In 2017, 21-year-old Stellenbosch University student Hannah Cornelius was carjacked after dropping off a friend in the early hours of the morning. She was brutally gang-raped, stabbed in the neck, and mu*dered when a 37.5-kilogram rock was dropped on her head. The details of what happened are deeply disturbing. On May 27, 2017, Hannah and her friend, 22-year-old Cheslin Marsh, were sitting in her grandmother’s blue-and-white Volkswagen Citi Golf outside his residence in Stellenbosch, South Africa, saying their goodbyes. Four men approached the vehicle and threatened them with a sharpened screwdriver and a knife through the open window. Vernon Witbooi, Geraldo Parsons, and Eben van Niekerk forced their way into the car. At approximately 3:40 a.m., the vehicle drove away with all five people inside. Cheslin was forced into the boot while the group drove to a drug dealer’s home, where they smoked crystal meth before continuing through Stellenbosch. At 4:34 a.m., CCTV footage captured Witbooi entering a petrol station and attempting to use Cheslin’s stolen bank card. The PIN he had been given was incorrect. Near Kraaifontein, the men stopped and dragged Cheslin from the boot. They forced him onto the ground, beat him over the head with bricks, and left him unconscious. Hannah was taken to an isolated paintball range, where she was gang-r*ped by multiple men over several hours. She was then driven to Groenhof Farm, stabbed in the neck, and k*lled when a 37.5-kilogram rock was dropped onto her head twice. Her body was discovered later that morning. Cheslin eventually regained consciousness and managed to walk to the nearest home he could find. He survived, but was left permanently deaf in one ear. Witbooi and Parsons were arrested that afternoon following a police chase. Van Niekerk and Nashville Julius were arrested the following day. In November 2018, the Western Cape High Court sentenced Witbooi, Parsons, and van Niekerk to two life sentences each for Hannah’s r*pe and mu*der. Julius received 22 years for robbery and kidnapping. At the sentencing, Hannah’s father, Willem Cornelius, spoke words that captured the devastation experienced by her family: “Our family died on the day Hannah died.” Willem died on December 9, 2022. Hannah’s mother, Anna, had been found dead in the South Atlantic Ocean in March 2018. Her death was ruled accidental. And Hannah’s younger brother, who has autism, continued asking when his sister was coming home. A young woman’s life was stolen in an act of unimaginable violence. Her family was left carrying a grief that no sentence could ever undo. Hannah deserved a future filled with love, laughter, and possibility. May her memory never be forgotten.

Elizabeth Shoaf was just 14 when a man approached her with a badge, handcuffs and what appeared to be a firearm, claiming he was a police officer. Believing him, she allowed him to put her in handcuffs. Instead of taking her home, he led her into the woods. It was September 6, 2006. Elizabeth had just stepped off her school bus in Lugoff, South Carolina, only a short distance from her front door. The man was 36-year-old Vinson Filyaw, who had built a hidden underground bunker in the woods. It was roughly 15 feet deep, reinforced with timber and stocked with supplies. He held Elizabeth captive there for 10 terrifying days, subjecting her to repeated abuse and threatening that the ground above the bunker was rigged with explosives if she tried to escape. But Elizabeth refused to give up hope. She realised that surviving might depend on earning his trust. She stayed calm, acted friendly and eventually persuaded him to let her use his mobile phone to play games. On the ninth night, while he was asleep, Elizabeth used the phone to send a message to her mother. She identified herself, said she was alive and explained that she was being held in a bunker. Her mother recognised the message immediately and contacted authorities. Investigators used mobile-phone records to narrow the search area and identify Filyaw. Police then released his name and photograph to the local media. Remarkably, Filyaw and Elizabeth watched the report together on his television inside the bunker. He panicked. The following morning, he left. Elizabeth climbed out of the underground hideout and began shouting for help until a deputy found her. Filyaw was arrested on September 17, 2006, while walking along a highway. He was carrying a pellet gun, a knife and night-vision goggles. He later pleaded guilty to 17 charges. On September 19, 2007, he was sentenced to 421 years in prison. Filyaw died in prison on May 3, 2021. Elizabeth’s ordeal was horrific, but her courage and quick thinking helped bring her home. At just 14, she found a way to reach the outside world when almost everything had been taken from her. Her survival is a reminder of the extraordinary strength a young person can show in the most frightening circumstances.

Fernwood Bakery on Maple Street in Galveston, Texas. Every morning at 8:10, the same thing happens. The door is propped open for deliveries. A tan mixed-breed with a gray muzzle walks in. Ignores the bread. Ignores the customers. Goes directly to the owner, Rosa, 67, who lost her husband of 41 years last spring. The dog, who the staff calls Dulce, stands up and wraps both paws around Rosa's shoulders. Holds for about fifteen seconds. Then leaves. This has happened every morning for six months. Rosa told us: "I don't know where she comes from. She won't take food. She won't stay. She just comes to hug me and then goes." Her daughter said: "Dulce started coming the week after the funeral. Same time. Every single day." Some things arrive exactly when they are needed most.