[Magdalen] Prayer Request

[Sibyl Smirl]

Why don't you friend her and tell her, Ann?  You're on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.c.winstead


On 11/4/16 9:02 PM, Ann Markle wrote:
> Prayers for Rachel, certainly. But I do have to add that I'm so proud of
> her. She really did do everything perfectly. I'm a great believer in making
> a huge scene if the victim of a crime, if at all possible. I was nearly
> robbed in Rome (at the ATM near the Spanish Steps), and the robber actually
> returned my ATM card before running away, when I shouted and made a scene.
> Once my friend was robbed at an ATM here in Buffalo, and we chased the guy
> and yelled at passersby until the police caught him. You tell Rachel that
> she's my hero.
>
> On Friday, November 4, 2016, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Prayers, please, for Rachel, a young woman who is the daughter of a friend
>> in Tennessee, who was assaulted Wednesday. She is injured and badly shaken,
>> but alive. It could have been worse. She was very brave and did all the
>> right things.
>>
>> Here are the circumstances, in her own words (She will not mind my sharing
>> them here as she shared them on Facebook):
>>
>> Yesterday afternoon I did what I almost always do and I headed to Panther
>> Creek to walk/run. I parked at the visitor center, and went my usual route
>> across the length of the road and back down toward Old Wagon Trail. There
>> was a man behind me on the road as I was walking towards the trail and we
>> briefly talked about which side of the road was the safest to be on. When I
>> turned onto the trail I took out an ear bud and assumed the footsteps I
>> heard behind me belonged to the man I had just spoken to.
>>
>> About half way down the trail the person behind me seemed awfully close
>> which was more annoying than anything. When we turned the first sharp
>> corner on the path so that we were both facing Panther Creek Road the man
>> came up quickly beside me. I was relieved assuming he was finally going to
>> pass me. Instead he punched me in the jaw. I was very disoriented, but not
>> so much that I didn't realize he was very aggressively grabbing and groping
>> me. All I could do was scream for help at the top of my lungs. I choose Old
>> Wagon because it's the most popular and therefore the most heavily traveled
>> trail in the park. I take this route nearly every single weekday, and run
>> into familiar faces on it all the time. It was around 1 in the afternoon on
>> a beautiful day. I was sure that if I screamed loud enough someone would
>> hear me. I have no idea how long we struggled, but he did finally get
>> scared of the noise I was making and he took off.
>>
>> As he ran away I snapped a picture of him with my phone. He saw me do that,
>> and ran back toward me. He had already tried to take me down with a punch,
>> and he knew I wasn't going to stop yelling for help so this time he
>> strangled me. I have never in my life been so afraid. I couldn't breathe or
>> think and he kept demanding that I give him the phone. I finally held it
>> out and he took it. He called me some names, and then told me to run in the
>> direction we had been going, and he would go the other way. I did my best
>> to run back to the visitor center and waved down a ranger in the parking
>> lot.
>>
>> I begged the ranger to quickly close the front gate hoping we could catch
>> him before he could leave, but he drove by as I was talking. I pointed him
>> out and the ranger went after him immediately. We filled out a report, and
>> they took pictures of my face, neck, and chest. He got away, but he had my
>> phone. My father (who has lost a phone or 2) was able to use my Google
>> account to track down my phone, and we called the police who used that
>> information to find and arrest him. He confessed and is being charged with
>> aggravated assault, sexual assault, theft, and evading arrest. I'm ONLY
>> putting this out there because I have so many friends and acquaintances who
>> run and hike in Panther Creek. PLEASE don't go alone. If you do tell
>> someone where you are going and bring pepper spray. We can't let this
>> happen to anyone else!!!
>>
>
>


-- 
Sibyl Smirl
I will take no bull from your house!  Psalms 50:9a
mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net