ROSWELL — Being mistaken for someone else and being at the wrong place at the wrong time almost got a Roswell woman killed recently.
The victim and the alleged perpetrator will not be named. Here is her story in her own words:
I left my house around 5 p.m., Jan. 1. I was on my way to Las Cruces from Albuquerque, traveling Interstate 25 south. I was almost to Belen when I received a phone call from my friend Taylor Stadler. It was around 6 p.m. and already dark. We had a normal conversation for a few minutes and then got off the phone.
I remember going over a bridge and wondering what the speed limit was; knowing that it was New Year’s Day, I did not want to get a ticket. I looked for a speed limit sign and saw that it was 75.
I passed a car going over the bridge, and I remember thinking the car was going really slow. I looked for another speed limit sign and again it was 75.
I looked into my rearview mirror and the car that I just passed, that was going slow, was now directly behind me. I picked up the phone and called Taylor right back. I told Taylor that I thought someone was following me. I told him that I had just passed this car that was going really slow and now he was right behind me; literally inches away from my car.
The person following me started flashing his lights and swerved quickly to the right as if he wanted me to pull over. I explained to Taylor what was going on and he advised me not to pull over. I asked Taylor to stay on the phone with me until I knew what was going to happen. Taylor stayed on the phone with me for a few more minutes, while I watched the car behind me through my rearview mirror.
Eventually, the car behind me slowed down and another car passed him. I watched him do the same thing to another car that he had done to me. They were close enough behind me that I could see him get really close to the car and then swerve to the right again.
Taylor asked me if the person was still following me and I explained to him that the car wasn’t following me anymore, but I saw it following someone else behind me. I told Taylor that I should be fine and we got off the phone.
I kept driving for a few more miles, and I remember seeing, in the distance, two cars parked horizontally in the median. I understood them to be two undercover police cars; they were completely white, with no writing on them, and had lights on the top of the car.
I remember thinking, “Well, at least if this person is following me, there are policeman nearby.”
Within seconds of thinking that, I looked into my rearview mirror, and the car was back — right behind me, with his brights on, about to hit me.
I was coming up to where the police cars were parked in the median, and I was hoping that they would see this car following me too closely. Next thing I knew, both the police cars turned their lights on and very quickly pulled out of the median.
The police cars pulled out into my lane, almost hitting me. I instantly thought they were trying to help me, so I slammed on my breaks as fast as I could and pulled to the right. I watched through my rearview mirror to see what the car following me was going to do and he slammed on his breaks and almost hit me.
I looked up and both the police cars were speeding off down the road, with their lights on. The police did not pull out in front of me and almost hit me because they were trying to help me; they were doing something completely different.
I looked back into my rearview mirror and the driver door of the car that was following me was opened. I looked into my left side mirror and there was a manly figure coming quickly to my car. I immediately slammed on the gas and went down the road as quickly as I could. I watched the man run back to his car and start following me again.
I now knew that this was not a good situation, and I was in danger. I picked up my phone and dialed 911. I remained calm and I gave them as much information as possible. I remember telling them: my full name, my age, my Social Security number, the highway I was traveling, what kind of car I was in, and so on.
I explained to the 911 operator that someone had been following me for about 20 minutes and I needed help. I gave the 911 operator as much information as I could, telling them all the signs I passed on the road.
While I was on the phone with the 911 operator, the car following me started flashing its lights again and got really close to my car. He kept getting really close to my car then slamming on his brakes, making a squealing sound with his breaks. I remember hearing this sound over and over.
I pleaded with the 911 operator to send someone to help me, and he told me that I needed to hang up with him so that a deputy could call me and find my location. I begged the operator not to hang up with me because I no longer felt safe.
The 911 operator passed the phone to someone else for me to explain to him what was happening. I explained to the new operator what was going on, and he just kept asking me for my name and age and so on; all information I had already given, which I felt was irrelevant to finding me.
The second operator also told me that I needed to hang up and wait for a deputy to call me, and that he should be calling within five minutes. I began to panic because in no way did I feel I was going to get help.
I waited patiently for a deputy to call me. I held my phone in my hand, and every moment I waited for it to ring felt like a lifetime.
Finally my phone started ringing, but it was my best friend Katie Danzer. I picked up the phone and tried explaining to her what was happening. I told her I felt unsafe and something bad was going to happen. I remember asking her to help me.
Katie told me she was going to hang up with me and call the police and send someone to help me. She told me to call the police again. In the meantime, the car was still swerving behind me and speeding up to get really close to me.
All of the sudden, I saw something going on about a mile in front of me. I saw a big cloud of dust, and break lights; I started to panic. I was thinking that someone was up there waiting to get me.
I kept driving, getting closer to all the commotion, and it was the same two cars I had passed earlier. The ones I had understood to be police cars; the ones that ran me off the road and kept driving. They had slammed on their breaks and pulled over to the side of the road with their lights on; right behind a light-colored SUV.
I watched the driver of the “police” car get out of his car and sprint to the SUV. He opened the door to the SUV, jumped inside, and sped away; leaving the “police” car he was driving on the side of the road. This all happened in front of me, before I had passed them.
I started to think that whoever was in that tan SUV was going to be waiting for me ahead. I thought there was a connection between the light-colored SUV and the car that had been following me this whole time.
Still, the deputy hadn’t called so I picked up my phone and called my father, Toby Gross. At this point I was hysterical and I was trying to explain to my father what was going on. I told him this car had been following me for about 30 minutes now and that I did not feel safe at all.
I remember screaming over and over into the phone, “Please help me,” “He is going to kill me,” and “I’m going to die.”
My father told me that I should be on the phone with the police, and I explained to him that I already called the police and I felt they weren’t going to help me. I tried explaining to my father what I had just seen, and telling him that I did not trust the police anymore.
My father told my mother, Linda Gross, to get on the house phone and dial 911. Each of my parents put their phones on speakerphone so that the 911 operator could hear me and so could my parents.
The operator kept asking me for a mile marker so they could send someone to find me. I remember seeing a sign for the next city, Escondida. I kept telling my parents Escondida, Escondida! The 911 operator told me to keep driving, and that I would be in Socorro soon.
I continued driving down the road, never going any faster than 80 mph. I knew that the faster I was going the worse I would be if he hit me.
I prepared myself for everything; I laid my chair all the way back, I leaned into the middle of the car and slouched down so I could barley see above the steering wheel. I was trying to prevent the driver from seeing me. I didn’t know if he had a gun or any other weapon, and if he did, I didn’t want him to have a clear view of where I was in the car.
Up the road a little bit, I saw a sign that said, “ STATE POLICE NEXT RIGHT.” I instantly had a bad feeling, because it was a portable sign; a sign that ANY person could buy, and write ANY message into it.
I told my father about the sign and asked the operator if I should take the next right. My father wasn’t sure about the sign and neither was the 911 operator.
I kept driving and saw another State Police sign; but this time it was a legitimate sign in the ground. I told my father that there was another sign and I was going to take the next exit to the State Police.
I exited off the highway and saw a stop sign with three roads in front of me. I knew I was traveling too fast, and the person following me was too close behind me, to stop. I knew I had to make a fast decision on which road to take. The road on the left led back to the highway, but I was unsure about the two others.
I could see the State Police Department, it was lit up and had flags raised in the parking lot. There was a sign directly in front of the stop sign that said, “STATE POLICE .” I slowed down as much as possible, and turned right, following the sign.
Once I had turned onto this road, I instantly had a horrible feeling. I was now driving down a winding, dirt road that was completely dark, with no lights at all. I kept driving looking for somewhere to turn into the State Police parking lot, but it never came.
The car continued to follow me down this road, right behind me with his bright lights on, making it really hard for me to see. I told my father that something wasn’t right, and that it was the wrong road.
I looked up and saw a huge dead end in the road. It was a huge gate, with a sign that said “DEAD END.”
I remember starting to weep, and thinking that I was going to die right there at that dead end. I thought that the light-colored SUV was going to show up any second, and that this is where the person following me was planning on taking me.
I had no choice but to slam on my breaks. It was dark outside, and there were mountains all around me, I had no idea what was on the other side of the gate.
I slammed on my brakes, and he slammed into the back of me. I remember sitting back in my chair and, in my mind, giving up. I saw it in my head how my parents were going to see it on the news; how someone had followed me 40 miles to this dead end and killed their daughter.
I looked into my rearview mirror one last time and I saw a glimpse of the driver. It was a male with dark facial hair. He was holding his hands up to his face covering his eyes and forehead; so all I could see was his nose and his mouth. He was sitting in his car as if he couldn’t believe he had just hit me. I saw him open his car door, and try to get out.
At that moment, something inside of me just snapped. I knew that if I was going to live through this, then I had to do something NOW. I couldn’t sit there another second longer.
I put my car back into gear and made a u-turn as fast as possible. The man jumped back into his car and started following me again. I was now going back down the same dark, winding, dirt road as before. I knew now that I should have gone straight before, when I had the choice, and that the sign must have been wrong.
I came up to where the stop sign was and tried to turn right. When I started turning right he hit me again; he hit the side of my car, spinning me around in a circle. My car ended up backwards in a ditch.
I watched the man park his car under the highway where no one could see it, he got out of his car and started running towards mine. I remember thinking, “Somehow I made it past the dead end, but now I am going to die in this ditch.”
My car was stuck in a ditch, on a frontage road right of off the highway; it was dark, and there wasn’t very much traffic on the roads.
I knew that I had to make as much noise as possible if anyone was going to help me. I rolled down my windows just a little bit and started screaming as loud as possible, I started honking my horn over and over, and flashing my lights on and off.
I could literally see the State Police Department; it was not even a mile away from me.
Next thing I know, a light-colored SUV quickly exited off the highway and pulled up close to me. A man jumped out of the SUV and started running towards my car.
At this moment I lost all hope. I thought it was the same SUV from before and that I was going to die. I remember my body going numb and I slid down onto the floor underneath my steering wheel. I laid my head down on my seat and began to weep. I thought that these were the last few moments of my life.
The man from the SUV came up to my window and saw me weeping; I looked up at him and just started begging him not to hurt me. He realized how horrified I was and took a few steps back, he started telling me, “I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m here to help you.”
He told me that he was a volunteer firefighter and his wife was in the car. I climbed out from under my steering wheel and looked for the car that was following me, it was gone.
The volunteer firefighter helped me get out of my car slowly and I tried telling him what had just happened. His wife came to comfort me.
I started looking for my cell phone so I could update my parents with what was going on. I found my phone under my driver seat, still connected to my parents and the 911 operator. I had dropped my phone the first time the man hit me, at the dead end; it slid under my seat but never disconnected the call.
My parents and the 911 operator had heard everything. They heard me honking my horn and screaming for help when I thought I was living my last moments. I told them that the man who had hit me was gone, and that there was a volunteer firefighter who was there to help me until the police arrived.
Finally, a State Police officer came, Officer Norris. I tried telling him everything that happened, with as many details as possible. I remember telling him that the man following me was gone and the police needed to find him.
Officer Norris asked me if I felt any hurting anywhere, and if I needed medical attention. I explained to Officer Norris that I have a pre-existing medical condition called deep vein thrombosis; which means I have blood clots in my legs.
I told him that even though I didn’t feel like there was anything wrong at the moment, I knew I needed to be checked. Officer Norris tried advising me to sit in his car and was telling the volunteer firefighters that they could leave, and he would handle it from here.
At this point, I trusted no one; and in no way did I feel safe staying there by myself. I told Officer Norris that I would not get into his police car and that I didn’t want anyone to leave. I remember telling him, “I just lived through a movie scene, and anyone watching this would tell me DO NOT get into that car, and DO NOT let anyone leave.” The police still hadn’t caught the man following me; for all I knew, he was standing somewhere watching me still.
The ambulance finally arrived, and I was taken to the Socorro Hospital. I remember telling the paramedic, that I was so sure in my heart that I was going to die, that I was still waiting for the man to come back and kill me.
Officer Norris met me at the hospital, and told me that they had caught the man who had hit me and that he was completely drunk.
The nurses at the Socorro Hospital spoke to my parents and told them I was having an anxiety attack, they told my parents they needed to give me something for anxiety.
I was given a shot, and don’t remember much else. My best friend Katie Danzer and her boyfriend drove to Socorro to stay with me until my parents arrived.
EDITOR’S NOTE: It was revealed later that the drunk man thought the woman driving the car was his ex-wife and was trying to kill her.