Latest news with #Modesto
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
He Cut Off a Teen's Arms and Threw Her Down a Ravine — But She Climbed to Safety and Helped Catch Her Attacker
NEED TO KNOW In 1978, 15-year-old Mary Vincent was attacked by a man who severed both her arms and left her in a ravine She packed her wounds with dirt, then crawled up a 30-foot embankment to reach the road Bleeding and barely alive, she flagged down a passing car — and later helped identify her attacker in court In the fall of 1978, 15-year-old Mary Vincent was hitchhiking near Modesto, Calif., hoping to get to her grandfather's house after running away from home. When a seemingly kind older man in a blue van pulled over and offered her a ride, she hesitated — but accepted. The man was 51-year-old Lawrence Singleton, a former merchant seaman. After stopping briefly to pick up other passengers and being refused, Singleton continued alone with Mary, eventually turning off onto a deserted road. That's when her instinct turned to fear. Singleton knocked Vincent unconscious, stripped her of her clothing and bound her tightly. He sexually assaulted her repeatedly, ignoring for hours her cries and pleas to be set free, per court records. "You want to be set free? I'll set you free," Singleton said the next morning. He pulled out a hatchet, severed both Vincent's arms, threw her down a ravine and left her for dead. But Mary Vincent did not die. Instead, she heard a loud, persistent message in her head. "I can't go to sleep," she recalled thinking, per an interview with Open Ceilings Magazine. "He's going to do this to somebody else. I can't let that happen." She packed the raw ends of her arms with dirt to slow the bleeding and crawled her way out of the ravine — a 30-foot climb — naked, injured, and barely conscious. Once she reached the road, she managed to flag down a passing car. 'The next morning, two individuals found Mary Vincent wandering nude," reads a court document obtained by UPI. "She was holding up her arms so that the muscles and blood would not fall out.' Two good Samaritans picked her up and rushed her to a nearby hospital. A forensic sketch artist worked with Mary as she recovered from her injuries, and her description helped police identify and arrest Singleton, who was later found guilty of attempted murder, mayhem, kidnapping and multiple sexual assault charges. When asked to identify Singleton in court, she pointed at him with her silver prosthetic hook hand. "I was attacked," she said, per the Tampa Bay Times. "I was raped and my hands were cut off. He used a hatchet... He left me to die." Singleton was sentenced to 14 years in prison, the maximum allowed under California law at the time — but he served just eight. He was released in 1987 and faced public outrage. Towns across California protested his release, and he had to be housed in a trailer on San Quentin prison grounds until his parole ended because no Northern California community would accept him, per the Los Angeles Times. In 1997 — nearly two decades after his attack on Mary — Singleton murdered 31-year-old Roxanne Hayes in Tampa, Fla. He was sentenced to death but died of cancer in prison in 2001. Vincent told UPI at the time that she was devastated "because it had to happen again before anyone realized he shouldn't have been released in the first place." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. "It was only recently I stopped having my nightmares," she told the Los Angeles Times at the time. "Now they're back again. It starts off with my attack, and then I end up seeing all these other people and worse things happening to them." So Vincent took action — she shared her story with victims of trauma and testified before legislative bodies, advocating for sentencing reform. California later passed a law increasing the maximum penalty for crimes like Singleton's, informally dubbed the 'Singleton bill.' Now a mother to two adult children, Vincent lives with her husband in Washington State. A self-taught artist, she has created thousands of pastel drawings — many of them empowering female figures — and even designs her own prosthetic tools for different activities like bowling, using spare parts from old stereo systems and refrigerators, per a 2022 interview with The Netline.
CBS News
4 hours ago
- CBS News
Driver hospitalized, another arrested after street race ends in crash in Modesto, CHP says
A driver was hospitalized and another is behind bars after authorities said they were racing on Highway 99 in Modesto when one driver crashed. The California Highway Patrol said a Corvette driver and a Mustang driver were racing each other on northbound Highway 99 north of Standiford Avenue Sunday afternoon. The driver of the Corvetter lost control and the vehicle left the right shoulder before it overturned several times and came to a rest on its roof on Sisk Road, the CHP said. The driver was thrown out of the vehicle and sustained major injuries, the CHP said. The driver of the Mustang continued north on Highway 99 and was later arrested at a home in Manteca, officers said. "This is a stark reminder street racing is extremely dangerous," the CHP said in a news release. "It's not worth your life."
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Southbound Highway 99 offramp in Modesto closed due to police activity
A police investigation is underway early Friday morning just off Highway 99 in Modesto. The scene is at the Hatch Road ramp to and from southbound SR-99. Earlier in the morning, all lanes of southbound SR-99 were closed along with the northbound fast lane. Those lanes reopened just before 5 a.m. Authorities have not released any details about the investigation.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Modesto unveils tiny home community for homeless people
Modesto is set to open a new tiny home community on Owens Drive to provide housing and support for homeless individuals.
CBS News
5 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Modesto chooses downtown area as future site of pro soccer stadium
Modesto is moving forward with plans to bring professional soccer to town. The city has been deep in negotiations with the United Soccer League, working to bring both men's and women's teams to town. City leaders have spent weeks hosting workshops and listening sessions trying to narrow down a new stadium site between the two locations. But in the end, they opted for both. This week, the Modesto City Council unanimously voted to designate downtown as the future site of a professional soccer stadium. The city also voted to develop the land on Modesto's West End Golf Course, turning it into a practice and tournament facility. The combined project is estimated to cost nearly $188 million, with around $125 million for construction of the downtown stadium and another $62 million for land acquisition and parking. "This is about making our downtown a true gathering place," Mayor Sue Zwahlen said. "We already have a vibrant city center, and this would take it to the next level." The proposal also includes plans to build a hotel and nearly 940 residential units, more than 230 of them affordable, near the West Modesto facility. The city entered a formal negotiation period with the USL last September. The agreement gives both parties until this fall to finalize the deal. If approved, the stadium would replace Modesto Centre Plaza, a longtime downtown fixture.
