In 9Honey's new series Women Who Survived, we take a look at the remarkable lives of women who contended with extraordinary adversities.
Jennifer Morey experienced an attempted murder that was so horrendous, it sounds like the plot of a horror movie.
On the evening of April 15, 1995, Jennifer, a single 25-year-old lawyer, was enjoying a few drinks with friends.
At the end of the evening, she arrived home, took the lift up to her apartment and went to bed. Jennifer lived on her own in Houston, Texas. Her home was in a well-to-do apartment complex surrounded by a tall fence, with security cameras and security guards who were on duty around the clock.
Then, shortly after falling asleep, she awoke to a strange and painful sensation. It felt like someone was lying on top of her, pushing on her legs to pull off her underwear.
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"I believe I was in a very, very sound sleep, and when I felt suddenly, as I'm coming awake, someone on top of me," Jennifer told the TV series I Survived in 2008.
"Someone with their body weight pressing down and holding my body down and grabbing at my underwear and trying to yank them off. And I was very befuddled. I didn't know what was happening."
She reached down her body and her hands felt someone in her bed. It was a man and he had a knife at her throat.
A bloody struggle ensued. Jennifer screamed and thrashed; she desperately tried to escape. She screamed at her attacker, saying "Please don't hurt me".
Her screams were so loud she woke up at least 15 neighbours - yet not one person called emergency services.
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Her attacker raised his knife up and stabbed her twice - once to the right side of her face and another in her throat.
"I took a very hard blow to my right eye," she said.
"There was just this explosion of blood, like a hot waterfall just pouring out. I just felt like I have to get him off of me. I have to stop this. I cannot be raped and I cannot be killed."
Her attacker slashed her throat leaving a deep wound. She started bleeding profusely and was terrified she was about to die.
He then pulled her out of bed and into the bathroom. Luckily he went back to the bedroom to grab his knife, giving Jennifer her chance of escape.
Pumped with adrenaline, she wedged herself against the door and put her feet against the bathtub, using her body weight to keep the door shut.
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She was ready for him to attack again. But, suddenly, all was quiet. What was her attacker doing?
She pressed toilet paper against her neck to stem the bleeding and listened through the door. Then she heard the attacker rummaging through items in her room and walking around. She also heard the sound of him zipping up his pants.
Then, all went quiet again. She was pretty sure he had left her apartment and now she was alone and dying though she feared he could return at any time.
She was faced with a choice - to stay and bleed to death or take a chance and leave the room to call for help.
Her blood-soaked hands made it almost impossible to grip the door that was stuck after being jammed closed.
Eventually, she was able to open the door. She went straight to her landline phone but the line was cut — her whole apartment was out of power.
Here's where she was incredibly lucky.
Even though this was 1995, years before mobile phones were common, Jennifer's employer had provided her with an early model mobile phone so she was always contactable.
She was called 911 and was immediately connected to a dispatcher named Richard Everett.
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Richard calmed her down and talk her through her next steps. He remained on the line with her as she slowly made her way to the front door.
After a few minutes on the phone, Jennifer heard someone knocking at her door. She went to investigate, thinking the police had arrived already.
But Richard warned her not to open the door. He knew the police were still on their way.
Jennifer asked, "Who's there?" and a person answered, "Security." Jennifer assumed the security guard must have seen the attacker or heard her struggle. She felt that it was safe to open the door.
Richard told her "Jennifer if you don't know who this is on the other side, do not open the door."
That one piece of advice saved her life. The authorities came minutes later to save her.
She was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. Her eye was just barely spared and her jugular was millimetres from being severed.
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While she was in recovery, the police were able to find her attacker. It was Bryan Wayne Gibson — the security guard.
He was arrested after his belongings were found in her apartment - his underwear, belt, glove, his Pinkerton security guard hat and the weapon he used to attack Jennifer.
He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After making a full recovery she moved out of her apartment.
But there is a happy ending to this story: Jennifer opened a family law practice in Fort Worth.
In 1998, Jennifer filed a lawsuit against Pinkerton Security and was awarded an undisclosed amount of money.
She also met the man who would become her husband.
Jennifer is still friends with the emergency dispatcher, Richard Everett. He even attended Jennifer's wedding and shared a dance with her.
Now known as Jennifer Caldwell, she has gone from being the victim of a hideous, almost fatal encounter to a trustworthy name in carrying out civil law to help others.
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