Dateline NBC episode Left For Dead has explored the brutal assault on Fort Collins, Colorado resident Amber Smith in 2013. As reported by Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison, Amber was found lying brutally beaten in Cottonwood Glen Park on August 31, 2013.
She had sustained a broken jaw, brain injuries, and multiple scratch marks on her face. Furthermore, Amber's hands and feet were bound by red duct tape. On the evening of the incident, Amber Smith was reportedly drinking with a friend in Rossborough Park and later claimed that she did not remember much from what happened after.
Though the investigating officers initially could not find a DNA match from the evidence collected, the case was reopened after they got a potential lead in 2017. Consequently, a man named Stefan Moon was arrested on grounds of physical and sexual assault on Amber Smith. The official logline of Left For Dead reads:
"The survivor of a horrible attack is convinced the police on the case have the wrong suspect. Keith Morrison looks back on his heart-wrenching interview with the victim and her courageous quest to uncover the truth."
Disclaimer: This article contains descriptions of assault and s*xual violence. Please be advised.
What happened to Amber Smith?
As reported by Dateline, on the evening of August 30, 2013, Amber Smith was out drinking with her friends in Rossborough Park. She got too much drunk and was left behind by her friend on the park bench.
After the police got several calls from the local people reporting a woman screaming, a team set out immediately. In the early hours of August 31, Amber was found lying exposed and brutally beaten at Cottonwood Glen Park in Fort Collins.
She had a severed jaw and was tied with red duct tape when the police found her. There were scratch and strangulation marks on her face and neck, as per reports.
Her medical reports further revealed that she had suffered acute brain injuries, and there was evidence of s*xual assault as well. Amber was discovered about 1.5 miles away from where she was drinking with her friend the previous evening. It took her years to get physically better and recover from the trauma of the incident.
What did the investigation reveal?
Initially, the Colorado Police could not find any solid leads or witnesses. The DNA imprints recovered from Amber's clothes and the red duct tape could not bring in any matches.
They even brought her friend (with who she had been drinking) for routine questioning. But it only brought the authorities to a dead end, and thus, Amber's case went cold.
However, there was a breakthrough in the investigation in August 2017 when a guy named Stefan Moon(Amber's housemate) was arrested on grounds of pawning. It was a case of felony, so his DNA was collected, and surprisingly, it matched with a piece of four-year-old evidence, as per Sporstkeeda.
Thus, Stefan was arrested on grounds of sexual assault, second-degree kidnapping, and first-degree assault. He was, thus, sentenced to 128 years in prison and is currently being held at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility.
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As per reports, the police found 624 search results related to r*pe p*rn on Stefan's phone. It was also learned that Stefan and Amber were close friends - but the former never revealed anything to the victim.
Amber's head injury and trauma had also compromised her memories of the incident. As per Detective Siobhan Seymour (the one working the case at that time), Amber pursued a course in Addiction Counseling and took up a career in the same. It was a part of her journey towards self-discovery, per her statements.
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