Greenport Woman Survives Carjacking, Receives New Car After Outpouring of Community Support

GREENPORT, NY- After surviving a harrowing carjacking, 23-year-old Rachel Stephenson, of Greenport, is overwhelmed by an outpouring of love that has allowed her to purchase a new vehicle — and focus on the future.

On her Facebook page Friday, Stephenson thanked the many who came together to help her buy a new car and begin her journey forward: “Yesterday, thanks to the incredible kindness of old and new friends near and far, I was able to close a chapter of my life and start a new one. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart to everyone who helped to make this possible.”

Stephenson had spent the Christmas holiday with her parents in Greenport and and was driving back to Binghamton, where she is studying for her master’s degree in social work, on Dec. 30 to spend New Year’s Eve with her boyfriend Nick.

She stopped for gas in East Stroudsberg, Penn., and the journey took a terrifying turn when a man stole her car, with the young woman inside.

“A young man jumped into my driver’s seat. I attempted to get him out, and when it dawned on me that he was taking my car whether I wanted him to or not, I tried to grab my cats, Milo and Blade, and escape. He pulled me into the car and drove off.”

Trapped for miles with her abductor, Stephenson said he drove north toward Binghamton until they reached Tobyhanna, Penn., and he turned around, stating that he wanted to go to Virginia.

“We began to head south, and with every gas station that passed, I encouraged him to stop. Finally, in Frackville, he exited the highway and I was able to flee when he put the car in park at the Uni-mart gas station. He fled south again with my vehicle and cats, eventually crashing in the Carlisle/Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania. I recovered my battered vehicle and pets the next morning,” she said.

According to Stroud Area Regional Police Department, Raliek Aminkal Chambers, 18, was arrested and charged with robbery of a motor vehicle, kidnapping for ransom, kidnapping to facilitate a felony, receiving stolen property, false imprisonment, simple assault and unlawful restraint in relation to the alleged carjacking. Police said Chambers called Stephenson his hostage and struck her several times.

“No matter how many times I tell my story, the pang in my stomach never goes away when I reimagine the young man in my driver’s seat pulling me into my own car and calling me his hostage,” Stephenson said Friday. “The entire time I was there I kept wondering if I would ever see my family again. if I would ever hear them laugh or hold them close again. As I saw the texts flooding into my phone from my boyfriend, begging me to tell him where I was and if I was okay, I had to fight back tears wondering if I would ever be able to tell him I love him again. Thankfully, those chances weren’t taken away from me.”

Although her car was recovered, driving the vehicle brought back too many frightening memories. That’s when her father set up a GoFundMe page, to help her purchase a new car.

“Each day brought on a slew of anxiety and panic symptoms as I attempted to drive the car. I would break down in tears just thinking about it. It no longer felt like my vehicle, it was a tangible memory of what had happened to me,” she said.

Although Stephenson did not meet the entire fundraising goal, “It was through the amazing generosity of my community and others near and far that I was able to put a $5,500 down payment on a new car, a 2013 Volkswagen Passat. While it’s exciting to have a new car, its more of a relief for me than anything else. I can finally feel safe and secure again. I don’t have to brace myself every morning to walk out to my car and get in the driver’s seat. I can be comfortable. I can start feeling like myself again,’ she said.

The outpouring of concern has carried her through the dark days since the carjacking, she said. ”The love that resonates in our small community is what made this all possible. There have been so many mornings when I wake up from nightmares, or when I could barely bring myself to get into the driver’s seat of the Saturn, that I have gotten messages or calls from people from home.”

One close friend, who is herself battling cancer, writes on Stephenson’s Facebook wall each morning, ”sharing her amazing strength with me, reminding me that I’m loved and that I’m not alone. While the tangible support helped me to shut one horrid chapter from my life, it is the small pieces of love and kindness each day that have helped me the most — the messages from friends who I haven’t heard from in years reminding me that I’m cared for, and messages from friends that I hold closest to my heart, letting me know that their lives would have been forever changed if something more had happened,” she said. “Those are the things that keep me going.”

Both of her cats emerged from the ordeal unscathed, Stephenson said.

Her family, she added, remains her biggest support system. “I talk to my parents every day, and hear from my other family members a few times a week. We no longer take our ’I love you’s’ for granted. They are what has kept me grounded. They’ve encouraged me to do what I need to for myself in order to heal, something that has not always been easy for me.”

Looking ahead, Stephenson hopes to put the experience behind her. She’s sought counseling to help her cope with handling what happened, and she is surrounded by the support of the many who love her.

“I’ve learned so much about myself throughout this ordeal,” she said. “While I have fleeting moments of anger, I have more moments of sadness, and of resolve. Yes, a terrible and traumatic thing happened to me, but I will never let that define me. Instead, I want to help those who have gone through experiences like my own to maintain their courage and move forward with strength. I also want to work to help those like my captor, to change their lives for the better so they never have to reach the point where they harm someone else and change their entire future, for the worse. This experience will not cripple me – won’t let it. Instead, I want to give my strength and passion to others.”

Patch photos courtesy of Rachel Stephenson. Photo of Rachel Stephenson and her boyfriend Nick, and a photo of her new car.