Teen Tells of Near-Death Ordeal

(Memphis) Charles Hardeman is lucky to be alive. There are marks all over his body and his speech is slurred from a stroke he had the night he was left to die.

In a conversation with News Channel 3′s Wayne Carter, Wayne asked, “Do you have any idea why someone would want to hurt you?”

Hardeman responded, “Not like that. I ain’t done nothing to nobody.”

Marshall County Sheriff’s deputies say the teen was abducted and tossed into a lake next to his home in Slayden, MS.

Hardeman says he thought that night, “That I was going to die. That this was it.”

Somehow, he got to the surface of the water with his legs still tied together. He climbed into his family’s pickup truck to get help.

Police found Charles behind the wheel, soaking wet. He had crashed into a tree.

His mother Tammy has been by his side at the hospital ever since begging her son to heal and waiting weeks for this day to come, the day he’s finally able to come home.

“I’m so happy. I’m glad we’re a family again,” said Tammy Hardeman.

The Hardemans say that Charles will testify in court against his attackers. Hardeman led police to two suspects who have since been arrested and charged.