Pasco County woman's film highlights heroism, trauma recovery after escaping a serial killer
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - It was 1981 in Orlando when 8-year-old Gina M. Garcia was in a bookstore, and she was abducted by a man believed to be serial killer Ottis Toole. He took her to his car in a mall parking lot.
"That’s where he sexually assaulted me for about an hour and a half at knife point," said Garcia, now more than 40 years later.
Toole was convicted of killing Adam Walsh and is said to have murdered more than a hundred more. Garcia believes she would have been murdered too, but as Toole drove out of the parking lot, someone hit their car.
"And at that moment I jumped out of the car, half naked, and ran back into the mall," said Garcia. "Many people say ‘who saved you, who found you?' I saved myself," she said.
Garcia, who now lives in Pasco County, made a film that traces the hidden trauma that followed her for decades after her abduction.
It’s called "Untold: This is My Story." It chronicles her trouble with relationships, anger and frustration.
She said she managed to hide it for years until another trauma occurred.
Garcia said she was suffering from PTSD and that mentally, she was still trapped in the car with her abductor. The film that she wrote, directed and produced shows how a group of fellow female veterans finally helped her.
"They basically put a mirror to my face and said, ‘Stop telling the world you’re ok when you’re not. Just stop.'"
She hopes her film helps others find their way out of similar traumas.
"The movie is about winning and not letting the bad guys take over your life," she said.
Garcia now has a real estate business, and she continues to make movies. Her film "Untold: This is my story" is now streaming online.