5 Key details about Amber Smith's assault as seen on Dateline NBC, explored

Season 29, Episode 2 of NBC crime drama Dateline "Left For Dead" tells the story of Amber Smith, who survived a brutal attack in 2013. She was left with a broken jaw and brain bleed. After years of investigation with no leads on the attacker, Stefan Moon was arrested. Surprisingly, he was someone Amber already knew.

Her case gained nationwide attention and got featured in NBC's show Dateline. Here are 5 key details about Amber Smith's assault as seen on Dateline NBC.

5 key details about Amber Smith's assault as seen on Dateline NBC

At the time, Smith was a 20-year-old single mother who worked at a local 7-11 to make ends meet. She had a three-year-old son, Gabriel. Here are the 5 key details about Amber Smith's assault case as shown in Dateline:

Amber was strangled before she lost consciousness

After the attack, Amber could only remember drinking with friends late that evening at Rossborough Park. She passed out at the picnic table that night. When she opened her eyes she was bound with duct tape and a man was on top of her. She couldn't see the man's face, then he hit hard on her jaw and strangled her before she lost consciousness.

Amber suffered horrific injuries

Amber woke up naked, bound, and bleeding in another Park- Cottonwood Glea, which is 1.5 miles away from Fort Collins at 4 AM. She suffered broken jaws, brain trauma, and strangulation marks. Even then, she managed to call for help. The police found Amber after getting calls from people who could hear her screaming. She was brutally raped, strangled, and beaten and was left to die.

To stabilize her injuries, Smith was rushed to the hospital. Detective Siobhan Seymour visited her in the emergency room.

“She had suffered from a broken jaw, a brain bleed. One of her eyes was almost swollen shut. She had these ligature marks on her neck, where you could tell she had been strangled,” Seymour said. “She had a hard time speaking because her jaw hurt so badly.”

The officers got the DNA of the attacker

After the attack, the officers got the DNA of the attacker from the duct tape on her body. Amber's memory of the attack was hazy. The first investigation resulted in no leads or matches. But Seymour knew that he should first talk to Amber's friend she was with that day. Vanagunas DNA was taken, but it didn't match.

Expand Tweet

Amber met her rapist unknowingly 2 years after the attack

Months followed, and Amber was terrified to move out of her home and looked at people with suspicion around her or in the street if someone looked at her for a bit longer. Finally, to face her fears, she decided to live with her friends, who offered her a safe space. Stefan 'Sam' Moon became her friend as he lived in another room and was always there for her anytime she wanted to talk about the attack.

The arrest of Stefan Moon

In 2017, a man got arrested for stealing a bike, and this is how Stefan Moon's DNA was entered into the database that matched the case. Smith was unable to believe this, and she called Moon. Moon clarified to the police and Smith that he did have sex with Amber that night but didn't hurt her. This was later proven wrong as his DNA not only matched with the one found inside Amber's body but also that was in the duct tape.

Stefan Moon was arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including sexual assault and attempted murder. Moon was sentenced to 128 years to life in prison.

Expand Tweet