Paul Martin Andrews was thirteen when a seasoned pedophile used a common lure to convince the boy to get into his van on January 10, 1973. A heavy snowfall had let students out of school early the day before, while low temperatures overnight had caused icy conditions on the roads and given the students yet another snow day. Andrews had just finished his paper route that morning in Portsmouth Virginia using his ice-skates and a sled to deliver the papers.

Andrews was walking to the store to get milk, so he and his sisters could make snow cream later that day. Snow cream is simply ice-cream made from snow. To make snow cream one needs milk, sugar, and snow. As Andrews walked along, a blue van stopped beside him. A man asked Andrews if he would help move furniture for him and his brother. If he did, he would earn three dollars. The simple lure of money is all it took for Andrew to hop in the van.

One reason Andrews was not leery of the van when it initially stopped next to him, the van stopped within a couple blocks of his home so Andrew felt the man must be a neighbor. Therefore, Andrews felt there was no reason to be fearful. In addition, it was daylight. Yet, when the man who had introduced himself as “Peewee” drove the van onto the highway, suddenly he was frightened. Andrew had several opportunities to run yet he was fearful he would be in trouble when he got home so he did nothing to draw attention to him.

Then the man drove down a dirt road. He stopped in the woods. The man and Andrew walked through the woody area for a distance until the man kicked aside some dirt and leaves and pulled open a metal door over a wooden box in the ground. In the ground was a deer box which was four feet deep, four feet wide, and eight feet long. This box became Andrews home for the next seven days. The box almost became his coffin in the end.

Richard “Peewee” Ausley pulled out a knife, as he pushed Andrews inside the box. Andrews realizes Ausley kidnapped him. This was the start of seven days of torture for the thirteen-year-old boy. On average, Andrews was beaten and raped three times a day. The beating he received the third day being the worse one of all. Between the beatings and sexual abuse, his kidnapper would tell him about other children he had tortured. On the eighth day, his captor raped him one last time before he shackled one ankle and left him to die.

January 19th was if any day was Andrew’s luck day, it was also the last day of rabbit hunting season. Around eight in the morning, a pickup truck drove by the box that might have become the boy’s coffin had he not been able to lift the door slightly to see out. When Andrew saw the pickup truck, he screamed as loud as he could until it stopped. One of the four hunters pointed his hunting rifle at the door in the ground demanding Andrew come out. Telling the hunters through the door he was chained to the box, the hunters opened the door to find the thirteen-year-old boy bruised, missing teeth, and dirty. They immediately called police.

Andrews identified his abductor from police photos. Richard “Peewee” Ausley surrendered on his own accord to law enforcement four days after Paul Andrew Martins identified him in police photos. Richard Ausley was a career pedophile. Ausley was a felon. He served 10 years prison time for child sexual abuse and kidnapping on another child before kidnapping Martin Andrews. Ironically, the day he lured Andrews into his blue van, Ausley should have been in court facing yet another charge of child molestation.

Ausley received a prison sentence of 41 years for the kidnapping and rape of Paul Martin Andrews. In 2002, Ausley was up for parole, and Andrews knew he had to speak up in front of the parole board to prevent Ausley from getting out and harming more children. The parole board was the first time he told his story. Andrews had struggled for years to deal with the issues surrounding his kidnapping, rape, and eventual rescue. Often he turned to drugs or alcohol; eventually he turned to prayer, church, and GOD. He found another one of the victims Ausley had hurt. Through the added testimony, he helped add time to Ausley’s prison sentence.

The world is a safer place today. There is no way Ausley will ever hurt another child. Richard Ausley died in prison Jan. 13, 2004. He was 64 years old. Ausley’s cell mate, who has a history of childhood abuse, strangled him. Andrews is working on speaking for victims of abuse. He realizes now that he must share his story to help keep other children from falling into the dangers of pedophiles lurking in neighborhoods across the United States.