Both Hollis and Larey were ordered out the driver-side door, and the man ordered Hollis to "take off goddamn britches." After he complied, the man struck him in the head twice with a pistol. Larey later told investigators that the noise was so loud she had initially thought Hollis had been shot, when it had actually been his skull fracturing. Thinking the assailant wanted to rob them, Larey showed him Hollis's wallet to prove he had no money, after which she was struck with a blunt object. The assailant ordered her to stand, and when she did, told her to run. Initially, she tried to flee towards a ditch, but the assailant ordered her to run a different direction up the road.