A San Diego teenager was shot three times and left for dead near the beach one month ago and now her mother is sharing the 24 hours of terror the family lived at the hands of people she knows as 'Giggles', 'Capone' and 'Monster.'
For the first time, we're learning details of the kidnapping and attempted murder of 19-year-old Mya.
Three known gang members are in custody, accused of kidnapping, attempted murder, and murder in connection with the shooting of a man in Chula Vista.
On Thursday, Mya’s mother, who identified herself as Jill, walked NBC 7 through the 24 hours before she got the phone call that her daughter was found with three gunshot wounds.
“She spent four hours laying in the ocean water at the bottom of Sunset Cliffs,” Jill said. “She was severely hypothermic and they said they didn’t expect her to make it.”
The teen was shot in her neck and upper body on April 12 in what police said was a targeted attack. Her spine was ruptured and Mya now does not have feeling in her arms and legs or from her chest down.
However, Jill said the saga began on April 11 when she got a call saying her daughter had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.
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Jill tried frantically to help her daughter from thousands of miles away. She said Mya was asking for $2,500.
“My daughter would never call me asking for that kind of money because it was her voice, she was calling me, but I could hear people in the background telling her what to say,” Jill said.
Jill said that Mya was in the back seat of her captors’ car when they pulled up alongside another driver and shot him in the head.
The victim, later identified as Mario Serhan, 59, was found dead after multiple people called 911 to report a driver slumped over the wheel of an SUV that coasted through a Chula Vista intersection.
Prosecutors said Serhan was shot because he accidentally made eye contact with the gunman.
"The next day, the detective [was] calling me and telling me they found my daughter shot at the bottom of the stairs at Sunset Cliffs," she said. "I was lost, heartbroken. I didn't know what to think."
Jill said Mya knew the identity of her kidnappers and when she regained consciousness in the hospital, the first thing the teenager asked for was to speak to detectives.
The teenager wants justice for Serhan, her mother said.
She identified her kidnappers to police as Britney Canal, 29, Cesar Alvarado, 39 and Michael Pedraza, 27. They were arrested on were arrested May 4.
Mya met Pedraza, known as “Monster,” at a Narcotics Anonymous convention, her mother said.
The trio was denied bail on Monday and could all face life in prison if found guilty on all charges related to the two-day crime spree.
Getting Mya back to her hometown is going to be costly, her mother said.
"She is in amazing spirits. She's a trooper," her mom said. "She's so brave."
An online fundraising page has been set up to help with medical and travel costs.
