My Niece, the hero:
Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Fergus Falls, Minnesota
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Highway heroes
By Jim Sturgeon
A 120-pound college student and her best buddy, Thor, likely saved the life of a woman who was kidnapped and assaulted last Thursday just south of Fergus Falls.
Teresa Jensen, 21, Fergus Falls, was driving south on Highway 59 by the entrance to the Big Chief Truck Stop at the junction with Interstate 94, about 11 p.m. when she saw shadows in the roadway ahead. As she drove closer, she saw a man dragging a woman from the road.
She had to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting them.
"I noticed she was all bloody and screaming for help, so that's why I stopped," Jensen said.
Jensen clipped a leash onto her pit bull, Thor, got out of her car, and confronted the man.
"He was holding onto her," Jensen said. "It stopped him in his tracks when Thor got out of the car. I said 'this is a pit bull dude, so let her go.' I just kept repeating that and finally he let her go. It happened in just a few seconds."
While the victim ran to the Big Chief for safety, Jensen and Thor stood by to make sure the suspect, Jesse Alberto Walters, 23, didn't follow her into the parking lot.
"The look in his eyes was just cold, like something had snapped," she said. "I didn't think about him having weapons. I don't think I even cared."
While the clerk called authorities, Jensen said the victim locked herself in a shower room while a trucker stood guard outside. Paramedics arrived within minutes and took the victim to Lake Region Hospital for treatment.
"She was walking and talking, but was very panicked," Jensen said. "She wouldn't open the door to the shower room until I said it was OK."
When Jensen visited the victim in the hospital, the victim said she believed her estranged husband was going to kill her.
Jensen said she stopped to help without giving it a second thought.
"I didn't even think, I didn't care, I just had to," she said. "The only threat I could come up with on short notice was to threaten him with my pit bull."
What the suspect didn't know was that her 11-month-old dog is actually a sweetheart.
"A lot of people think he's a big pansy," she said.
Jensen said she wasn't sure if Thor would have actually intervened during the incident, but if Walters had attacked her, she knows he would protect her.
"Their instincts are to protect the ones they love," she said.
Jensen visited the victim in the hospital.
"I met her mom, sister, cousin and oldest boy," she said. "The first thing the oldest boy did was give me a hug. I got hugs from everyone. We all sat down and they even gave me a quilt. Coming from native Americans, it was a very precious thing. It was beautiful."
Female intuition is the only way to explain how Jensen was passing the scene of the assault that night. She left M and H convenience store in Fergus Falls and told her friends she would meet them at their house near Dalton.
"I could have taken the Swan Lake Road, but I took the Big Chief Road," she said. "I completely gapped out taking the Swan Lake Road. It's like why do you turn left when you wanted to go right."
Walters is charged with kidnapping, assault and terroristic threats. Jensen said she hopes she's called to testify in Walters' trial.
As looking out for others, Jensen said "People have to stop when they see this stuff. She was doing the right thing, trying to get away from him. Once she's healed up, she'll have a new beginning."
And Thor, even though he didn't get any treats for his part in stopping a potentially fatal situation, is well cared for.
"He's always spoiled," Jensen said. "He's been getting a few extra table scraps. He's getting fat from them."
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--intro to post edited to spell Niece correctly.