“If He Tried It Now, I Could Take Him”

Sabrina Rasmussen, 19, above, was 11 years old when she was kidnapped by Terapon Adhahn, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole last Friday for the rape and murder of Zina Linnik, who was 12.   Rasmussen’s family’s car had been stolen days earlier.  Normally she would have been driven to school, but on this day she walked the six blocks.   I’ve walked those blocks many times.  I grew up in the Gault Jr. High school area, walked to Sheridan Elementary School every day, road the bus to piano lessons just a few blocks from Gault when I was only seven or eight years old.

A friend was with Sabrina at first as they walked to school, but her friend decided to take a short cut.   Shortly thereafter, Adhahn jumped out of a truck and chased, then grabbed Sabrina as she ran from him.  She was tiny, only 4′3″ tall. Adhahn forced her into his truck, drove her to a wooded area near Ft. Lewis, taped her to a tree and raped her.  After he left, she walked along a dirt road until she reached a highway where a woman soldier found her bleeding and carrying a stick as if to protect herself.  She was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery for her injuries.

Her attacker was never found until last year,  after he’d raped and murdered another girl, Zina Linnik.  All of those years, Rasmussen had feared he might come back for her.  He had told her repeatedly when he raped her that he was going to kill her.  DNA tests confirmed it was Adhahn who raped her.

Rasmussen came forward to tell her story publicly in newspapers and on television in support of other raped girls and women, so they might draw strength from the fact that she had survived.  She’s a tough cookie.    She told reporters if and when she testifies against Adhahn, she’ll look him in the eyes and say, “I’m the winner in this game.”  In a video you can watch here, she says, “If he’d tried it now, I could take him.”  Her video is worth watching, testifying as it does, to the strength and courage of this young woman survivor and her determination not only to go on with her own life, but to offer her support and stand in solidarity with all girls and women, and especially the other girls she believes have been Adhahn’s victims and who haven’t yet come forward.  Rasmussen was present in the courtroom when Adhahn was sentenced. 

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