F'd up story...
The Kidnapping Of Mary VincentIn September 1978, Mary Vincent, a vulnerable 15-year-old runaway, was traveling to California to visit her grandfather, when, desperate for a ride, she reluctantly accepted one from a middle-aged stranger: Lawrence Singleton.
As they drove on, Vincent drifted off into a deep sleep. But when she woke up, she realized that Singleton was not following the agreed-upon route.Angry, Vincent demanded that he turn the car around. Singleton dismissed her concerns, explaining that it was an innocent mistake. It wasn’t long before he was pulling over, telling Vincent that he needed to go to the bathroom. As the teenager stepped out of the car to stretch her legs, she was suddenly and ferociously attacked. Without warning, Singleton had lunged at her from behind, wielding a sledgehammer and hitting her sharply on the back of her head.
Once he had subdued her, Singleton forced the terrified girl into the back of the van, and she watched in horror as he tied her up. Then, Singleton sexually assaulted her.
Afterwards, he drove them to a nearby canyon, where he forced her to drink alcohol from a cup before raping her a second time. Repeatedly, Vincent begged him to let her go. When Singleton dragged her out of the car to the side of the road, Vincent thought he was finally setting her free. Instead, Vincent was subjected to one final act of unspeakable brutality.You want to be free? I’ll set you free,” Singleton said. Then, with a hatchet in hand, he chopped off both of her forearms. He pushed her down a steep embankment and left her to die there, in a culvert off of Interstate 5 in Del Puerto Canyon.
Although she was bleeding profusely, and despite of the horrific ordeal she’d just faced, Mary Vincent stayed strong. Naked and holding her arms upright to stem the bleeding, she somehow managed to stumble three miles to the nearest road, where she flagged down a couple who, as luck would have it, had taken a wrong turn onto the road. They rushed the young girl to the hospital, where she was treated for her injuries.
Lawrence Singleton was found guilty and sentenced to fourteen years in prison — the maximum allowed in California a the time.
Shockingly, after serving just eight years of his sentence, Singleton was released on parole in 1987 based on his good behavior.
After serving just eight years of his sentence for this merciless attack, Singleton was released on parole, leaving him free to attack again — and his next victim wasn’t fortunate enough to get away with her life.