By Julie Rossman
It’s been almost 10 years since Teri Jendusa-Nicolai was nearly beaten to death with a baseball bat at the hands of her ex-husband, David Larsen, at his home in Wind Lake.
The story of Teri’s horrific ordeal, and her survival, was recently profiled on a new cable show, “Surviving Evil,” on the Investigation Discovery channel. Her story will be re-aired on Monday, Nov. 25, at 4 p.m., Central Standard Time.
Teri now resides in Waterford with her husband, Nick, and their three children.
She said representatives from the show first contacted her during a busy time in her life and she thought, “Another show? I don’t have time for this.”
“But something made me do it – I don’t know why,” Teri added.
Using actors, a narrator and interviews with both Teri and Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling, the show both depicts and narrates the story of the brutal attack on her life, and how Teri managed to survive.
Teri admitted that hearing about her story is one thing, but seeing it re-enacted is another.
But she said she was pleased with the result. “I think they did a pretty good job,” she said of Investigation Discovery.
Sheriff Schmaling said Investigation Discovery did a nice job putting the show together. “It was very accurate in depicting what we went through. I still question how she survived,” Schmaling said.
Teri explained how the show used a real Racine County Sheriff’s car and filmed at the actual house in Wind Lake where the attack in 2004 happened.
In fact, the Cotton Exchange Restaurant in Waterford became a temporary studio for the show when it was filmed in August 2012.
“I ended up being really happy – they were wonderful people to work with,” she said.
At first, Teri said no to going back to the Wind Lake house for the filming, but then she gave it more thought and agreed.
“It was nice to see – it’s not his (Larsen’s) anymore, it’s somebody else’s,” she explained. “It was healing. It looked so different.”
The crime
On Jan. 31, 2004, Teri went to Larsen’s home to pick up her two daughters. He lured her into the house, telling her that the girls were hiding. He brutally beat her with a bat, bound her head, hands and feet with duct tape and stuffed her in a garbage can partially filled with snow.
Then Larsen drove her to an unheated, public storage unit that he rented in Wheeling, Ill., where he left her to die.
At the time, Schmaling worked as a criminal investigator with the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, and he was the lead investigator on Teri’s case.
He credits the entire sheriff’s department for their efforts in arresting David Larsen and finding Teri alive that day in 2004.
Life as a public speaker
Following her rescue, Teri lost all her toes due to frostbite. After recovering from her injuries, Teri became a public speaker to help others avoid what happened to her.
She speaks at colleges, churches, schools, Indian reservations and at police recruit classes in Racine County and all over the nation.
Teri said she never really liked to ever talk in front of a crowd. “That was totally outside of me,” she said.
But all that changed the day she was confronted with speaking at a press conference from the hospital where she was recovering from the attack.
“I had to help,” Teri explained. “I felt blessed that I was still here for my kids and for my family – how could I not help?”
She recently completed a very busy few months, as October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. She visited about 14 different colleges in the span of two months.
Sometimes the traveling gets her down, Teri admitted, but every new school visit refreshes her, she added.
“You can see and feel how you are making a difference,” Teri explained.
Been there
For any woman dealing with domestic violence issues, Teri’s advice is to go talk to someone; to seek help from an agency. Teri said before she divorced David Larsen, others would tell her to “just leave.”
Teri added she knows every situation is different, but that it is best to get counseling and devise a plan.
Teri finally had enough of her abusive husband three years into their marriage, when her second child was an infant. As depicted on “Surviving Evil,” Larsen pushed her while she was holding the baby.
That’s when Teri called a friend and asked her friend to take her and her daughters to a shelter for help.
“I got counseling first – it did make me a stronger, more confident and resilient person. I think that’s what helped me survive,” Teri said.
Schmaling said he and Teri have kept in touch over the years and they have worked together on domestic violence issues, with Teri providing great insight from the perspective of a victim.
Surviving the attack
Teri spent 21 hours stuffed inside the garbage can – bloody, cold and wondering if she would survive. She looked to her faith and her kids to stay alive.
Also, she was very worried about what Larsen might do to the girls. “I didn’t know if he was going to hurt them. I thought, ‘I can’t let him do this to me – I gotta get out of here!’” she said.
Thinking of her children gave Teri the adrenaline she said she needed to stay alive, even while she was close to freezing to death.
Schmaling said doctors told him that she would have only lived another hour longer from the time she was found and rescued.
He recalled that, as the clock kept ticking down on the case. “I wasn’t feeling really comfortable that we would find her alive.”
“I was just delighted we found her, alive and speaking – it was a real sense of accomplishment,” Schmaling recalled.
Now, as another Thanksgiving holiday approaches, Teri said she has much to be thankful for in her life.
“I’m thankful for my family, for God and what he has given me, for the community I live in,” she said.
Sometimes, when someone recognizes her at the store, they will say things like “Oh my gosh … I pray for you!” she said.
While she may have a reputation for being a strong person, Teri said it is because of community support that she is so strong.
In spite of the worries that people face each day, Teri encourages others to be thankful for their lives.
“If we can just be thankful for the little things we have that we take for granted, we would be much happier people.”
Racine County Resources
Any women dealing with domestic violence issues can contact the Women’s Resource Center in Burlington ((262) 763-8600) or in Racine ((262) 633-3233).
According to Sheriff Christopher, Schmaling, the Racine County Sheriff’s Department is trying to get out the word on a new program that lets people find out when an inmate will be released from jail.
The program is called VINE, which stands for Victim Information and Notification Every Day.
To access the system for more information, do an online Google search for “Wisconsin Vine System”.
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