‘I never gave up’: Rochester woman who survived brutal machete attack shares her story of resilience

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Tina Schreib, a Rochester woman who was viciously attacked with a machete, is sharing her story for the first time with News10NBC in hopes that it might help other women. 

On Tuesday, Schreib faced the man accused in her brutal attack for the first time in court: David Lampman.

“I actually knew him from high school. We dated when we were 19,” Schreib said.

They reconnected years later and moved in together, but the relationship was rocky.  

“There was, like, maybe some pushing. He would push me. It was just, basically, the insecurities, the jealousy, his own demons that were controlling him, I wouldn’t let control me,” Schreib said.

So, she decided it was time to leave.

“The night that it happened, he was kind of upset about me going out with friends, and I said, ‘We’ve already discussed this.’ I said, “You know what? I just can’t take it anymore. I’m leaving,” and he calmly got up and he left,” Schreib recalled.

About an hour later, Schreib says Lampman returned.

“He came in and he said, “Is this what we’re doing?” and I think he meant by me leaving or whatever and just by the way he said it and the look in his eye, I said, ‘I don’t feel comfortable about this.’ So, that’s when I called 911,” Schreib said.

She dropped the phone, she says, when she saw Lampman come back in the room with a machete.  

Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC investigative reporter: “So, he comes back… you see the machete in his hand, walk me through your thought process at that point?”

Tina Schreib, survivor: “I said in that split second, I was just like, survive. Don’t put my arms up, kinda take a defensive but after I had that thought, I don’t remember anything else after that, I do not remember the incident at all.”

Schreib never hung the phone up when she dropped it, so 911 operators heard the entire attack.

Tina Schreib, survivor:  “He was gone, I could hear cops out in the hallway saying they didn’t know which apartment it was so, through the 911 call I believe that they could just get a location, not an apartment. So, I grabbed a pillow and put it on my stomach and I was like I have to crawl to the door so they know where I am, to live.”

Jennifer Lewke: “Do you think you would have died in that room if you hadn’t dragged yourself out to the window to be seen?”

Tina Schreib: “Oh, absolutely because they said I got to the hospital just in time. I mean, they had to give me 58 units of blood and they said I was even bleeding out new blood and it took them 30-40 mins to find me so, I think if any more time has passed, if I hadn’t done that then yea, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

Jennifer Lewke: “You literally had to be sort of pieced back together by the doctors at Strong.”

Tina Schreib: “Yes, yes. I had a skull fracture. They had to remove bone fragments in my head, I have mesh in the back of my skull where they didn’t have bone to put in.  He stabbed me in the back so, he perforated my liver, he got me on the shoulder, and then I guess I was eviscerated, so from right here (top of the breast bone) down to the pubic bone had to be all put back together.”

Jennifer Lewke: “Most people would have never survived.”

Tina Schreib: “Correct, that’s what I’ve heard.”

Jennifer Lewke: “How do you think you did?”

Tina Schreib: “I think I was in fight mode.”

Schreib spent two months in the hospital and lost the lower part of her arm in the attack. She’s been living on her own now for a little more than a month.

“At six weeks, I didn’t think I would be as independent as I am. You know, at first it was folding clothes. I was like, ‘Ugh – clothes.’ And then it was, ‘No. You know what? No. I have to figure this out. I need to push through.’ Each thing was like a challenge and it was like, I never gave up. I never felt sorry for myself.
I’m not going to be the victim.”

Tina Schreib

But she does believe she now has a greater purpose: to help those who are victims.

“People are like, ‘You know there’s a reason that you’re here. You need to figure it out.’ And I believe that one of the reasons is for me to tell my story and to be an inspiration to people who don’t think they can get out of a bad relationship or [see] the signs, so, if anything, I believe there’s at least that,” Schreib said.

Lampman appeared for a motions hearing at the Hall of Justice on Tuesday. It was the first time Schreib has been able to sit in the courtroom and see him since the attack. She was composed and stared right at him without fear.

Lampman has pleaded not guilty. He’s being held on bail and is facing 25 years in prison.

If you’re in an abusive relationship or feel like you are in danger at home, here are some resources that might help:

• National Domestic Violence Hotline: (800) 799-7233
• Willow Domestic Violence Center of Greater Rochester: (585) 222-7233 or here
• Rochester/Monroe County Domestic Violence Consortium – here
• YWCA of Rochester and Monroe County – (585) 546-5820
• New York State Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Hotline – (800) 942-6906
• Bivona Child Advocacy Center – (585) 935-7800