Sex worker who survived serial killer: 'I was the one who caught that bastard'

Cindy Paulson, who escaped a serial killer more than 40 years ago, recalls the terrifying night she managed to flee from the back of a Buick. Her story sheds light on one of America's most chilling criminal cases.

More than four decades later, Cindy Paulson still isn't entirely sure how she managed to open the rear door of a Buick on that fateful night — but she remembers one thought with absolute clarity: if she didn't find a way to escape, she would soon be dead.

Paulson, a sex worker at the time, had been abducted and was facing what she believed were her final moments. The desperation of that night drove her to act, and her escape ultimately led to the capture of a dangerous serial killer who had been preying on vulnerable women.

«I was the one who caught that bastard,» Paulson has said, recounting the night that changed her life — and ended the killing spree of a man who had evaded authorities for years. Her testimony proved crucial in bringing the perpetrator to justice.

Paulson's story is a reminder of both the extraordinary courage that ordinary people can show under the most extreme circumstances, and of how often the voices of sex workers and marginalized women go unheard in criminal investigations. In her case, however, authorities did listen — and a predator was stopped.

More than 40 years on, Paulson continues to speak publicly about her experience, determined that her story not be forgotten and that the women who were not as fortunate as she was receive the recognition and justice they deserve.