his car.

But it was the DNA evidence that finally found Dennis Earl Bradford. New technology enabled
investigators to track down Bradford in Little Rock Arkansas in 2009.

He confessed, but again robbed Ms Schuett of justice by killing herself in her prison cell in 2010.

Jennifer Schuett survived though and did better than most expected.

An infection resulting from the attacks left the only child thinking she would never have children, but the intervention of Houston fertility specialist Dr. Craig Witz changed that, the US Today program reported in 2012.

Dr. Witz provided expensive IVF treatment for free and helped Ms. Schuett start her own family.

Five years later, she continues to be an outspoken advocate for victims’ rights and told 48 Hours that while she still bears the scars of that night in 1990, she has also gained incredible strength from her survival.