(Memphis) – “I am proud I survived it,” Rachel Johnson said. Which is why this wife and mother is sharing the details of the worst night of her life, June 29th 2010.

Rachel and her husband went out. Like  many couples, they had a fight and Rachel wanted some time to herself.

“So I left,” she said. “I left by myself.”

She headed to her’s mom’s empty house in Cordova. She was looking for some peace and quiet.

Rachel got that for a few hours, but woke up staring a rapist in the eye.

“I felt the weight of a person on my back,” she said. “I turned around and I just saw a black mask.”

The man held her at knife point, tied her hands behind her back, blindfolded her and forced her up the stairs. He took her to a bedroom closet where he raped her twice.

“He ended up leaving a lot of DNA. So once that happened I said I know he is going to kill me because somebody doesn`t leave DNA ,” she said.

Despite enduring an agonizing physical attack, Rachel stayed strong.

“You could either die trying to fight or you can try to deal with what you have to deal with and try to outsmart him,” she said.
 
She tried befriending her rapist.

“He said since you have been so good, I’m not going to kill you,” she said.

But the rape wasn’t the only crime committed that day.  Her alleged rapist also stole her credit card.

Police say surveillance pictures captured him using it at a nearby store.

Police say the man was later identified as Anthony Alliano, now known as the Cordova serial rapist.

“Then of course they get the DNA and it matches,” she said. “Then they find it matches 6-7 other girls all the way back to 2003.”

It took two years of emotional ups and downs before police arrested Alliano. It was a roller coaster of emotions for her husband Justin too. At the time he worked as a Memphis police officer.

“To me I was in a living hell at that point,” he said. “You feel helpless. You want to take it away you want to change it but there’s nothing you can do to change the emotional scar away.”

It took a toll on their marriage.

“They tell you that you all are  probably going to divorce, this is going to be to much on your relationship. At the time you don’t believe it,” he said. “But overtime it just became too much of a  burden to bear and it caused me and my wife to separate.”

The two are now trying to work things out. Justin went to counseling and even left the police department.

But other scars from the rape remain.

“There’s a degree of fear and paranoia that will always kind of remain with you,” Rachel said.

While that awful memory will always be a part of her family’s, Rachel’s gaining strength by sharing it.

“Being able to share your story with the public in this kind of way is an accomplishment for myself,” she said.

By coming forward she hopes other rape victims can draw courage from her.

“A lot of victims don`t come forward because they are scared of that stigma and for people to see somebody talking about it and trying to be as open as I can be maybe that will change,” she said.

Anthony Alliano is scheduled to be in court next month to face his aggravated rape charges.