Hi, I Survived listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And if you're enjoying this show, I just want to remind you that episodes of I Survived as well as the A&E Classic Podcast, Cold Case Files, City Confidential, and American Justice, are all available ad-free on the new A&E Crime and Investigation Channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year.

And now onto the show.

This episode contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners.

Listener discretion is advised.

And he looked at me like a little bug he just squashed, and he stabs me in my chest.

And he leaves a knife. He leaves the knife in my chest.

Real people. So I hatched a new plan and that was to sever my arm.

Who faced death? He said to me, I will shoot you, I will shoot them, I will shoot everyone, I will

get killed, I don't care. I am not going back to prison. And live to tell how. As I'm pulling

this knife out of my chest, he gets another knife and sticks me in the side of my head.

This is I survived.

It's March 2007 in Seamy Valley, California.

Two years after her divorce, single parent Christine starts dating a man called Matt.

After a few months, Matt begins to emotionally abuse Christine.

He would try everything in his power to distance me from anybody who cared about me.

He didn't want my son around. He didn't want my sister around, my family. I would just say that he dominated my life. I continued in the relationship because I was a rescuer

and I felt like I could bring something good to him.

My sister was very upset about it.

She couldn't understand why I'm a very successful person,

what is it that I see in him, and she was very upset about it from the very beginning.

As well as my family, my parents, they weren't very supportive of it. As it started getting

more serious, they saw flags and signs that I should not be with this person.

...