The Other 6 Days

Overcoming in Life: Renee Aguilar | The Other 6 Days | Episode 75

• Southwest Church • Season 4 • Episode 75

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 47:54

In this episode, we sit down with Renee Aguilar, a real estate professional whose routine day took an unexpected turn that would forever reshape her perspective on life, faith, and awareness.

Joined by Pastor Ricky Jenkins, this conversation explores how God’s presence often meets us in moments we don’t plan for—and how discernment, courage, and faith can guide us through situations we never saw coming.

Renee shares her story with honesty and grace, offering a powerful reminder that even in the most uncertain moments, God is present, God is speaking, and God is at work.

For more information or to join the conversation, head over to https://southwestchurch.com/theother6days or email us at theother6days@southwestchurch.com

FOLLOW US!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theother6dayspodcast/
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theother6days
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@theother6days

Welcome And Why This Story

SPEAKER_00

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Other Six Days podcast, where we chat about life outside of Sundays and what it means to live from our gatherings and not just for them. I'm your host, CJ McFadden, and today I'm joined by Pastor Ricky Jenkins, as always. And today we have a very special guest, Renee Aguilar. Renee, we're so glad that you're here with us today.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. So today's conversation is a little different than usual here on the other six days. This one's about awareness and discernment and what happens when the ordinary moment becomes something that you never expected. But more than that, it's really about how God shows up in every circumstance. So, Renee, you've got a powerful story to share with us today. Uh, why don't we start by actually just telling us a little bit about how you and uh Pastor Ricky met, maybe and kind of start there. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

So this is fun that we finally get to do this. Finally, yeah. And this platform. So Renee and I, her husband Steve, and um we each have a mutual friend couple, right? Okay. That's all here at Well Spring. And they brought us all together, which was real cool for me because it was my first time to go to a a racing track.

SPEAKER_03

One of my first times as well.

SPEAKER_01

Is that what you call it, Renee? A racing track? Yeah. I don't think that sounded right. Racing track thermal, yeah. So it's racing track, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, you can't you're out there, you can't even believe it exists in these indie cars. I'm like, where it's like Kentucky over cars. Yeah. And everybody's just entered. We have it's we're having a great time watching all these cars, and our friends introduce us to one another, and we just get to talking.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

In fact, I think I was with Andrew on our team here. You know, I I think Renaissance, I th you knew who I was. It really is what comes.

SPEAKER_03

Of course, because I go to church here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I'm sorry for that. Uh that you've got to talk a right. Like, you know, and then I was like, so yeah, so what do you do? So it went from normal, what do you do, to such and such. And then you tell me that you're working with potential studios and other forms of media to share a story of what you went through. Right. And so that naturally, okay, well, what happened? Right. And you get to telling me what you're about to tell our entire audience today. And y'all, all I can tell you is that I was, I think we talked an hour that day.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, those cars were racing by, and even as loud as they were, we were still talking about it.

SPEAKER_01

And as entertaining and exciting, that was it pales in comparison to what you guys are going to hear. Your story is powerful. I've never heard anything like it. And Renee, do you remember this? I kept saying, Are you for real? Yes. What? Excuse me? I kept saying yes. That's true. Are you sorry? So, like five, ten minutes in, I'm like, it's what's happening right now until I realize, oh my goodness, it's one of the most powerful stories I ever heard. And that was a year ago.

SPEAKER_03

A year ago.

SPEAKER_01

That's a week. Maybe a little over a year ago. I think it was over a year ago, because this is May. Yeah. That was over a year ago. Because that was seasoned. So, anyways, I'm I thank you for saying yes to this. We're just excited to hear what God's gonna say through you today. So my pleasure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Renee, why don't you give us a little background that kind of led up to this experience, you know, like what kind of set us up for that?

Real Estate Startup And New Client

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Yeah. All right. So um I was uh 27 years old at the time. This was almost 30 years ago now. And my husband, Steve and I, um were newly married. We'd only been married nine months, and um we owned a real estate company in Marina Del Rey, uh, California, uh, right on the border of Venice. On Venice Boulevard, we had our first little office, and uh we were scrapping. We had just gone out on our own. Um, he had been selling real estate for a really long time. I was a title rep. That's how we met. And um so we decided to start our own brokerage, which was very risky and uh really just flying by the seat of our pants, but had gotten our corner and we were going for it. So um I was working with buyers primarily. My husband was a listing agent, and uh, we had several agents at work for us at the time, not that many. Um and so one day uh a man comes in asking for me by name, and he had a magazine in his hand, uh, which was like a listing type magazine that you would put your uh, you know, showcase your top uh houses that you had listed at the time. And we just happened to have a multi-million dollar oceanfront property that was, you know, at that time close to $2 million, which was so much money back then. For sure.

SPEAKER_01

You know, the same thing as what, 20 today? Probably, probably, seriously. For sure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And so um, you know, we were very excited to have this listing. And uh so we took a full page ad out, which we couldn't afford to do in this magazine, and Steve and I put both of our, we he wanted both of our pictures in there. And so this man uh came into our office asking to see that property off that listing um uh magazine. And so he said that he was a um uh executive at Paramount Studios, and I had been working with a couple different people at Paramount. And so I kind of just assumed that's where he got my name. And he said, you know, he had mentioned, I would like to see that property. That's my price range. I'm coming out to relocate from Atlanta. Um presented himself as a big shot, right? And so, right off the bat, uh I was a little leery. I was very, very busy. My husband was very busy and he was taking up. I started showing him properties. He was taking up a lot of my time. He was demanding, he he really wanted to see a whole lot of properties. He wanted a quick close, um, and he was gonna pay cash. So, you know, to a real estate agent, you're like yes, we get to eat next month. That's great. Um pay the rent, that's what we need. And especially because we were, you know, just starting out. Um, so uh I was working very intently with him. I think I showed him 30 properties from Malibu to Manhattan Beach all the way up and down the coast. And I showed him a ton of properties that he said was his what he wanted. Um so towards we think I worked with him probably over three weeks, and I was getting a little frustrated and um because nothing seemed to work. And uh I show him on a whim a vacant house uh that he actually said he had driven past and he liked. Well, when I went, you know, I pulled the listing and I was like, this is absolutely nothing that he has been asking for, but that's not really unusual. Sometimes people do that. They'll say, This is what I want, this is what I can afford when really that's not what they can afford, and you have to back it up a little bit. So I figured that's what had happened because this house was a probate um and it was vacant. And you didn't back in that time, you did not show vacant houses very often. There was always a listing agent, a buyer's agent, and then your client, always on a showing. So um, so we went and um it was on a lockbox. So the first time we went, he seemed very interested in the house. And about three days later, called my assistant and said, Can you arrange a showing? I'd like to write an offer on that property. Now, this is the first offer that he's talking about writing. And I said, uh, and she said, Okay, I'll let her know. Well, ironically enough, um, my husband, well, it really wasn't irony. It this was planned. My husband, Steve, was um going uh away for the weekend with his brother and some friends camping in Malibu. So this is way before cell phones even worked in Malibu. Sure. Or if you even had a cell phone, you know, so 30 pagers, exactly. Exactly. Uh remember those? Yeah. Um, so uh this was on a Friday uh that he was leaving. He was leaving on a Friday, and on Saturday morning is when I got the call from him. I was holding another uh project that we had open that weekend uh that had some model homes. And before Steve left, he gave me a hug and said, Hey, by the way, I know you're holding um, it was called West Side Estates. So now you're holding Westside Estates open this weekend. A, can you please take Tammy, our assistant, with you when you're there? And B, don't if uh I don't want you alone in a house with a guy. Like if there's a man that comes in, just let him go, let him look. Don't, you don't need to follow in with him. And I sort of rolled my eyes at him and said, Okay, babe, you know, I'm a big girl, I can handle it, but okay, I hear you. So that was uh Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, I get the call. I'm working all day. I say I can't meet you until um five o'clock when the project closed. Um he said, Great, I'll meet you. I'll pick me, I'll pick you up. Now, this was unusual. I'll pick you up at the office. Um, and I said, and because I had usually driven when when he we would do our showings. And so I said, No, I'm coming from another place. I'll just meet you at the property. So when I got to the property, um, you know, it was starting to get a little dark, not not too dark. Um, and he was standing there with a briefcase in his hand um at the front door waiting for me.

SPEAKER_01

And was that you unusual? Very okay. He had never had a briefcase before.

SPEAKER_03

So first thing I noticed, I thought, oh, that's kind of weird, you know. But oh, we're writing an offer. So it's got his it's got his cash, right?

SPEAKER_02

That's how I buy my houses. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Right? Briefcase full of cash. That's the way we do it. Yeah. No. But I thought, well, maybe he had checks and you know, pay he's gonna put his paperwork in there. So um I have my briefcase and I open up the house and I was fumbling with the lockbox a little bit because you know they were a little tricky. And he um he was getting frustrated. He's like, come on, you know, get the and I was like, where's that coming from? You know, this this urgency. Um still didn't really think much about it. Um, got into the house. I was more worried about do I have all my contracts and you know, we're gonna write this offer. And I was thinking ahead to how am I gonna present this and blah, blah. So we get into

The Vacant House Warning Signs

SPEAKER_03

the house. I walk, it was a tri-level house. So we walked in on the main floor that had the kitchen and like a living area, and then you would walk up stairs, and that was where bedrooms were and another kind of loft space. So he walks up there immediately to the second floor, and he starts closing all the uh blinds and and curtains um on the windows. And I remember looking up thinking, that's kind of odd. You know, why would he be doing that? And immediately my husband's voice popped into my head. And you know what? Maybe it wasn't my husband's voice, maybe it was God. Sure. Um, but someone was saying, get out of there. You're in a vacant house with a man on a Saturday night. No one knows where you are. Yeah. Um, get out. And, you know, as a real estate agent, I'm thinking, I can't just leave. He's gonna think I'm I'm crazy, right? So I said to him, um, but I I my gut was really screaming. Bells and whistles were going off. And so I said, Look, I forgot part of the contract. So sorry. I'm gonna go back to my office, which was literally two blocks around the corner. I'm gonna go back to the office and grab the contract and I will be right back. You just keep looking around, make yourself comfortable, gather some questions, and I'll be right back. No, no, no, no, don't leave, don't leave, don't leave. It's okay. We'll can go back to the office together. I said, no, no, no, just and as I'm saying this, I'm walking out the door. And I can see him sort of like, you know, flustered. Um, but I didn't care at that point. I thought I'm just gonna get out of here. So my hope was that our assistant was still at our office and I was gonna grab her and bring her back with me. Um, so I get to our office, and when I uh walk in the door, uh, we had a reception area, and that was the closest phone. And I pick up the phone and I start dialing a friend of mine who I'm supposed to meet at seven o'clock for dinner. And I was just gonna tell her where I was, and I was probably gonna be late. And as I'm dialing the phone, I hear the door whoosh

A Gun At The Office

SPEAKER_03

behind me. It was a glass door. I didn't lock the door. I didn't think, I had no reason to think he would follow me. And when I looked up, he was walking towards me with a gun pointed at me.

SPEAKER_01

Lord Jesus.

SPEAKER_03

And yeah, that's what I thought. Lord, what's happening here? You know, when you're faced with that kind of thing, uh, that's so out of context and so out of character, it doesn't you you can't make sense of it right away, you know?

SPEAKER_01

And so what's the feeling? He's coming towards you. What's the feeling in your soul, in your mind?

SPEAKER_03

Well, ironically, Ricky, the first thing that came to my mind, and this is you know, okay, this is something that Steve and I laugh at to this day. I thought maybe he was playing a prank on me. Yeah. You were in a vacant house with a guy. I told you not to do that. Yeah. When the gun came out, I actually knew that that, you know, maybe was not taking it a little too far. Uh so I said that to him. I said, Is this a joke? You know, because I just couldn't imagine that it was real. Like, how could this guy that I had been working with and w formed a working relationship and that 30 houses usually you know, and spent time with him hold be holding a gun at my head, like what? So um, so he got very agitated when I asked him that question and used a lot of expletives that I will not uh repeat here and asked me, does this look like a joke? And in that moment, I could see crazy in his eyes. And I thought, wow, I'm I'm I'm thinking I might be in trouble here. And so our offices at the time, uh, we had just opened them, and uh Steve's office was the only one that sat off to the side that when you were looking into the office, it was just sort of a straight, you know, narrow office. His was off to the side, so you could not see in it from from the street or the parking lot. So he tells me, go into that office. And you know, that was the longest walk of my life. I just thought, oh, you know, I didn't know. I didn't know. Is he gonna shoot me when we get in there? Is he going to rape me? Is he going to be like, what is happening? Why is he doing this? So um I did. I walked in and he instructed me to sit behind Steve's desk. Um, and so I'm sitting in my husband's desk with this man who has a gun at my head, and he puts the briefcase that he had on Steve's desk and he pops it open with one hand and turns it around. And inside is what looks like a bomb, you know, sticks of dynamite and a timer, handcuffs, uh, duct tape, and like a little um white rag of some sort. And, you know, again, I'm like, what is this? You know, what is happening? So he proceeds to tell me that he's been hired by someone, he doesn't know who, um, to kill me. And that now this is May 3rd, 1997, and that I he was instructed for me to be dead by May 5th for him to get paid $50,000. And, you know, immediately my brain is, I don't think I have any enemies. Like who, no, that's not true either. There's no way. And so I wouldn't, I I kept refuting his story. And the more I did that, the angrier he got. And so, you know, the gun is shaking in my face. I can see sweat dripping down his face, sweat's now dripping down my face. I start crying. Of course. Um, and because I'm just so overwhelmed, and he does not like that. He does not like me crying. And so he comes over and he kind of shakes me, like, get it together. And um, which is so ironic, really, you know. But I even the fact that he was getting that close to me, I was very so I immediately I calmed down and I looked. Now remember, I'm sitting in my husband's chair behind his desk, and he has our wedding picture sitting right there to the left, um, a big eight by ten, us looking at each other lovingly in Santa Monica. And I remember looking at that picture in that moment uh and thinking, uh-uh, nope, not today. Today is not the day I'm going out. Um, and this feeling of just resolute calmness came over me. And that, not knowing in the moment what that was, 100% was God. That was God taking control of that situation and allowing me to stay calm enough to eventually talk him out of whatever craziness was going on in his mind. Um, and I was, you know, I didn't know what what could I possibly say to this man to let him let me go, right? Um again, got at work. The this the the idea just flowed out of my mouth. I didn't even really know what I was saying. And what I offered was, well, if someone has paid you $50,000 to kill me, what if I paid you more not to? I mean, if it's just about the money, you don't have any personal thing against me, do you? No, no, I don't really want to kill you. You know, this is what he's saying to me. Okay, great. Well, I don't want to die. So how about I pay you a little bit more to make that happen, right? And I'm thinking, well, first of all, Steve and I didn't have two pennies to rub together, much less, you know, over fifty thousand dollars. But I told him I did. And I said uh that I had uh the money in a safe at our house. We lived in the Palisades at the time.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

And uh that house has since burned down, sadly. Sadly. Um, but um that's what I told him. I said, if you let me go, I will go get that money and I'll bring it back to you. And you can stay right here. Or, you know, I didn't want him coming to my house, um, especially because I didn't have the money. So I'm just thinking, get in the car and get out, you know, drive straight to a police um so, but he had threatened me about that. He said, Okay, so I'll back up the truck for a second. So he says, I can't do that. If I do that, you're gonna go to the police, you're going to alert someone, and I'm, you know, gonna get in trouble and that's not gonna work. And I said, Okay, so what else? You know, it he said, Well, how about this? Uh we're gonna go to Mexico together. You're gonna disappear, you're gonna get the money, we're gonna go to Mexico, and you're gonna leave a note for your husband and tell him that you've left him. And that's what we're going to do. And, you know, at that point, I'm I'll do say yes to anything to get out of there. So I said, okay, that that's a perfect plan. I'll go get my passport, I'll go get the money, I'll meet you at terminal three at LAX in an hour and a half. You better be there. I will. I will be there. So he lets me go.

Escape And Law Enforcement Response

SPEAKER_03

We walk out into the parking lot, and I had a convertible at the time, and he had told me that that bomb that was in the briefcase, the bomb, that was supposed to go into my car, and that was how he was supposed to kill me. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. And so, but he could bring himself to hold a gun in my head, right? You know. Well, long story short, he lets me go and I drive home. Uh, I was out of my mind at that point. I don't remember driving home. Yeah, I don't remember anything of that drive. Uh, you know, the reality of it was and the shock was really hitting me hard at that moment. But I had Steve and I uh, as I said, we're married for nine months. I had a um uh puppy at home that was my first baby, and I thought I'm getting my dog. And so stupidly I went home and I got my dog and I went to a friend's house. And that friend, I didn't even know where Steve was. So that friend's husband was supposed to be with Steve, and he had gotten sick that morning. So he knew where they were, but he didn't go. So I went to her house and I literally passed out on her doorstep. You know, the all the shock just sort of caught up with you. Caught up with me in that moment. Um, so uh a whole lot of things ensued after that. You know, the LA LAPD got involved. Um, they found Steve, they brought him back to her house. They soon had an inkling of who he was, but they weren't telling Steve and I who he was um because they wanted to be sure and they needed mugshots for me to be able to, so you know, this again, 30 years ago technology, you couldn't just look it up on your phone or have an email sent or a picture sent. So the next morning, um uh now we have police. Uh we we go back to our house in the Palisades and it's just police central. We have LAPD, uh ATF of alcohol, arms, tobacco, um, and the FBI um all sitting in our living room. Amazing. And they get out a uh a book and they say, Can you pick him out of these five men? And of course I could immediately well uh come to find out that this man um was uh a fugitive and he had served 13 years of a 25 year to life sentence for murdering a real estate agent in a vacant home in Atlanta. And the way that he killed her. Was he put an eco ether soaked rag, which was that white rag in the briefcase over her mouth? And I don't know the means or way that he murdered her, but he did. And um, and then he was arrested. He and he um he went on the lamb after that. Well, he went on the lamb after after me as well. So once we knew who this man was and we knew how dangerous he was, and the FBI was like, you know, this guy has a rap sheet that you wouldn't believe, um, then they the hunt was on for him. And so um he disappeared for about 10 days. Um when they finally found him, he was in Arizona, he had fled California. Um, but I forgot a part. That next day, the FBI says, We'd like to do a sting operation at your office. Would you be willing to? Because he's now still calling me on my voicemail.

SPEAKER_01

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, saying you didn't show up. I'm coming after you, I'm going to kill you and your husband and your dog. I know where you live. He had been following me the whole time we had been working together. He had been staying in a motel down the street from our office. He had been watching us come and go for weeks. So he knew a lot. Yeah, he knew a lot. And so we had police, you know, that stayed around our home for that whole 10 days that he was on the lamb, which was also incredibly uh traumatic. Um, I didn't leave my house, I don't think, for that entire period of time. Um, and when they finally found him, he was going into a Home Depot to um buy rope.

SPEAKER_01

Goodness gracious Allah.

SPEAKER_03

And when they he finally came out, uh, they apprehended him, arrested him, and in his trunk was all the things that the briefcase, everything that he had used against me. In addition, uh there was a binder in there that had photographs of what we think has Steve and I didn't actually see the binder. We were told about it. Um, and supposedly just hundreds of pictures of women in all sorts of compromising positions. I don't, I don't know how else to describe that. Um so that that really, I mean, when I really it was one thing to have this be, okay, this this was a crazy man, and this is, you know, I just happened to be in the wrong place in the wrong time. But that was not what what had happened. You know, he was a a killer who was this was his MO. You know, he would seek out real estate agents and uh murder them. And it's it's I don't know how many others there are. Uh I only know of the one, uh, but I have an inkling there's more than than that. And because when he fled Los Angeles, he went straight, he went to Arizona, he was gone for 10 days. Within one week, he had already contacted another real estate agent. Jeez, and he was on his way to a showing at nine o'clock that morning with her at a vacant house. So uh yeah, he was he wasn't scared. He wasn't even scared that you know people were after him. He didn't care, he was so sick in his manner that that's all he cared about doing. And that's something typical that I've learned now after researching um, you know, the the the mind of a sociopath. Uh, because it is hard to make sense of it when you're the victim of, well, why me? And why, why, why did he do that? Why is why is he like that? You know, it was very hard for me to wrap my head. I've always been raised with, you know, you treat people well, they'll treat you well back. And this, of course, flipped that on its end. Um, but you know, coming out of that, um, a lot of people have asked me, you know, oh my, first of all, how you survive, how did you survive that? Like what gave you that that ability to talk yourself off out of being murdered? Um it was God. I mean, there was really no other explanation for it. I I I couldn't, I didn't have the luxury of sitting there thinking, okay, like what can I do? I could try this, I could try that. You know, when you're staring down the barrel of a gun, all you're thinking is, please, God, don't let that gun go off. Because that'll just not be a good thing. So um the fact that I was able to stay calm and talk my way out of it was was really just God speaking through me. And I I realize now that God used me um to get him off the streets.

Trial Aftermath And God's Hand

SPEAKER_03

And that was, you know, like why me? It doesn't really matter. It was me. And and um wow. And I'm just so grateful because there was a whole trial that ensued after they they had brought him back to California from Arizona. Um, he represented himself, which also posed very different. He and he had in his first uh trial as well, which you know, anyone who's knows anything about laws, you certainly do not represent yourself, especially when you're up for murder charges. Um so that shows the level of crazy that was going on there. Absolutely. Um, but uh yeah, so he was, it was his third strike in California. We did not know that at the time, and the jury obviously could not know that. Uh, but the thing that came from that trial that really uh, you know, really shocked me uh was the fact that we could not use any of the information from the fact that he murdered a real estate agent and the the manner in which he did it, we couldn't use any of it. We couldn't tell the jury jury anything.

SPEAKER_01

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03

Because why? It was prejudicial against him. Yeah. And, you know, uh it was so close. We were told later how close the the sentence was because uh, or the verdict was because we weren't able to give him all the information. So what were they really looking at? What could they really convict him on? And luckily there was enough there to stick that, you know, kidnapping attempt on my behalf. I I don't even remember all the charges that were that put before him. But then obviously, once they they did uh sent they did come with a a guilty verdict, then the judge obviously could see his past and his rap sheet. And it was his third strike in California.

SPEAKER_01

And that is the only thing that's the only thing that got him put away.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Only reason. I mean, had that been his first strike in California, he would have walked probably in a year. And so yeah, it's very scary because it's very scary in the sense that it's not just about it's not just about what happened to me. It's about how many other things happened. That's right. You know, yeah, and how many other people he affected in how many other women he terrorized, how many other people he might and we might not ever know. Right. Um, but uh I know that God used me as a vehicle to to get him.

SPEAKER_00

Well, practically he used you to get a killer off the streets for potentially other women. Yes. Um, I mean you, you know, in essence, he used you as an instrument to help save other women's lives and to share the story and all of that. But how did how did this like how does this shape your faith?

SPEAKER_03

Like that's funny you asked me that. So um, you know, initially um I was raised Catholic and uh went to Catholic school my whole life. And so when this happened, I was 27. I was sort of struggling in my faith, I would say, at that point. Um I uh not ever, I never pulled away from God. I just sort of walked a little, a little sideways. Um, but always there. He was always there, and and I was always um strong in my conviction and my faith with him, but I wasn't proactive. And so it really wasn't until I had children and I ended up uh having two daughters. Um, and it wasn't until and they ended up going to a Christian school um out in Westlake. And uh when that happened, it restored my faith again. And it really wasn't until I did not talk about this to anybody uh other than a therapist for probably 20 years. I just, it was triggering, it was traumatic. I I was very much, I'm just gonna live my life. I'm not gonna look in the past. I and but once I had children and especially daughters, uh I felt very compelled by the time they were, you know, young teen, young teens, 11, 12. I I didn't want to scare them and ruin their rose-colored glasses of the world, but I wanted them to understand that there are people that walk the streets, you know, because they do get released and they don't get convicted because of things in our judicial system. So, and then as I started talking about it more, first with my children, then with their friends, then with their mom's friends, you know, my friend, my mom friends, it just sort of sort of started snowballing and people started. I I did right afterwards, uh, after it happened, before having children, uh, I did talk in real estate offices to other real estate agents about the, you know, in sales meetings and things of that nature because I wanted, I wanted real estate agents to know, like, be aware, you know, this is this is not uh and and you know, it's several there've been other deaths. Um uh there was a woman in Texas that was murdered not too many years ago at an open house. Okay. And and it's happened several times uh since since what happened to me. So um that's really where I the I operate from at this point, you know, in telling

Why Share Now Awareness And Healing

SPEAKER_03

the story. People say, well, why now? And why do you want to talk about it now? Um, I want to talk about it now because I want to bring awareness to not just women, anyone that, you know, there are unfortunately mental health and and mental illness is so prevalent uh today in our society. And uh there really aren't tools out there for people to get the help that they need. And, you know, it it turns into behavior like this, which seems so drastic and so like, oh no, that's random. But no, there it is. It's out there more than you think. And so that's really what I want my girls to know, what I want other women to know, and why I think God um is pushing me.

SPEAKER_01

Has that drive for you, Renee, to get the word out, protect other women? Has the Lord even used this process as a part of your your healing and your strengthening? And could you say more if that's been the definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_03

You know, like I said, I didn't talk about it for a long time. I I felt like if I talked about it, it would just keep it fresh in my mind. And you know, I didn't want to live in that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Makes you have to re-experience the pain. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And and, you know, and just the like even in talking about it now, I can still feel my, you know, my my the visceral reactions, yeah, yeah, totally, totally. Get a little sweaty, my heart races a little bit, you know, because it brings you back. Of course. Um, but uh the overarching uh goal behind it is way more important. And and that is that is awareness. I want women to be aware. I want, I also want, you know, I don't think it's fair that our judicial system protects uh a criminal like that. Like, you know, he who knows what else he did, but I couldn't be good, you know, and uh he shouldn't have been released. How do you get released uh after 13 years on good behavior? Like, what could have you have done to uh redeem yourself after murdering someone? I don't really know how that works.

SPEAKER_01

That's insane.

SPEAKER_03

But that's not up to me. Yeah, it's up to God.

SPEAKER_01

You you mentioned in your story, kind of looking back on it, and I I forget how you said it, but you said something to the effect of But it was me. And what I heard in that is you kind of embracing the the reality that you know what this happened. Um and yet look at you marshalling forward on behalf of other women, other men even that are in harm's way. There's so many people who go through stuff. Uh there's a lot of people listening who have gone through their stuff. You went through this traumatic, you know, moment, right? Uh, but there's people listening who are going through months and months of suffering, or why me and all these sorts of things, many of whom say, How can there be a God if something like this happens to me? But I heard you say, but it was me. And yet you say your faith has been strengthened. Renee, tell us about that because a lot of good people would have said, Well, there can't be a God, or if he is, he doesn't care.

SPEAKER_03

Right. Why would you put your faith in someone who allowed that to happen to begin with? Right? Well, I don't think that that that when situations like that present themselves, I don't think that's God, I think that's Satan.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And I think that uh, you know, the evil that we have to fight against every single day is out there. So the way I I I can't really I again, it wasn't it wasn't just me. My faith came about through this because of him. Yeah. And uh, and all I had to do was listen. You know, I fought it for a long time. I fought it. And uh because I didn't really, I didn't want to be the face of it. I I thought, no, you know, I I've been through enough. I don't need to, I don't need to champion this cause. I just want to go live my life, you know. But uh the stronger I got in my faith and the more rooted in my faith that I uh became, the more I realized that that's what he wants from me.

SPEAKER_00

And I saw like I heard a catalyst of kind of a um Psalm 46, one of God is with me in uh in terms of trouble. And so I was sensing that when you were saying that, you just knew he gave you, he he helped you to be the spirit led you to be clever in that moment with your solution. All of you see his hand with you in the midst of that situation, and you recognize that multiple times.

SPEAKER_03

Multiple times. I don't know that certainly not in that moment was I thinking, oh, this calmness has just came over me. It's God and I'm good now. No, it was in hindsight, obviously. And and and then realizing that question of well, how could God let this happen to me?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I don't think God let that happen to me. I think that the world happened to me. That's right. And God was right there holding my hand and right there leading me out of it.

SPEAKER_01

I think what you just said is such a gift to people who are struggling.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Because there's a way you have to look at it and you gotta make a choice.

SPEAKER_03

You do.

SPEAKER_01

Either he's uh a mean, if he is a God, if if there is a God, well, he's mean and he doesn't care. Or it's what the Bible says. There really is a thing called evil. There really is a worker of evil, and people get enslaved to that in different ways, but God is the one who has done something about it. And I've seen people go through your situation and say the exact opposite of what you're saying, and probably for a good reason because of what they've gone through. But you got a choice to make.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And you made that choice to believe what you have been raised on. And I just that to me is the biggest blessing. I I'm I'm sitting here listening and I'm like, man, if somebody came at me with a gun, I'd just be crying the whole time because I'm about to die. There's no fight. There's just no fight. I'm just like, crap, is that like I wouldn't I wouldn't have thinking, hey, can I go around the corner, come back? I would have been like, can you please tell my wife I love her, please?

SPEAKER_00

Because there's no catch in the briefcase. Yeah. And what does that take for? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like to have a canceler. Castrophizing though. But to have that presence.

SPEAKER_03

But again, it's God. That wasn't me. Yeah. That that that calmness, that that knowingness that I was, I mean, I really I cannot tell you how resolute I was looking at our wedding picture. Like that wedding picture was everything. It's still in our house, that very one, because uh that's what really uh that's when I heard it. That's when I heard that voice saying, not today. Yeah, I'm not done with you yet. It's powerful. Not done with you yet. That's powerful. Yeah. Yeah.

Turning Trauma Into A Message

SPEAKER_03

It is powerful.

SPEAKER_00

So with that, like um with all of this situation, what's uh any uh upcoming projects, kind of stories, developments, anything you want to share?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So I've been working with a team of writers um and producers for about a year now. Um, we have pitched to several different studios. Uh, we're not quite sure what the format looks like, you know, like is this a movie? Is it a series? Is it a limited series? Um, the industry's a a strange place these days. But here's what I do know. I do know that every single person who I've told this story to.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Young, old, man, woman, it doesn't matter who it is. And it doesn't even matter if it's me telling the story, my daughters, my husband, anyone who's ever heard it, usually they don't know what to say. Their jaws are on the ground. Then it's followed by just a barrage of questions like, how, like, how did that happen? How did you get out of that? Um it's it's been such a such a journey uh to get to this point. Um, and so what we're hoping is yes, that we will be able to get the story sold and um get it out there for mass consumption. So that two things um that that weigh heavy on my heart. A, it's obviously the awareness that I want, especially women, to have. But again, like you said, anyone. I I want this to be a catalyst for someone to just think a little differently and to always, always trust your gut. Because that gut, I don't know you can call it yourself, but that is that is God's voice.

SPEAKER_01

You know, that that's right.

SPEAKER_03

That's what made me move. That's the Holy Spirit. That's right. Made me get out of that house. And, you know, maybe it was uh it it blanketed in my husband's voice, but I I absolutely would not have and and him even telling me that that day, you know, like he had told me that before, you know, I was in one ear, out the other. I'm big, I'm strong, I can handle myself. Um, but had he not reminded me of that, it maybe would not have been the first thing that went through my head. Um, but God sure backed that up really quickly. So uh I I didn't have a choice. I knew I had to get out of that house. Um, and I know that I would have probably died in that house if, you know, I'd like to think that maybe I could have fought, but you can't really fight against a gun. You can't really fight against, you know, an ether-soaked rag. You there's nothing you can do in those moments.

SPEAKER_01

So Runa Howe has um I'm a cancer survivor. And um, but I'm a scaredy cat. You know, I'm just not wired to I have a hard time believing that, but well, I'm really strong for others. I'm not really strong for myself. My wife will tell you this.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And um when it's me, I just don't have it. I have it for everybody else but myself. And that's how I'm made, and I don't lament that. But you know, I'm just my question is this when you think about what you've you've gone through. Which is kind of like the worst thing anybody can go through.

SPEAKER_03

You know what though, it's not. It's not. You know, some some would say cancer. My my my poor sister is fighting for her life right now. Sure. Um so when I look at her versus what I went through, yeah, I would take what happened to me, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, I guess the question is how God gets us through things to help us go through more things and go through more things for his sake and his will. Has what you experienced shaped and helped your perspective when you continue to go through challenges in your life? Are there days where you say, Look, you got a gun in your face. You can you could you could handle the fact that you're not able to make this sale today? Well, you know what I'm saying? And can you talk a little bit about how that shapes that?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I think as a cancer survivor, I'm sure you went through that too, where you know, something the day before your diagnosis that could have seemed so overwhelming and how do I survive this and why is this happening to me? And then the day after your diagnosis, you don't even think about that anymore.

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_03

That's that's sort of the way it's presented itself in my life as well. You know, it's like, will I ever be the same? No.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh have I lived a lot of my life in fear? Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um, did I go through a lot of, you know, uh especially in those first the first three months of this happening with the trial and him being missing, and you know, is he because he told me, I'm gonna hunt you down, you know, no one can save you from me. Um that that took a lot of uh and and and honestly, in that moment, I wasn't turning to God, I was turning inward. I was isolating myself. I was, I can do, you know, I'm I'm strong. I can do this. I can just, I gotta weather my way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And God said, no, no, that's not how this works. You know, you're gonna you're gonna be surrounded by people who are gonna help you get through this. You're gonna allow them to help you because I'm not real good at that. Yeah. Um, but it r it really wasn't um when uh you look at that perspective and you and you realize that really there's nothing bigger than God. There's nothing he can't handle, there's nothing he can't beat, there's nothing he can't overcome.

SPEAKER_02

So good.

SPEAKER_03

And that's where you have to make that decision, though. Because if you don't, and you say, okay, well, I can do this on my own. I don't really need all that.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

And that's I think where it gets a little tricky.

SPEAKER_01

Well, all I want to say to you is what I remember saying last year. I think I kept, I know for a fact I kept saying, You're a hero. You're a hero. I know I because that's what I'm thinking now. I was like, I think I told her this already, but you're a hero and you're a miracle. But I want to encourage you and encourage those who are listening that you are now a messenger.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I think that um I think um the old school preacher would always say, turn your mess into a message. And to see you doing that boldly and in spirit of your daughters as a mom, as a survivor, as a I just it resonates deeply with me because there's a lot of other situations that folks are listening dealing with that are listening to this, and can get can anything good come out of this? And you are a living example that something good can come out of everything, which I just love. As long as you hand it over. That's it. Yeah, amen. Gotta hand it over.

SPEAKER_00

That's so good. Yeah.

Trust Your Gut And Closing

SPEAKER_00

Well, Renee, any final encouragements for our listeners as we wrap this up?

SPEAKER_03

Um, I think that uh the main thing I I would love for people to take away from it is truly, especially women, um, to trust, to trust your intuition and to listen to that voice and to know that that's someone else guiding you. Um and don't don't second guess it because you know, as women, we we do second guess. You know, we don't want to be rude, we don't want to be mean, we want to be uh polite to people, you know. If if I had been polite that night and stayed in that house, I wouldn't be here. Um, so you know, that's that's that's a big thing. And also, again, I know I keep saying it, but um really just when you feel overwhelmed and you feel it's impossible and you don't think there's any way out, there's always the answer is is God. And you've got to put your faith in him because if you don't, he can't. So if you do, at least has a chance.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So that's a great message from the messenger. From the messenger.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I like messenger better than hero. I have a hard time, I have a hard time hearing my or seeing it as that, you know, because I'm sure you feel that way too, as after you've survived something that and and as I tell this, as we talked earlier, sometimes I have a hard time even remembering that that was me, you know, that that that I went through that and and I survived. And good for me, but wow, that was that was that was scary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah. Well, Renee, thank you for uh not just sharing your story, but for using it to help others live in wisdom and awareness. And so uh God doesn't just meet us in the safe moments, he meets us in the uncertain ones too.

SPEAKER_03

And um am to that.

SPEAKER_00

You know, his that little whisper sometimes can change everything. So yeah, definitely can. Thank you. Yeah. Well, there you have it. Uh, thanks for joining us on another episode of the Other Six Days podcast. Uh be sure to hit that subscribe, follow, share, and like and spread the word. And as always, take what you've heard and turn it into something you can do to further the gospel and the world around you. Until next time.

SPEAKER_01

Peace.