- Charisma Carpenter is the survivor of a real-life incident that she endured more than 20 years ago. The actress and her two friends were swimming at San Diego's Torrey Pines State Beach in 1991 when they were violently attacked by an armed serial rapist. Carpenter fought for her survival after being held at gunpoint, but her two friends were both shot and seriously wounded by the attacker. In the first episode of the series Charisma tells her incredible story of survival in raw emotional detail about what happened that night.—Anonymous
- Actress Charisma Carpenter, the host of the show, narrates her own real life encounter with a brutal attacker. Select recreations dramatize the events.
In 1991, before she began her career as an actress Carpenter had just been hired as a cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers football team. She was 21 years old and working as a manager of an apartment building. She began to become worried that someone was stalking her. She had the sense that someone was watching her in her apartment and would occasionally here noises as if someone was trying to gain entry to the apartment. She says she was worried enough that she'd occasionally have friends sleep over or sleep someplace other than her apartment. Carpenter describes herself at this time as "fiercely independent".
Unknown to Carpenter at the time a serial rapist was terrorizing the beaches of San Diego. Charmaine Agnos recounts her own attack from 1991. Agnos, at the time 20 years old, attended a beach bonfire with friends on the 4th of July. Her and her boyfriend moved off to a more secluded part of the beach to have their own bonfire. After 1am they were confronted by a masked man with a gun. The man asked them where their car keys were, leading Agnos to think that he was going to rob them. But instead the man forced them to walk further down the beach to where a series of caves were. He forced the couple into a cave and then had Agnos duct tape her boyfriend's hands and feet. Agnos describes the man as being very calm as if he had done this before. He then took Agnos into another cave. He pulled Agnos' shirt up over her head to act as a blindfold, put a gun to her head, and proceeded to rape her. After raping her, the man left. Agnos went into the other cave and untied her boyfriend, who had managed to get partially free already. Agnos and her boyfriend called the police. She recalls thinking that the police would not catch the man because of how organized he was. From the police, Agnos learned that she was the third victim of the attacker.
Police officers Alicia Lampert and Floyd Feese recount their hunt for the serial rapist. The man attacked couples on the beach, finding them in isolated areas. The police worried that the rapist would escalate into even more violent attacks. Psychiatrist Richard Levak recounts that the rapist's modus operandi was to attack couples. He would have the woman tie up the man and then rape the woman. He wondered if the specific targeting of couples fulfilled a specific sexual need for the attacker. After the rapist struck another time the police put together a task force to catch him and used armed officers posing as couples on the beach to lure him in. But the attacker still eluded them. Two weeks later the rapist struck again. This time his victims were thirteen and fourteen years old.
Carpenter recounts how on August 15th 1991 she and her friends Arthur Gracia and Aldo Ochoa decided to go to the beach for a late night swim. Carpenter was still oblivious to the fact that a serial rapist was prowling the beaches of San Diego. She, Arthur and Aldo went to Torrey Pines State Beach around 11pm. Aldo and Arthur stripped down and ran into the water, but Carpenter stopped near a lifeguard tower to neatly fold up her clothes before swimming. As she undressed she heard a noise and was approached by a masked man with a gun. Arthur and Aldo run out of the water to help her but stop when they see the gun.
The man asks about their car keys and money. He has the men kneel and tells Carpenter to tie Arthur's hands. She ties his hands loosely so that he can still get free. When he orders her to bind Aldo she acts histerical and says that she can't manage to do it. She then suggests that the attacker bind Aldo. Angry, the attacker hands Carpenter his flashlight and kneels behind Aldo to tie his hands. Carpenter asks the man if he's going to rape her and he replies "You bet your sweet ass I am."
Arthur notices that the attacker has rested his gun in the crook of his arm and decides to attack him. When the man looks down to tie Aldo's hands, Arthur lunges for him. The attacker quickly grabs his gun and shoots Arthur in the chest but Arthur doesn't feel it. Arthur and Aldo wrestle with the attacker and the attacker manages to shoot Aldo in the stomach. Aldo collapses and Arthur continues to fight with the attacker, trying to kill him. Carpenter runs to the nearby freeway to try and get help, banging on car doors and a camper. In the background she can hear multiple gunshots and fears that her friends have been killed. On the beach, Arthur grabs the gun from the attacker and shoots the man through his hand. The attacker gets the gun back and tells Arthur to run. As Arthur runs up the beach he realizes for the first time that he's been shot. The attacker runs off and Arthur and Carpenter pick up Aldo and get him into their car. Realizing that Aldo is in very bad shape they drive him to a hospital.
In the hospital Aldo goes into surgery. Arthur, despite being shot in the chest is in much better shape as it only hit muscle. The police question the friends about the attack, calling them heroes for fighting off the attacker. Ten miles away, at another hospital, Henry Hubbard, a San Diego police officer, shows up with a gunshot wound to his hand. He says that his car had stalled along a road and that he had been attacked by three Hispanic males. The police officers interviewing Hubbard become suspicious of his story in part because his clothes are covered in sand. In questioning Carpenter, the police learn that she still had the flashlight which the attacker had given her. It was a police issue mag-lite flashlight which had Hubbard's name engraved on it. Hubbard is arrested and the police conduct a voice line up where Charmaine Agnos identifies Hubbard as her attacker. The police realize, horrified, that one of their own was the attacker. Hubbard had managed to evade their sting operations because he had been provided with information about them as part of his professional duties.
Archival footage from a jail house interview shows Hubbard expressing surprise that he could have committed the crimes, saying that he had the utmost respect for individuals lives and had always wanted to help people. Psychiatrist Richard Levak explains that Hubbard had been a model police officer, graduating top of his class from the police academy. But he also notes that Hubbard's father had been abusive towards Hubbard's mother and that the couple fought often over sex. Levak concludes that this led to a lot of pent up rage on Hubbard's part which was expressed in the scenarios he chose for his attacks.
Carpenter recounts that she learned that Hubbard was one of the tenants at her apartment complex and that he probably had been the one stalking her. Hubbard had even done background checks on her. Detective Feese explains that Hubbard was convicted and sentences to 56 years. With good behavior this could be reduced to 27 and 1/2 years. He says that as of 2013, Hubbard will be released in a few years. Charmaine Agnos recalls how she overcame the trauma of the rape. Arthur recalls that the aftermath of the attack was more difficult for him that he stopped working for a while and began drinking too much. Carpenter and Arthur meet on the beach again and she thanks him for saving her. Arthur recounts that he would do the same thing again to protect someone and Carpenter says that she's more aware of her surroundings now and realizes that bad things can happen.
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What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of Terror Beach (2013) in Australia?
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