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Portland attack survivor talks to 'The View'

David Strickland is currently seeking an appeal claiming new evidence has come to light.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A 2012 brutal attack on two women in portland will be highlighted in a new show on Investigation Discovery.

Kristene Chapa sat down with the view Tuesday morning to talk about her recovery, the murder of her girlfriend, and bringing their attacker to justice.

"I struggle with PTSD and anxiety, have panic attacks," Chapa said.

In an interview, Chapa explains how she will never fully recover from a  brutal attack that killed her girlfriend and left her severely wounded seven years ago.

"I won't have my independence back. Like I won't be able to live alone. I can't drive cause I have one-fourth of missing peripherals in each eye," Chapa said.

On June 23, 2012, Chapa and Mollie Olguin were at Violet Andrews Park in Portland when a stranger bound the two women, blindfolded and sexually assaulted them before shooting both in the head. 

"The nurse came down and was telling us that one of the girls had died, and one of them had lived, and they wanted to know if I would go upstairs and see if it was Kristene," Chapa's mother said.

Miraculously Chapa survived, but Olguin did not.

In 2016, David Strickland was found guilty of shooting and killing Mollie Olguin and severely injuring Chapa. Strickland was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"I felt powerful like I took my power back to be able to stand up against him, and then he couldn't even look at me, which was disappointing because I wanted him to see what he had done," Chapa said.

According to Chapa, even though Strickland couldn't look her in the eye, he taunted her family in court.

"I was scared that my family wasn't going to accept me, and then we're Catholic, so that's hard, and we live in South Texas. They're very conservative," Chapa said.

Chapa's mother never had anything to fear. 

"I was so worried about Kris surviving. It wouldn't have mattered," Chapa's mother said.

Strickland is currently seeking an appeal claiming new evidence has come to light.

"You survived this, and you are a pillar of strength. He's behind bars because of me, so he's watching this right now," The View said. 

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