Page 55 of Everything She Feared

“Is there anything that your mom, or anyone, told you not to tell us?”

Katie’s nostrils flared slightly as her breathing quickened.

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“I know this is hard. Just one last thing—is there anything you think we should know, or that you want us to know?”

Katie found Pierce’s eyes and looked into them. Almost imperceptibly Katie’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s not my fault!”

“What do you mean? What’s not your fault?”

“What happened to Anna and to—It’s not my fault!”

Katie turned, thrust her face into her pillow.

Pierce traded a glance with Benton, then put her hand on Katie’s shoulder.

“Okay, Katie, it’s okay, we’re done for now.”

Idaho FOIA request (Sec 74-113, Idaho Code)

BONNER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, WITNESS STATEMENT FORM

Case# 5276

Date: 21 June 1995

Time: 1:30 p.m.

Statement of:Linda Louise Gibbon

Phone#: 604-555-2010

Address:#9-149 Tall Tree Lane,Creston, BC, Canada

Date of Birth: 3 April 1965

I certify and declare under penalty of perjury and under the laws of the State of Idaho that the following statement was given by me under my own free will.

I am a Canadian citizen and resident of Creston, British Columbia. On June 19, 1995, I left my apartment to visitName smithmy friend, who is six months pregnant and resides in Coeur d’Alene, ID. I left Creston, BC, driving alone in my 1989 Honda Civic, after my last evening shift as a shipping yard clerk atEmerald Sky Timber. I was starting four days off. I entered the US at the Porthill, ID, border crossing about 10:00 p.m. No traffic at all. It was raining heavily and windy as I drove south. The roads seemed deserted. I’d only traveled a few miles when I came to the flashing lights of an emergency road crew. The storm had knocked down trees for several miles along the highway. A crew boss said I could detour onto a secondary road that was clear, then get back on US 95. The detour ran for several miles south to Naples, ID, through dense national forest and the state park, parallel to the Kootenai River. The crew boss said it was unpaved but otherwise clear. I thought about turning back and returning home, but my friend had argued with her husband who’d left her to go hunting and needed me to come as she was in a bad way and really needed me there.

I kept going. The road was extremely dark with hardly any traffic. I didn’t know this back road. I couldn’t see any towns, gas stations or houses. I kept going, watching the miles on my odometer. The rain had not let up. I had gone about six miles when my lights caught the reflection of a vehicle stopped far ahead on the shoulder. Getting closer, I saw that the hood was raised, like it had broken down. Then I saw that it was a van and had a Montana license plate. No one was around so I didn’t feel comfortable stopping. But as I slowed to pass it a woman got out of the driver’s side, waving like she needed help. She was holding a child on her hip. She must’ve had the child on her lap, as if waiting to show they were alone and needed help. The child looked to be about two. Both of them were in the rain lit up by my headlights. Because she had a child, I pulled over, stopped and rolled down my passenger window.

She leaned into my car, thanked me for stopping and asked me to help. I said I didn’t have a cellular phone (they were too expensive for me), and she didn’t have one either, to call the AAA or someone. I offered to call for a tow truck when I saw a gas station. But she said that the van was her brother’s and it had a loose battery cable or something and she needed help and if I got behind the wheel, she could hold the cable, like her brother showed her and could get her van running again. She had a long drive to go with her child. I decided to help her. I got in the van behind the wheel, leaving the van’s driver’s door open. She put her child in the van passenger seat like a sign to tell me I was safe. I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl; it had a woolen cap on. The woman had a flashlight and worked under the hood, tapping. Then she told me to wait a moment before turning the key. At that point I felt a shift of weight from the back, a noise, then a sudden dark blur from behind like a large animal coming at me and in a heartbeat a rope was around my neck with a powerful force pulling from behind, crushing my windpipe. I couldn’t breathe. Somehow out of fear and a burst of adrenaline I slid down in my seat, my arms flailing clawing at anything, fighting the rope, hefting my legs out the open door, twisting my body with the rope burning, scraping my neck, my chin, grinding at my jaw, tearing at my nose and scalp. A hand seized my hair and shoulder but I broke free.

With my feet on the ground, the next seconds were hazy. I was screaming and running for my life straight into the woods, into the darkness. I couldn’t see, I slipped, stumbling into trees. Branches pulled and yanked, tearing at my clothes, my hair, my face. I could hear the screech of the toddler or baby crying, then voices behind me, then two flashlights played into the woods. I heard one of the voices, deeper, a man’s voice, saying that the woman screwed up letting me leave the driver’s door open. I could hear panting as they came into the woods, searching for me, sweeping their light beams. I pushed deeper into the darkness, then fell on the rain-slicked ground, rolling, thrashing. I rolled and rolled, knocking against trees and rocks until I came to a stop. Fighting shock, gasping, fighting terror, my stomach spasmed but I never moved. I listened and listened but heard nothing. I don’t know how much time passed before I slowly covered myself with branches and leaves. I stayed that way until the sun came up. In the morning the rain stopped and my body ached. I hurt all over but I climbed back carefully, watching through the branches until I got to the road. No one was there. The van was gone. My car was gone. I found a child’s shoe. I began walking down the side of the road. That’s when a forestry truck stopped for me and called police and took me to the hospital where they took photos of my injuries, the rope burns, ligature marks, bloodied face. I looked frightful. I recovered, then was taken to here, to Sandpoint, to write my statement. I gave the deputy the shoe and told him what happened. I will never forget when I saw the rear license plate and a little voice told me to remember it. I managed to burn it into my memory and told police the last digits of the license of the people who tried to kill me wasXXXXX.

I have read the above statement and have had an opportunity to make any changes or deletions I have felt necessary. I certify and declare under penalty of perjury and under the laws of the State of Idaho the foregoing is true and correct.

Signature:xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Date: 21 June 1995

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