Child abuse survivor speaks out to prevent future abuse
2,282 views · Published 12 November 2011 · 1:57 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: CBS Rio Grande Valley · 2011 · News & Politics
Today Jennifer Schuett stands tall and strong as she addresses a crowd of more than one hundred people at the 8th annual Rio Grande Valley Seminar in Forensic Sciences.
You would never know by her big smile and the way she carries a room that more than 19 years ago Schuett was brutally raped and left to die when she was only 8 years old in southeast Texas.
Jennifer remembers everything, the man who raped her slit her throat from ear to ear. She lay helpless in a field for more than 12 hours, covered with fire ants and blood and barely alive, until she was found by a group of children who were playing nearby.
Schuett's determination finally paid off in 2009 new DNA technology allowed samples to be taken from evidence collected at the scene 20 years ago. The suspect turned out to be 40 year old Dennis Earl Bradford. He Committed suicide before his trial.
The little girl who was told by doctors she would never speak again, now uses her voice to help other victims of crime. She travels the country addressing ways to prevent child abuse and techniques used in child death investigations.
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