The teen who managed to climb out of a ravine with no arms - then helped catch attacker

A 15-year-old pulled herself out of a ravine after an evil man kidnapped the teen and cut her hands off.

Mary Vincent had run away from home and was hitchhiking, in an effort to get to her granddad's house, when a seemingly nice man in offered her a ride. The teen hesitated but hopped into the blue van, in Modesto, California, where Lawrence Singleton, 51, was driving. The man, a former merchant seaman, stopped a few times to offer other people rides but when they refused he carried on with the teen and later started driving on a deserted road.

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The 51-year-old attacked the teen and knocked her out. When Mary was unconscious, the monster took off her clothes, bonded her and sexually assaulted her. Singleton kept the teen tied up for hours and ignored her cries, even saying the next morning, "You want to be set free? I'll set you free," according to court docs. The evil man then took a hatchet and cut both of Mary's arms off then threw her into a ravine before leaving the torture site, in autumn 1978.

Although the man left Mary to die, she managed to shove dirt into her arms, to stop the bleeding, then crawled 30-feet out of the ravine. The teen, according to Open Ceilings Magazine, recalled thinking: "I can't go to sleep. He's going to do this to somebody else. I can't let that happen."

The teen managed to rush back out onto the road and flag down a passing car for help. Court documents said: "The next morning, two individuals found Mary Vincent wandering nude." They picked her up and rushed the teen to a hospital where she survived.

Mary also worked with cops and sketch artists throughout her recovery process to help catch the monster who abused and attack her. Police later arrested Singleton and a court heard Mary's horror ordeal.

She said: "I was attacked I was raped and my hands were cut off. He used a hatchet... He left me to die." Singleton was found guilty of attempted murder, mayhem, kidnapping and multiple sexual assault charges - he was sentenced to 14 years behind bars but he served just eight.

Upon his release, locals protested his freedom and the criminal was forced to live in a trailer on prison grounds. Despite this, the monster struck again, in Tampa, Florida and killed a 31-year-old named Roxanne Hayes in 1997.

Mary, at the time, said she was heartbroken because "it had to happen again before anyone realised he shouldn't have been released in the first place", nearly 20 years after her ordeal, according to People.

The evil attacker and murdered was sentenced to death but he died in 2001, in prison, from cancer.