----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Colleagues--
I am reposting below, with permission, an email message that
appeared on VRA-L several weeks ago. My colleague here at UVa,
Jack Robertson, and I thought that the insights and behaviors
that Patti wrote of after her traumatic experience would be of
benefit to many on this listserve as well as VRA-L. Like most
curators in slide collections, there are many of us in
one-person libraries, down the hall around an obscure corner of
the museum or in some lonely outpost on campus, who need to be
aware of the safety issues this message raises. And as much as
we are concerned for ourselves, we should also be concerned
about the staff and students who work with/for us and may be
closing down the library alone at midnight in a not
particularly safe part of town. I think Patti showed
considerable courage during her ordeal and perhaps even more
afterwards in sharing what happened to her with so many. My
thanks to Patti for allowing me to share her message even
further.
--Lynda
-----------------------------------
Lynda S. White
Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
University of Virginia
Bayly Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22903
[log in to unmask] (804) 924-6604
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Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:38:09 PST
From: Patricia McRae <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Slide Curator robbed at knifepoint in VRC
To: Multiple recipients of list VRA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Dear Friends of the VRA,
I, Patricia McRae VR Curator at UNLV was robbed at
knife-point in my slide library last Friday morning I was
bound and gagged and left tied up on the floor by a
dangerous criminal. I must share this with you all
because I need support so that my institution will take
the appropriate measures to increase the security. I am a
ONE PERSON SLIDE ROOM AND WAS ALONE- of course!! Please
read on- I am seeking your suggestions and experiences to
take to my administration who have been less than
overwhelming with their support!
I had just opened the VRC at 8 on Friday, Aug. 22 when a
young African American male walked in came right up to me
and stuck a 6" Bowie knife to my chest. I AM PHYSICALLY
UNHARMED except for abrasions on my wrists and ankles
where he tied me up. He forced me to lie down on the
ground- I did not know if he was going to rape me or kill
me. He tied my hands behind my back with shoelaces but I
didn't know at the time what it was he was using.
Then he forced me to stand up on my own and he commanded
me to shut up and not say anything. He pushed me around
the slide room looking for a place to stash me. I did not
know what he was planning to do next; it did seem to me he
wanted to rob me. From the moment I realized what was
going on (when I absorbed the fact that he had a huge
knife) I chose to be calm. I remained calm throughout the
ordeal, which went on for about 15 minutes. I made a
conscious decision to not look at his face again so he
wouldn't feel the need to kill me. I began praying
immediately!!!!
He pushed me over to one side of the room and saw the
slide sorting table. He demanded I lie face dowm under
the table. It was then that he tied my ankles together
and gagged me with some white tape. I was left there face
down in the slide room while he ransacked my office in the
other room. A few minutes later he came back and hunkered
down next to me and I could see out of the corner of my
eye he was holding a black electronic device in his hand.
He cut the tape so I could talk and then he shoved two of
my credit cards under my nose. He demanded the PIN
numbers. I was terrified because I only knew one of
them. I told him I didn't know the UNLV Diner's Club card
and never used it. "You better know the other one" he
demanded menacingly. I told him the number and he punched
it into the machine. "That's not it." he said. I insisted
it was and he should try again. He did. Then, "no, it's
not. You're lying!" "I'm not being coy with you. Look
at me. I'm lying here tied up. Why would I lie to you?
This IS the number." He tried it again a few more times
and said nothing. Then he retaped my mouth shut and said,
"don't worry, I'm not going to touch you again." He
walked back towards the office and as he left the room he
said, "thanks for lying" in a sarcastic tone.
He continued to ransack the room for a few minutes and the
last thing he took was the candy from SACRED candy dish.
He left through the doors he came in, and I was terrified
in a different way because I didn't know if he was coming
back and what would he do if I was trying to escape and he
came back and caught me? I lay there for about 2 minutes
and decided I just had to move my body which had been stock
still for about 10 minutes and once I started moving I
just couldn't stop. I managed to get to my feet and hop
towards the office. Then I saw he had turned the light
off and I figured he wasn't coming back. I somehow
managed to loosen the bonds enough to reach the phone- I
still don't know how I did it- and call for help.
There are so many more details, but these are the bare
essentials. I was liberated- not soon enough!- and have
been getting professional help, spent 3 hours with Fr. Leo
Coughlin and I have post traumatic stress syndrome BIG
TIME. Thank GOD I am alive and getting better. I had
been staying at friend's houses because I was not going to
stay alone at my apt.- he took my purse and all my keys
and my briefcase and every piece of ID I possessed
including my passport as well as my computer (my beloved
database! He stole the ENTIRE CATALOG!), mouse and
printer.
TAKE note- I made many decisions the experts tell me saved
my life- I stopped looking at him; I remained calm and in
control of my emotions instead of doing the hysterical
female thing; I complied with his demands; I was truthful;
I pushed my jaw out while he bound my mouth so it would
possibly have some slack when I relaxed my face so I could
chew my way out of it (which is exactly what I did); and
most of all I trusted God to protect me which He did by
keeping me from more than just falling apart, He upheld me
with His spirit.
There are many more details that I will not belabor here.
The good news- he has been apprehended in Colorado and
they are working on extradicting him. They found all my
things and my personal stuff as well along with a ton of
UNLV computer equipment. He had been burglarizing campus
for a week, but NO ONE WAS INFORMED OF THEFTS AT ALL. He
will face at least armed robbery and kidnapping for what
he did to me (forcibly restraining a person and then moving
against their will and tying them up and gagging them some
more is considered kidnapping, even if it was just from
one side of hte room to the other). He actually has
confessed to his crime against me!
This is the very scary and horrible part. The van he was
driving was stolen about 13 days ago at Lake Tahoe. The
woman he took it from is considered "dangerously
missing". I think we all know what that means. I think
he confessed to what he did to me to better get out of
what he did to her.
How many of us have wondered what if....? Well, I now
have the unpleasant experience and the joy of living to
tell about it. What I am hoping you can do for me (and
for all of us) is submit your security plans, measures,
contingencies, methods, etc. I am CONVINCED that the key
is TRAFFIC. If you agree that putting a slide room in a
heavy traffic area solves a lot of security problems
vis-a-vis the personal safety of the
usually-single-person-facility, then please email me! ?The
rooms I managed were obscure and hard to find and utterly
off the beaten tracke. How about your space? My space
has no windows at all; does yours? Where is it located?
How many people come and go? This guy cased the place.
He never acted in a hurry at all- even lifted and replaced
the lid when he stole the candy I keep for faculty and
students. He KNEW I was alone and he would not be
interrupted.
Solving this problem is the university's, not mine, but I
need your backing if they get wishy washy. I am not
afraid of them. I was almost murdered, so they don't
scare me.
Thank you for your help. I will recover; I never for a
second was the victim of his crime, only the subject. The
post traumatic stress syndrome will eventually leave, but
I am stuck with a room I refuse to enter (could you?) and
they don't have any bright ideas.
I thank you all in advance for your suggestions and prayers.
Patricia McRae, STILL the VR Curator at UNLV
[log in to unmask]
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"Liberace, Elvis. Elvis, Liberace."$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Patricia McRae [log in to unmask]
UNLV Department of Art (702) 895-3758
4505 Maryland Parkway FAX (702) 895-4346
Box 455002 Department # (702) 895-4347
La$ Vega$, NV 89154-5002
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