Dickinson Case Featured on 'America's Most Wanted'

DICKINSON, Texas - She was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and left for dead in a Dickinson field. Now, almost two decades later, the woman who survived it all is telling her story to FOX 26 and "America’s Most Wanted."

On Aug. 10, 1990, Jennifer Schuett was just 8 years old when a man reached through the bedroom window of her Dickinson apartment and carried her away.

“It was like I was dreaming, I woke up and all I saw was his face looking up at me,” said Schuett, now 27 years old.

Her captor, who she described as calm and collected, claimed to be an undercover officer. He drove the young girl a little more than 3 miles to an abandoned field.

“He ripped my panties off and started to rape me in the front seat of his car,” said Schuett.

The man slit Schuett’s throat, dragged her into the field and left her to die. She was discovered 11 hours later by some children playing nearby.

“He cut her throat ear to ear, a very horrific injury, we’re not talking about a little flesh wound. It was a horrible injury and how she survived it is just unbelievable,” said FBI Special Agent Richard Rennison.

The FBI has been working with the Dickinson Police Department since 2008 on the case.

“We are not going to rest until we meet this person, it’s time to end this,” said Dickinson police detective Tim Cromie.

Thanks to forensic technology not available two decades ago, they are closer than ever to finding a suspect. DNA test results from a piece of the kidnapper’s clothing should be ready in a matter of weeks.

“We are very confident something is going to come of this,” said Cromie.

Police have a series of suspect sketches including the original from 1990. In 2008, another sketch was made along with an age progression of what the man might look like today.

Doctors said Schuett would never talk again, but now she does that just fine and talking to anyone who will listen. “I’ve never told my story for sympathy, I don’t want sympathy. I know I’m a strong survivor, but my main focus is to find him so that he cannot hurt anyone else,” she said.

It is a face that Schuett never wanted to see two decades ago, now she cannot wait to see it again. “Being there on the witness stand, looking him in the face and showing him he didn’t win,” she said.

Schuett hopes to return to school to study criminology and would like to work in law enforcement one day. She also maintains a website, http://www.justiceforjennifer.com/ .

"America’s Most Wanted" will profile Schuett's case on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. on FOX 26.