Survivor of serial killer Andrew Urdiales forgives him at death sentencing
Today, Andrew Urdiales was sentenced to death for the second time. The ex-marine is responsible for the murders of eight women; he was first sentenced to death for three murders in Chicago in 2002 and 2004, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole when Illinois abolished the death sentence.
In 2011, he was extradited to California for the murders of five women in Southern California. Three of those murders took place in the Coachella Valley, but that number was nearly four.
In 1992, Urdiales brutally tortured Jennifer Asbenson for hours along a road outside of Desert Hot Springs, before she was able to escape him.
“He put the gun in my mouth and he pushed it,” Asbenson told KESQ & CBS Local 2 in 2015. “And my hands are still behind my back with twine. I just squinted my eyes and imagined the back of my head…coming off”
Despite this harrowing experience, Asbenson offered forgiveness when she spoke at Urdiales sentencing today.
“It was so hard…because it felt like I was being nice when I didn’t want to be nice,” said Asbenson. “But I just called him out by name and said Andrew Urdiales, I forgive you.”
Asbenson sat down with KESQ & CBS Local 2’s Madison Weil for an exclusive interview.
Watch KESQ News Channel 3 at 5 PM and CBS Local 2 at 6:30 for her full story.
Asbenson is releasing her first book, titled ‘The Girl in the Treehouse’ on February 1. “It’s just really a book about…about forgiveness and self love. And how to find a happy life again even if the past was hell,” she said. For more information, go to www.thegirlinthetreehousebook.com .
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