Twenty years later: Victim fights to keep rapist locked up

astolfi@sanduskyregister.comIt's been twenty years since Carrie Caudill was abducted, raped and left for dead in a rural Strecker Road field.Her attacker has been behind bars for nearly as long.But next month, Larry Taylor, 67, is up for parole — and Caudill's now doing everything she can to ensure he stays locked away.Today, Caudill is headed to Cleveland to speak with the Ohio Parole Authority, and tell them exactly why she feels Taylor should remain in prison. "I don't want people to see me as a victim," Caudill, now 47, recently told the Register. "I want them to see me as someone that is strong. And I want to put myself out there to make sure nobody else is a victim."On April 2, 1995, a fight broke out amongst Caudill's acquaintances at a West Perkins Avenue bar, so she slipped outside and began to walk away to avoid the situation.Taylor, the bar's doorman that night, followed Caudill as she went. He eventually grabbed her, pulled her into an alley, bound her, then loaded her into his vehicle.So began several hours of torture.Taylor drove the woman to his Stacy Road home in Groton Township, and proceeded to repeatedly and violently assault her."He beat me, he raped me, he tortured me," Caudill said.Taylor even raped the woman with a burning-hot soddering gun — an act he later claimed was accidental.He eventually strangled Caudill and, thinking she was dead, dumped her in a farm field."I went in and out of consciousness throughout the attack, but at that point I knew I had to play dead. I felt him check for my pulse on my neck. I held my breath so he didn't know I was (alive)," Caudill said. "I knew I had to stay alive for my kids."And that she did.After everything she'd just endured, Caudill pulled herself up off the ground and ran to a nearby home to call police.She later testified at Taylor's trial, and helped put him away on a 180-year sentence.Ten years ago, Caudill addressed the parole board at Taylor's first parole hearing, and successfully argued against an early release.And now, she volunteers as a victim's advocate, in hopes of helping other local sexual assault victims.Caudill's been called a strong, courageous woman by Erie County officials, namely Sheriff Paul Sigsworth, prosecutor Kevin Baxter, and victim's advocate Sarah Reynolds."Typically, when we deal with sexual assault, many times we're dealing with an offender and victim who know each other — there's some kind of relationship there. But this one was extraordinarily brutal in nature: the stalking, the violent way in which she was abducted, and the sexual assault as well," Baxter said."This crime is one of the most troubling (sexual violence cases) we've seen. There's no reason to believe, based on his past history, that he would not re-offend again in the same or a similar fashion, Sigsworth said. "This really was a crime of extreme violence and sadism."Sigsworth said Taylor's sexually violent tendencies appeared long before he attacked Caudill. In the 70s, a young woman was walking down a Huron street when a naked Taylor ran up, tackled her and then tried to publicly rape her. In another incident, he went into a Sandusky laundry facility and shredded women's underwear.Both the prosecutor and sheriff will accompany Caudill and her daughter to today's hearing, as both officials made it clear Taylor is not someone they want to see released.Taylor himself is slated to appear before the parole board in March, and a decision will be made soon after.In the meantime, Caudill shared a personal message, directed at the man who brutalized her all those years ago: "He might read this, so (I'll) let him know: He will not win. He's not going to beat me. I will come out the winner in the end."