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Dismembered and Left to Die: The Miraculous Survival of Mary Vincent
In 1978, 15-year-old Mary Vincent escaped a broken family home and began hitchhiking across California to her grandfather’s house. In an attempt to reach her destination as quickly as possible, she accepted help from a 51-year-old passerby named Lawrence “Larry” Singleton.
Once inside Singleton’s vehicle, Mary fell asleep and later woke to find that he was not following the expected route. She voiced her concerns that they were going the wrong way, but he reassured her they would be back on track soon. However, Mary was not fooled by this and felt a need to escape. While Singleton pulled over to urinate, Mary got out of the vehicle and bent over to tie her shoelaces, and it was at this point she received a sharp blow to the back of her head. As she slipped in and out of consciousness, Singleton dragged her into the back of his van, where he plied her with alcohol and raped her constantly over the course of a few hours.
Throughout the evening, Mary begged to be let go. In response to her pleas, Singleton took out a hatchet and yelled: “You want to be free!? I’ll set you free.” He then brought the hatchet down and hacked off Mary’s left arm, just below the elbow. Despite excruciating pain and blood loss, Mary attempted to fight off her attacker. However, she was overpowered, and Singleton also struck off…
