The Chilling Story Of Mary Vincent, The Hitchhiking Teen Who Lost Both Her Arms In A Violent Attack

The Chilling Story Of Mary Vincent, The Hitchhiking Teen Who Lost Both Her Arms In A Violent Attack

In September 1978, 15-year-old Mary Vincent accepted a ride from a man named Lawrence Singleton — who then kidnapped, raped, and maimed her.

On September 29, 1978, a 15-year-old runaway named Mary Vincent decided to hitchhike from Soquel, California on her way to visit her grandfather in Corona, which was about 400 miles away. She accepted a ride from Lawrence Singleton, a 50-year-old man who initially seemed harmless. Vincent quickly became suspicious when Singleton put his hand on her neck and asked her if she was ill, but she shrugged it off and continued the ride. At some point, Vincent fell asleep — and when she woke up, she realized that they were heading in the completely wrong direction.⁠

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Vincent found a sharp stick in the backseat and pointed it at Singleton, ordering him to turn the car around. To her surprise, he did. However, when they stopped for a bathroom break soon afterward, Singleton hit Vincent in the head as she leaned down to tie her shoe and dragged her into the back of his van, where he repeatedly raped her. When Vincent begged Singleton to let her go, he cut off both of her arms below the elbow with a hatchet and told her, "Okay, now you're free." Singleton then dumped her in a canyon, where he left her for dead. But against all odds, she escaped.⁠

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Go inside Mary Vincent's harrowing story of survival by visiting the link in our profile.⁠

Lawrence Bernard "Larry" Singleton (July 28, 1927 – December 28, 2001), nicknamed the "Mad Chopper" in media accounts, was an American criminal known for perpetrating an infamous rape and mutilation of adolescent hitchhiker Mary Vincent in California in 1978, and then perpetrating a second attack on a woman shortly after being released from prison eight years later. He raped Mary and cut off her arms, then left her to die in a culvert off of Interstate 5 in Del Puerto Canyon. Mary managed to hike to safety and later acted as a key witness against the rapist. Released from prison on good behavior after serving eight years of his fourteen-year sentence, Singleton later murdered Roxanne Hayes, a mother of three. On February 19, 1997, police found him covered in blood after stabbing her in his new home.

Mary Vincent was a 15-year-old runaway heading to visit her grandfather in California when she accepted a ride from a man named Lawrence Singleton in September 1978 — and it changed her life forever.

Singleton seemed friendly enough at first, but the façade didn’t last long. Soon after picking up young Vincent, Singleton assaulted her, raped her multiple times, and then cut her arms off before dumping her into the Del Puerto Canyon.

That should have been the end for Vincent, but the teenager managed to stumble three miles to the nearest road, where she was discovered and taken to the hospital.

She had survived a harrowing ordeal, but her story was only beginning.

Lawrence Singleton’s Violent Attack On Mary Vincent

Mary Vincent grew up in Las Vegas, but she ran away from home at the age of 15. She moved to California with her boyfriend, where the two lived out of a car. However, he was soon arrested for raping another teenage girl — and Vincent was on her own.

On Sept. 29, 1978, she decided to hitchhike nearly 400 miles to Corona, California, where her grandfather lived. When 50-year-old Lawrence Singleton pulled over and offered Vincent a ride, she naively accepted, as he seemed like a friendly older man.

Not long after climbing into Singleton’s van, Mary Vincent realized she may have made a mistake. He asked her if she was sick after she sneezed and then put his hand on her neck to check her temperature. However, Vincent thought that he was simply being kind, and she soon fell asleep.

Mary Vincent’s Miraculous Story Of Survival

Naked and falling in and out of consciousness, Mary Vincent managed to crawl out of the canyon and walk three miles back to Interstate 5. She held what remained of her arms straight up so that she wouldn’t lose as much blood.

Per the Los Angeles Times, the first car that Vincent saw turned around and sped away, frightened by the sight of her. Fortunately, a second car stopped and drove her to a nearby hospital.

After intense surgery to save her life, she was fitted with prosthetic arms — a change that would take years of physical therapy for her to adjust to. She also underwent intensive psychotherapy to help her cope with the trauma she’d experienced.

“I’d have been lead dancer at the Lido de Paris in Las Vegas,” Vincent said in 1997. “Then Hawaii and Australia. I’m serious. I was really good on my feet… but when this happened, they had to take some parts out of my leg just to save my right arm.”

⁠Thankfully, Vincent was able to provide such a detailed description of Lawrence Singleton to authorities that he was quickly identified by the police sketch and arrested.

Mary Vincent testified against her attacker in court, and as she left the stand, Singleton reportedly whispered to her, “I’ll finish this job if it takes me the rest of my life.”

Ultimately, Singleton was found guilty of rape, kidnapping, and attempted murder. However, he served just over eight years in prison and was released on parole for good behavior. From that point on, Vincent lived her life in fear, worried that Singleton would follow through on his promise one day. Tragically, he did — but Vincent wasn’t the one on the receiving end.

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