As a college student, Holly K Dunn survived a savage attack by a rail-riding serial killer who left her for dead after her boyfriend was beaten to death.
Twenty years later, Dunn is a wife, mother and author of a book retelling her tragedy in hopes of inspiring resilience in others.
Dunn’s life changed forever in August 1997 when Dunn, then 20 years old, and her then-boyfriend Chris Maier were attacked by Angel Maturino Resendiz – the notorious ‘Railroad Killer’ linked to at least 15 murders and executed in Texas in 2006.
Dunn and Maier were students at the University of Kentucky and the two were on walking along railroad tracks their way home from a party in Lexington, Kentucky.
Holly K Dunn (pictured now) survived a savage attack by a rail-riding serial killer who left her for dead after her boyfriend was beaten to death. On the twentieth anniversary of her survival she has written a book retelling her tragedy in hopes of inspiring resilience in others
In August 1997, Dunn, then 20 years old (left), and her then-boyfriend Chris Maier (right) – students at the University of Kentucky – were attacked by Angel Maturino Resendiz – the notorious ‘Railroad Killer’. Maier was killed with a rock while Dunn was raped, stabbed and left for dead
Although Dunn said she shut down after the attack, she overcame and became an advocate for victims of sexual assault and other violent crimes. Dunn said even she forgave her attacker (pictured, January 2006). ‘I did that for myself. So I let all those bad feelings go with him’
Resendiz tied up the couple, picked up a rock and smashed it against Maier’s skull, killing him.
He then raped Dunn and bludgeoned her with a wooden board, breaking her jaw and eye socket, and left her for dead. But she managed to survive.
After the attack, Dunn spent five days in the hospital. Although her physical ailments healed, the emotional healing took much longer.
‘For a long time, I avoided railroad tracks any way I could,’ she said. ‘And anytime I heard the sound of a train, I just kind of shut down.’
Dunn overcame the attack to graduate from University of Kentucky in 2000, but instead of joining her family’s hotel business, she became an advocate for victims of sexual assault and other violent crimes.
Now her story of survival and healing is recounted in ‘Sole Survivor’. Dunn said the book’s title has special meaning since she’s the only known survivor of an attack by Resendiz.
Now her story of survival and healing is recounted in ‘Sole Survivor’. Dunn, now 40, said the book’s title has special meaning since she’s the only known survivor of an attack by Resendiz
Her message to other victims: ‘Don’t let this destroy you. You can get through this, and there can be life after it does. You can have a happy life. But it does take work.’
Dunn, now 40, is in Kentucky this week to promote the book and talk about how she overcame the trauma of being stabbed and raped and having her boyfriend murdered.
‘I hope it’s inspirational to them,’ Dunn told The Associated Press on Tuesday. ‘Everybody’s been through something. Yes, my story is very unique. But everybody’s been through brokenness.
‘If you know that you can go through that brokenness but you can be OK and you can live a happy life, that’s what my book’s trying to tell them. If you’re happy in your life, then you’ve survived, you’ve thrived.’
Dunn, the mother of two boys, ages one and five, said she reached ‘an emotional point’ where she was able to write the book with Heather Ebert, a friend and writer. But there were many tears along the way, she said.
As part of her healing, she sought out books from survivors of attacks. Dunn wanted to do the same for other victims by telling her own story.
‘When I was going through my healing, I needed to know that I was normal,’ she said. ‘I needed to hear that everything you’re going through is OK. It’s OK to feel that way.’
In July 1999, aware the authorities were closing in on him, Resendiz (pictured, May 2000) surrendered to Texas police. Most of the murders he confessed to happened near train tracks. Resendiz was convicted of killing a physician and put to death by lethal injection in June 2006
Dunn became a motivational speaker and activist. She co-founded Holly’s House, an advocacy center for victims in her hometown of Evansville, Indiana.
In July 1999, aware the authorities were closing in on him, Resendiz surrendered to Texas police. Most of the murders he confessed to happened near train tracks.
He went on trial for the slaying of a physician during the deadly spree that earned him a spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Resendiz was convicted and put to death by lethal injection in June 2006.
Dunn said she forgave her attacker. ‘I did that for myself. So I let all those bad feelings go with him,’ she said.