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She knows they walked 0.62 miles, because she was tracking it to log for a Sesame Street virtual running challenge. After they heard some thunder, they began to walk back to their car. They were close to the parking lot when they spotted a man walking toward them.

“I saw this guy, who was fairly far ahead of us but not moving to the side (of the trail) at all and walking straight at us,” Kasper said. “... He kind of got close to us. He said, I think, ‘Do you live around here?’ And I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t want to say yes, didn’t want to say no.”

She quickly said she did and called for her son to hurry up because of the looming weather, passing the man. Kasper said she began to feel nervous when she noticed he had turned around and was following them.

“I said, ‘Excuse me, please don’t follow us,’” Kasper said. The man didn’t respond but kept following.

There were only a few people around as they neared the parking lot.

“He slowed down once he saw people, so I’m trying to get my son to move faster,” she said. “Honestly, I was really close to my car, because my son was standing with me, hand-in-hand, when he ran up behind me, stabbing me. It felt like I was being punched like in a boxing ring. I didn’t realize there was a knife. I was literally screaming bloody murder.”

While in shock, she saw the man holding a knife before he ran away. Kasper said she was somehow able to dial 911, and paramedics quickly responded from a nearby fire station.