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48 HOURS
Air Date: Saturday, January 23, 2016
Time Slot: 9:00 PM-10:00 PM EST on CBS
Episode Title: "A Vision of Murder" (Repeat)
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

A CALIFORNIA WOMAN KIDNAPPED, TORTURED AND LEFT FOR DEAD REVEALS HER EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF SURVIVAL AND THE HUNT THAT LED TO AN "AUSTIN POWERS" ACTOR IN "48 HOURS: LIVE TO TELL: MY NAME IS VICTORIA"

Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, 10:00 PM, ET/PT

A California woman kidnapped, tortured and left for dead reveals her extraordinary tale of survival and the 18-year-hunt for her assailants that led to the arrest of an "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" actor in 48 HOURS: LIVE TO TELL: "My Name is Victoria" to be broadcast Saturday, Jan. 23 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Anchored by Erin Moriarty, "My Name is Victoria" is the inspiring story of one woman's will to live through a brutal attack, how that night changed her life forever, and the investigation and changing technology that would help police track down her attackers 18 years later.

"I fought with everything I had in my soul not to be a missing person or to have a toe tag at the end," says Victoria, whose name was changed for this 48 HOURS broadcast.

Victoria was just 19 on Christmas Eve in December 1990 when two men came out of nowhere as she approached her apartment.

"I got pounced from the front and the back," she says, recalling that night, and the main aggressor. "He slammed a gun to my head. And, he's just like in my ear, 'I'm going to kill you so bad, I'm going to throw you off the cliffs, I'm going to mutilate you and throw you down the cliffs.'"

The force of the attack knocked her out. She came to just as she was being thrown into the back of a car.

"As we were going, I had this flash of my funeral," Victoria says.

With sheer will and quick thinking, she survived a series of terrible events, including multiple sexual assaults. Surviving that night was just the start of the investigation and the healing, which continues today.

"I set everything else aside on my desk to work on this one," says Ret. Detective Don Howell. "I knew we'd get these guys. I was in a 90 percent certain range that we'd get them real quickly."

That didn't happen. The case went cold, and then 18 years later, police got the break they needed when DNA taken from Victoria's body the night of the attack matched someone in the system. The suspect, Joseph Son, was an actor in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." Son's high school friend Santiago Gaitan was later arrested. Before trial, however, Deputy District Attorney Eric Scarbrough made a sickening discovery - the statute of limitations for rape and kidnapping had long expired.

Then Scarbrough found another way to legally prosecute the case. But would Victoria ever get a chance to get justice?

LIVE TO TELL is a short-run series from the producers of 48 HOURS delivering first-hand accounts of extraordinary people who refuse to give up when facing death. 48 HOURS: LIVE TO TELL: "My Name is Victoria" is produced by Peter Shaw and Anthony Venditti. Lauren Clark is the field producer. Michael McHugh and Doreen Schechter are the producer-editors. Jud Johnston and Grayce Arlotta-Berner are the editors. Judy Tygard is the series creator and senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

48 HOURS: LIVE TO TELL: "My Name is Victoria" is the second part of a Saturday night 48 HOURS double header that gets under way at 9:00 PM ET/PT with 48 HOURS: "A Vision of Murder," Peter Van Sant and 48 HOURS' investigation into the case against Sheila Trott, a mother of two living in central Florida who claimed she was awakened one night with a dream that she saw the possible murder of a friend, Kelly Brennan. Brennan was later found bludgeoned to death in the spot where Trott said was in her dream. 48 HOURS: "A Vision of Murder" is produced by Taigi Smith, Clare Friedland, Michelle Feuer and Alicia Tejada. Michael Vele is the producer-editor. Mike Baluzy, Richard Barber, Atticus Brady, Jud Johnston and Phil Tangel are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

Chat with members of the 48 HOURS team during the broadcast on Twitter and Facebook. Follow 48 HOURS on Instagram. Listen to 48HOURS podcasts at Play.it.

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