Escaping The Toy Box Killer

Unfiltered Stories

Welcome back to Unfiltered Stories! Today with us is Cindy, the woman who got kidnapped and experienced some of the most terrifying things a human being can go through. Learn about her escape from the situation and how she overcame the tragedy to move on with her life.   #Survivor #UnfilteredStories #TrueStory   Thank you for watching Unfiltered Stories! We offer a platform for our guests to speak openly about their life stories and journeys, shedding light on the challenges they faced and the resilience they've shown.  Our mission is to raise awareness about survivors by delving into their stories, exploring the impact of their experiences, and how they've managed to heal and rebuild their lives.  By sharing these stories, we aim to break the silence surrounding those challenging memories and create a compassionate environment.   🌅 FOLLOW US 🌅  Facebook ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredFB  Tiktok ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredTT  Snapchat ➮ https://tinyurl.com/UnfilteredSN

Transcript

00:00My name is Cindy. This is how I survived the Toy Box Killer.

00:03My childhood was not a very normal childhood.

00:07When I was 14, my mother had passed away and I got left to fend for myself on the streets.

00:12I had already knew how to deal with the streets because from 12 to 14,

00:17I was with my mom every day and every night on the streets.

00:21And so when she got killed and I had nobody,

00:24I turned to selling drugs, prostitution, other hustling out on the streets just to survive.

00:31With the stuff I had to do, I turned to drugs.

00:34It turned into a different kind of nightmare.

00:36Stuff I wouldn't have done when I wasn't on drugs and rules I would have followed,

00:40I didn't follow because of the drugs.

00:42The morning that I was kidnapped,

00:46one of the rules I would have followed if I wasn't on drugs was not get into a van, an

00:51RV,

00:52and I got into the RV.

00:54I kind of felt safe because a friend took me to him and got $20 and already been with him.

00:59When I got in the RV, we made the deal, went to the back of the RV.

01:04He gave me the money and he pulled out a badge and told me I was under arrest.

01:08Put a handcuff on my wrist.

01:10When he put the handcuff on my wrist, I was like, you're not a cop.

01:13I knew something was wrong.

01:14I tried to get away.

01:16When I was almost at the door to get away, he yelled,

01:19Cindy, and Cindy's not a name I gave him.

01:22I had two different names out there.

01:23Cindy was one of them and Crystal was one of them.

01:26I had given him the name Crystal.

01:28So when he yelled, Cindy, I kind of paused.

01:32And when I paused, a lady came out from behind a curtain

01:35and she shot me at the cattle prod in my neck.

01:38And that knocked me down.

01:41And they were able to get both handcuffs on my wrist,

01:44both of my wrists, and they pulled me back to the RV.

01:47And when they pulled me back, they connected the handcuffs to cabinets.

01:51And they got in the front seat and they started driving off.

01:53As they were driving off, I was able to get the handcuffs off of the cabinet door.

01:58And I was waiting for them to slow down enough so I could jump out through the window

02:03or try to break out the door.

02:05But that did not happen.

02:07And for some reason, he had a stomp on the brakes and I tumbled over.

02:11And when he realized I tumbled over and I was loose,

02:14they pulled over while she jumped through the middle part of the,

02:18she came through the middle part of the seat and grabbed me right away.

02:22And I had my hands behind my back.

02:24And he pulled over and they had a gun.

02:29And they took all my clothes off.

02:32They put duct tape around my face, around my mouth.

02:35At one point, they cut the duct tape off my face.

02:39I was begging her and asking her if they were going to let me go.

02:44And she just kept telling me, you'll be fine.

02:47You'll be fine.

02:47They had mentioned another girl from the streets.

02:50She goes, you know her, right?

02:52And I said, yes.

02:53And she goes, well, she's safe.

02:54You're going to be okay.

02:55So I calmed down a little bit.

03:00She's like, we're just going to take you out of ways and rape you,

03:03have our way with you and let you go.

03:05Well, the ride never seemed like it was stopping.

03:07I was like, well, how far do you need to go out?

03:10They stopped at another point.

03:13And they shackled my feet, handcuffed me.

03:17All my clothes were off.

03:19And they were trying to make me drink this liquor, this hot damn liquor.

03:23And I kept spitting it back out.

03:25And he was getting angry, angry.

03:27And I would not drink it.

03:29I think I wasted most of the bottles spitting it back on them.

03:32And they stopped again.

03:33But I knew they were putting gas at this point.

03:36But she stayed in the RV with me with a gun to my head so I wouldn't yell.

03:40So after putting gas, we drive for about 20 minutes more.

03:44And we stopped.

03:46And they walked me from the RV into the trailer.

03:49And I'm looking around.

03:51And there's other trailers around me.

03:53And I'm like, how has nobody seen me?

03:55They get me into the trailer.

03:57They walk me through the living room and down these steps.

04:00And they sit me on this bed.

04:02And he puts a metal collar around my neck.

04:05And then it's padlocked with a big chain.

04:08And he padlocks that to this pole on the wall.

04:12And he handcuffs my hands above my head to the headboard and my feet to the feetboard.

04:19And they go about their day like it's normal.

04:25They grab something to eat.

04:27They sit down and talk.

04:28They're walking around the house like it's nothing.

04:30I'm totally panicking.

04:32I'm looking around the house.

04:34And there's upside down crosses.

04:37There is notes all over the walls.

04:40It says, never trust a chain captive.

04:43They will lie to you.

04:45They will say that they have kids waiting for them.

04:48Rules that he kept all over the place on the walls, I guess, to remind him.

04:53He came up to me and he told me I needed to listen to this tape.

04:57Yeah, it was an audio recording.

04:59And it started off his voice calling me, saying, hello, bitch.

05:05And that I was picked because of my size, my body shape.

05:10Undoubtedly, someone's going to be looking for you.

05:13They don't have any idea where you're at.

05:16You don't even know where you're at.

05:18We're always very careful about that.

05:21There are not going to be any knights in shining armor coming to rescue you.

05:25You are strictly on your own.

05:28And under the circumstances, I bet that is a scary thought.

05:32It just said a lot of stuff and that I was going to be tortured.

05:35I wasn't going to like what was going to happen to me.

05:37But I was going to learn to deal with it because I had no choice.

05:41I was his chain captive and I would be there until he felt fit to let me go.

05:48If I was going to let go.

05:49I didn't know how long I was going to be there.

05:52I didn't know what was going to happen to me.

05:54After the video, she went in and made dinner.

05:58They went on about their day in the trailer like I wasn't even there.

06:03By that time, it was the evening time, like night time.

06:07It had grew dark.

06:08And so they made a bed on the living room floor, which the bed I was on was a little

06:15bit lower than the living room floor because it was an add-on to a trailer.

06:20And they laid on the floor and put on a movie, watched a movie and went to sleep.

06:25Well, I was handcuffed right there next to him with no clothes on, no nothing.

06:30And they woke up in the morning.

06:31She made breakfast.

06:33She brought in a basket of clothes she cleaned.

06:36And then he hung me from the ceiling by my wrist.

06:41He spread my legs apart and beat me with whips, slashed my skin open.

06:48He really didn't talk to me much.

06:50At one point, I noticed that he got off on when I hurt and when I screamed or I was

06:57in a lot of pain.

06:57So I had to learn how to take myself out of that situation.

07:02And not give in to his desire.

07:04So I had to learn how to take that pain and not squirm or cry or scream.

07:10And I know at one point he made a comment, like this bitch is getting it worse.

07:14He made a comment about me being stubborn.

07:16I didn't want to go out knowing I gave in and I was the weak one.

07:22And the next morning came around and he was dressed like a cop, like a forest ranger or something.

07:29He had one of them jackets and half the fur right here.

07:32And he sits on the bed and he told me, well, you've been a good girl.

07:35You haven't tried to escape.

07:36So this is your bathroom for the day.

07:39And he loosened the collar a little bit.

07:42Not on my neck, but the chain to the wall.

07:44He loosened it a little bit, gave it more slack.

07:47And he took the handcuffs and shackles off me.

07:50And he put a bucket near the bed and he told me that that was my restroom for the day.

07:54Kissed his girlfriend, hugged his girlfriend and left to her.

07:58She was there with me and she was talking to me like I was a friend of hers.

08:04Because she was telling me about how she's trying to sell her trailer.

08:07She's waiting for a call, but she gets this phone call and she leaves to the back of the trailer.

08:14And I noticed that the keys that they had carried everywhere that unlocked me were left on the table.

08:23And the bed I was on and the living room floor, there was a little bit of a face.

08:29Not a lot, but like the bed was seven inches lower.

08:32But I was able to get the keys and by pulling the table to me with my feet.

08:39And I reached through the bars and got the keys and I pushed the table back with my foot.

08:43But it snagged on the carpet and went crooked.

08:46I curled up in a ball where the lock was at against the wall.

08:51And I was trying every key and it just seemed like nothing was opening it.

08:56And she came in and she seen I had the keys.

08:59At that point, I don't know where this ice pit came from.

09:02If she had it, if she stabbed me first or what.

09:06But I know I got beat with a lamp.

09:08I had been stabbed and the phone ended up on the bed with me.

09:12But the lock came loose and I got it unlocked.

09:16And when I got it unlocked, I picked up the phone and the ice pit and I dialed 911.

09:22I dropped the phone and I stabbed her and I stabbed her right here.

09:25And when she grabbed her head, I just jumped from the bed to the living room floor and I ran

09:30out the front door.

09:32I was naked.

09:33I had nothing on me but a metal collar around my neck.

09:35They called it a metal slave collar.

09:36I ran out the thing.

09:39She picked up the phone and hung it up.

09:41I guess she called David Parker Ray and told him I had escaped.

09:44And the 911 operator called her back and asked her what was going on.

09:48They had most of the fight on recording.

09:50And she said that everything was okay.

09:53The 911 operator did not believe her.

09:55So he dispatched officers out there.

09:57I had already ran.

09:59As I was running up the road, up Bass Road, I didn't know where I was at.

10:04I did not know where I was at.

10:06I did not know what direction I was going.

10:08I didn't know where to go.

10:09I was just looking for somewhere that looked like somebody was there.

10:12And I ran right into this trailer and the lady was doing dishes.

10:17And I grabbed, I busted in her door and I grabbed her from behind and asked her to help me.

10:22I had no clothes on.

10:23And she goes, are you okay?

10:25And she grabbed the phone and dialed 911.

10:28And I remember she sat me down on this white stool and I was bloody and naked.

10:34And I left blood everywhere.

10:36And her husband came in and her husband was in shock.

10:39He stopped at the door and he couldn't, he couldn't move.

10:42He was like frozen.

10:43And she yelled at him to get me a robe.

10:46And she was like, get my pink robe.

10:48It's on the door.

10:49And he got it and he brought it in.

10:51She covered me with the pink robe.

10:53And I was telling them that they were going to be looking for me.

10:57They were going to come and get me.

10:58And the man said that no one was going to hurt me again.

11:01And he had a gun and he's like, I promise you nobody's going to hurt you again.

11:05When the cops are coming up, they have the same jackets that he had on when he left to work.

11:11So I was like, no way.

11:13And I was telling them, no, you're not coming inside and I'm not going outside.

11:17And they were telling me it was okay that they were the cops.

11:20And I'm like, no, he was a cop too.

11:23And I seen this one state cop come up, drive up.

11:26And it was something about his eyes or I don't know.

11:29And I ran to him.

11:30I opened the door and I ran past every cop right to the state cop.

11:34And he took me to the hospital and he stayed with me.

11:39Even after the other cops showed up, he stayed with me because I didn't feel safe at all.

11:45And then I remember hearing over the radio, I could hear that they had caught him and they were bringing

11:49her in for a stab wound.

11:52I, my panic level went, I was trying to leave.

11:57I didn't want to be there in the same hospital with her.

12:00And they told me everything would be okay.

12:01She wouldn't be in the same part of the hospital with me.

12:04And then I remember getting back to Albuquerque and the next day, I just remember every news reporter after news

12:12reporter trying to contact me.

12:14It was all over the news.

12:16It was like, you know, it was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger as the days went

12:21on.

12:22They caught another person that was involved, which was his daughter.

12:26They caught another person that was involved, which was a male.

12:29Well, they found videos of them killing women.

12:32They found video of women he had tortured, but they don't know what had happened to that lady.

12:37So they put the tattoo out that was visible in one of the videos before I knew it.

12:41It was a big, just big, giant snowball that it just landed right in the middle of my life.

12:48His daughter, she took Kelly Van Cleave to him.

12:54Kelly Van Cleave was drugged and did not remember nothing.

12:57He was trying to drug me with that same drug.

13:00I spit it on him so many times.

13:03And I think that's what frustrated him.

13:05The FBI told me that I was going to be killed because I wouldn't take the drug.

13:10I was actually kidnapped to be his sex slave while she went and flew to Seattle, Washington to be in

13:18her granddaughter's birth.

13:20I had to go through a preliminary hearing.

13:22It was a little different.

13:24I had to sit through telling my whole story.

13:27And then the judge decided if to charge him or not.

13:30So I had to relive it for that.

13:31And then I had to relive it for Kelly Van Cleave's trial.

13:35When my trial came up, she decided he did not want to go to trial against me.

13:40He wanted to plead out against me.

13:42He was acquitted on Kelly Van Cleave's case because they said that when her arms were freed, she covered her

13:50chest instead of fought them.

13:52But the toy box killer, David Parker Ray worked for the state park rangers at the lake.

13:58He was actually their mechanic, but he had access to everything.

14:02And he dressed that uniform was very, very similar to the state park rangers uniforms.

14:10His girlfriend, Cindy Hendy, she got, was it 36 years?

14:15And she only had to do 18 years.

14:18She's released.

14:20She's in Washington state, right outside of Seattle.

14:25She has to register as a sex offender, but there's different levels of sex offenders.

14:30So if they don't think you're going to re-offend, they don't put you on the list that people could

14:36see, but you still got to register.

14:39But you're not on the actual list that we could look up and see and did half her time and

14:44got out.

14:45He got a hundred.

14:46So they couldn't come up with a decision.

14:49So that had to go away.

14:50They were going to do my trial next and then redo Kelly Van Cleave's.

14:54And they gave him 224 years for everything he did to me.

14:59I don't even think he served six months and he died.

15:03He had died of a heart attack.

15:05My way of healing was my first aha moment was in court.

15:12When I realized, even though he was locked up, I was still his victim.

15:18He was getting off on victimizing me.

15:20And when I was able to tell him in court, I'm not your victim.

15:23You're my victim now.

15:25I noticed his demeanor changed and I was able to let go of the law.

15:31But I stopped being his victim.

15:33I wasn't a victim no more.

15:35I was a survivor.

15:38And with realizing I was a survivor, I decided to start a nonprofit to help women.

15:44And so I got to talk to a lot of girls and I knew what was going on.

15:47If any were going missing.

15:48And at that time, a lot of women were going missing.

15:52I was like, I got to start something to keep track of these women because I would never have been

15:56reported missing.

15:57So if he would have killed me, no one would have cared.

16:01So I started Street Safe New Mexico to help these women get off the streets if they want to.

16:07We get them into motels if we have to.

16:09We get them clean clothes, condoms, a bad guy list.

16:13We work with the police department on putting serial rapists away.

16:17We put a couple of serial rapists away.

16:21I share my story for the reason that I want women and men, because I've had men go through this

16:27too.

16:27Anybody in general, I want them to know that because you've been through a crime, you're not a victim, you're

16:34a survivor.

16:35I run two nonprofits, Street Safe New Mexico and Don Legacy Point.

16:41Don Legacy Point is a little different.

16:44It helps anybody that is going through homelessness.

16:49We pass out clothes, blankets.

16:52We do cold weather, outreach, everything they need to start their new life.

16:56So my goals in life now are to keep my nonprofit up and going and to go into law school.

17:05I want to work with juvenile law.

17:07There's no rehabilitation if they're incompetent.

17:10And they cannot hold a juvenile after so many years, they got to throw them back out.

17:14If they didn't rehabilitate them and they throw them out at 18, that kid's life is over.

17:19And it's hard on parents, you know, and that's from firsthand knowledge.

17:25My son was killed.

17:26I had a son go to jail.

17:28And then right after that, I found out a serial killer killed my mom.

17:32It took 20 some years to tell me something that I kept telling the cops.

17:37They found out Samuel Little killed my mother.

17:39It, you know, it never stops ending for me, but I cannot be a victim.

17:44I have to keep going and I have to keep helping other people because at the end of the day,

17:50there is people that suffer more than what I have gone through.

17:55And I can't boo-hoo for myself when there's people that are going through worse than me.

18:00I think it's everything I went through.

18:02I just learned how to be so resilient at a young age.

18:05You know, not having parents who give to you, it's about you.

18:09It just made me learn different and be different.

18:12Give me a hug.

18:17The day I was supposed to go in and have him, my son got killed.

18:21I didn't give birth to him until two weeks later.

18:23And that's what got me to my son's death was I had to be a mom to him.

18:28And so I think God gave it to me for a reason.

18:31I just want people to know that have been through something extreme that just because

18:38they've been through something extreme does not mean they have to give up.

18:42Find the path that works for you.

18:45Take that path and work whatever works for you.

18:50Me, it was stop being the victim and quit letting people victimize me.

18:56That was my moment.

18:58Everybody has a different moment.

18:59It comes to them at different times.

19:02But there are people who care about you and there are people that will walk by your side.

19:06Thank you for listening to my story and I hope you got something out of it.

19:09And if you want to reach out for any help, the links are below to contact my organization.

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