The Mad Chopper: a Chilling Story of Survival & a Maniac Set Free After 8 Years...

In 1978, 15-year old Mary Vincent, far from home without money or transportation, decided to hitchhike to her next destination. A man picked her up, and a horrifying sequence of events would follow, leading to an incredible survival story, a horrible miscarriage of justice, and a murder that should have never been allowed to happen.

Mary Vincent

Mary Vincent was born in 1963 and grew up in Las Vegas. She was one of seven children, living with her mother, a former blackjack dealer, and her father who worked as a mechanic. She was a typical teenager and enjoyed competitive dancing. She had dreams of someday becoming a professional and traveling the world. Sadly, her parents decided to divorce and Mary, along with her boyfriend at the time, drove off to California. There, the two lived out of a car for a while, until her boyfriend was arrested for the raping of another girl. Vincent was now on her own and made the decision to hitchhike to her grandfather’s home in Berkley, California.

During the 1970’s, hitchhiking was much more commonplace than it is today and seen as relatively safe, especially if hitchhiking in groups. In Mary Vincent’s case, however, she was picked up by a man named Lawrence Singleton, who would turn out to be anything but safe. Even though she was there with two other hitchhikers, Singleton explained that he only had room in van for one. Mary climbed into his van and was told that he would take her as far as Interstate 5. However, he kept driving passed this point, prompting Mary, already feeling very uneasy, to ask where he was going. He turned around, explaining that he was an honest man who made a simple mistake.

Lawrence Singleton

Later, he said he needed a bathroom break and stopped the van. Mary got out as well and it was around this time when the nightmare began. Singleton knocked her out with a sledgehammer, tied her hands, dragged her to the back of the van, and repeatedly raped her throughout the night. Early the next morning, Mary begged him to let her go. Instead, he took a hatchet and brutally chopped off both of her arms, threw off a 30-foot cliff near Del Puerto Canyon and left her to die on the concrete pipe where she landed. The brutality of this assault is at a level almost unheard of – not only did he rape and attempt to kill her but did so by chopping off her arms and leaving her to bleed out.

He assumed she was either already dead or would quickly die of blood loss with no way to do anything about it. He was wrong. Despite the urge to give up and accept death rather, the traumatized 15-year old took action and packed the stumps of her arms with earth in order to slow down the bleeding. She climbed her way back to the road and walked 3 miles, holding her hands up in order to prevent as much blood loss as possible as well as contain the muscles inside. Two men driving along saw her and were so terrified, they drove off. The next car stopped and took her to a hospital.

Miraculously, Mary survived after a long and intense surgery. Doctors had to remove parts of her legs just to save what was left of her arms. She was given prosthetics and had to go through endless hours of physical therapy not to mention pyschotherapy to help deal with the trauma caused by horrors no one should ever have to go through. In the hospital, she stayed up late at nights helping police develop a composite and attempt to identify her attacker. Her descriptions were so clear that Lawrence Singleton’s neighbor immediately recognized him. He was promptly arrested and charged with kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder. With an amazing survival story, Mary Vincent’s life would go on, albeit now without her arms and Singleton would be tried and convicted and sent to prison for the rest of his life, where he could no longer rape and attempt to kill innocent women. At least, this is how the story should have ended.

Composite Sketch of Lawrence Singleton

Instead, due to California’s ridiculously lenient sentencing guidelines at the time, the Judge could only sentence Singleton to a mere 14 years in prison. The Judge said, “If I had the power, I would sentence him to prison for the rest of his natural life.” Mary’s testimony helped convict him, but no one could keep him behind bars for long. In fact, he didn’t even serve close to the 14 years he was sent to prison for. He was paroled for good behavior after eight short years, less than that he deserved even if he had let her go before chopping off her arms. He served eight years for raping, torturing and brutally dismembering a minor. He was released despite the fact that various psychiatrists who examined him reported that he had major personality disorders and was capable of angry and destructive outbursts on those weaker than he. He didn’t even have to pay for his crimes monetarily, despite a judge ruling in favor of Mary for $2.56 million in a Civil Lawsuit. Because Singleton was unemployed and poor, she was unable to collect.

The public outrage displayed at his release led to the Singleton Bill, which requires at least 25 years of prison time for those whose crimes involve torture. No community would accept him and he had to serve his parole in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin Prison. When he was finally completely free, he moved to Florida. Not surprisingly, he did not take advantage of this second chance that he certainly did not deserve. He spent years going in and out of jail for theft until the day came in 1997 when he attacked another innocent woman.

Singleton’s neighbors heard horrifying screams coming from his house and called 911. When first responders arrived, it was too late. They found the body of 31-year old Roxanne Haynes, a mother of three, covered in blood and stab wounds. Mary Vincent traveled to Florida to testify against Singleton, explaining what he had done to her. Because he had now killed somebody, the Judge could make sure this would never happen again. He sentenced Singleton to death. However, Singleton died of cancer in 2001 before the execution could take place.

Roxanne Hayes

The horrific nature of Singleton’s first crime did help change the laws in California, but a case like this helps to fuel debates over the differences in sentencing between Attempted Murder and Murder. The sin was effectively the same – a person tries to kill another. Should the fact that they were unsuccessful mean a much more lenient sentence? Of course, the final consequence of an act will always have an impact. Some one who is caught drinking and driving doesn’t have to suffer the same consequences as some one who accidentally kills some one else while driving drunk. However, even in that case – the sin was the same. The big difference is the person who committed this crime never intended to cause some one harm, although they should still be punished for their complete disregard for the safety of others. However, a person who rapes and then attempts to murder some one is just as much of a monster as some one who rapes and succeeds in killing some one. This is a person who doesn’t belong in society.

Mary Vincent struggled just to have a normal life, but she eventually had two children and founded the Mary Vincent Foundation to help other survivors of violent crimes. She found Art as a passion and learned to paint and draw, using specialized prosthetics that she invented. She was a victim of unspeakable violence and, and has gone through years of emotional and physical pain, but is now thriving and mostly at peace. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Roxanne Haynes, who should have never had to come face to face with Lawrence Singleton after the unthinkable crimes he committed. Perhaps there was little to nothing any one could have done to save Mary Vincent’s arms, but a terrible miscarriage of justice cost Roxanne Haynes her life.