It Could Have Been Me: Anne Croney | Forensic Files

Ann, can you start by telling me your name and and who you are? >> Sure. I'm Anne Crony and I'm the one
that got away from Patrick Nicholas. Um, got away alive and safe. >> That's Anne Crony, a remarkable woman
who survived an attempted attack by Patrick Nicholas back in 1983 when she was just 21 years old. I met Anne while
reporting on the story of Sarah Yarro, another young woman attacked by Nicholas 8 years later. Tragically, Sarah died.
I'm Natalie Morales of 48 Hours. Now, so much of our work at 48 Hours focuses on
the stories of victims who didn't survive. But what about those like an who lived to tell from 48 hours? This is
It Could Have Been Me. [Music] And today I'm joined by 48 Hours field producer Lauren Clark. And Lauren, we're
here to talk about Anne Cron's story. But before we do, I think it's important that people understand the case of Sarah
Yarro. Yeah. So, uh, Sarah had been she was a 16-year-old girl, uh, living in kind of the suburbs of Seattle back in
1991 when she was found strangled on her high school campus. It was a horrible case
for the people of the community. Um, you know, it was a December day. It seems she had missed the time for a drill team
practice. She had thought she had to get there early, but the rest of the team wasn't arriving for another hour or so.
So, she had pulled into the parking lot in her car. Not many people, like no one
was around. And she was found just about 300 ft from her car, strangled. Uh she was still partially clothed in her drill
team uniform, and there was a pile of clothes found nearby her body in the grass. Investigators at the time
believed her murder had been sexually motivated. Uh but they didn't have really a ton to go on. They did like
rounded up the usual suspects and you know really worked the case but for almost 30 years Sarah's case went
unsolved. Yes. And it's important to note the clothing that Sarah was wearing and the clothing on the side there was
DNA evidence but again this was 1991 and DNA technology had not evolved yet to the point where we are today. So
investigators did their part. They preserved very carefully that evidence, but they knew, Lauren, that at some
point in time that they would hopefully be able to get clues and to be able to verify and use that DNA to hopefully
find a match down the road. As you said, for a long time, the case went cold for
nearly 30 years until a forensic genetic genealogologist was able to crack the case. She was hired to track some new
leads. Yeah. In 2019, this forensic genetic genealogologist went through and basically reverse engineered finding a
match to the genetic profile that they had at the scene. And she narrowed it down to these two brothers, one of whom
had been incarcerated, so he was in the federal database. He was in Cotus, so it
wasn't him. And that's when they focused on Patrick Leon Nicholas. Uh, and what investigators did with the King County
Sheriff's Department, he still lived in the Seattle area. So they followed him. They they found him. They trailed him.
And they actually went to a laundromat where he was doing laundry and watched as he smoked a cigarette
>> and then watched him discard the cigarette outside the laundromat right on the sidewalk there. And when he went
back inside, they ran, they grabbed that cigarette, packaged it up securely, and
sent it to a lab. And the DNA from that cigarette was a match to the DNA that had been found on Sarah's clothes all
those years ago. So then, Lauren, how did you come to find out and hear about Anne Cron's story? So, in uh early 2023,
Patrick Nicholas went on trial for the murder of Sarah Yarborough. And right before trial, we had learned through
some pre-trial motions that Patrick Nicholas actually had a prior criminal record. The judge had ruled that that
evidence wouldn't be allowed at trial, but we were able to read through and we knew that there had been some previous
attacks. And I heard as we were at trial talking to people, some there were kind
of whispers of, you know, one of the victims is here. And it was kind of this remarkable like, oh my gosh, how could
someone be here to take that on? I didn't know who it was at the time. Uh, but we did learn that back in the early
1980s, Patrick Nicholas had served time as a juvenile for raping two women and attempting to rape a third. Reading
through the case files, we learned that he had approached multiple women at their cars. He would kind of casually
strike up a conversation with them and then pull a knife and order them to undress. So, this brings us now to Anne
Cron's remarkable story. And let's go back in time to 1983 in Richland, Washington. That's about
200 miles uh from where Sarah Yarborough was found dead. Now, Anne was just 21 years old at the time. She was a server
at a restaurant. She was also a lifeguard. She loved the water and specifically the Colombia River. So,
that's an important part of the story because on June 13th, 1983, the day all of this happened, Ann said she had just
tragically lost one of her really good friends and she just wanted to sit alongside the river to think. Here's her
story. So, I pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car and sat on the bumper
of my car. And you're sitting there thinking, having some time to yourself, how quickly before a man approached you?
>> It wasn't long. It was uh maybe a few minutes. And uh he walked up to me and started a conversation. I don't remember
exactly how the conversation started, but he introduced himself, said his name was Pat, and he was new in town, and he
was working on an old building in town called the Griggs building that was um empty, and
he was working on a remodel. I knew the space well. I knew the story he was talking about. I knew everything
about it. And he didn't he didn't seem to know anything. He seemed to be kind of making things up
>> as you listen to that. I mean, Lauren would struck us. I mean, already her instinct sort of her Spidey senses are
going off. Something is off here with this guy. She knows that space well that she's talking about the Griggs building.
She's like, nothing seems to be adding up. He's acting strange, but you know, he's he's a good-looking guy. She
described him as youngish. He's got blondish hair, glasses, uh a mustache, but she's getting a really uh bad vibe
from him, right? Her alarms were going off in her head at that point. >> So, another fact, as they continued to
talk, Nicholas told her he couldn't swim. And again, that really struck an as being odd because that area along the
Columbia River there, like it gets hot in the summer. It is dry. and swimming and water skiing and just all sorts of
activities along the water. It's what everyone does there in the summer. So, for him to say that, it just it really
stuck out to her. And overall, it's just as he keeps talking, she's kind of placating him, but she's just getting a
very weird vibe from him all along. I noticed his voice was getting shaky. And I told him I had to go. So, I went
around and got into my car and my door was open and I had a a two-seater sports car and he knelt next in between the
door and me and like got in your way. >> I was in the car. So, I got in the car >> and the door was open and he knelt down
between the door and me >> and uh told me his name. Uh, he wanted he gave me his name and phone number and he
asked for my phone number and I gave it to him and I went to close the door and he put a knife to my throat
>> and and what was he saying as he put the knife to your throat? >> He told me not to scream. He told me to
take my clothes off. Um, so I did take my clothes off and as I was doing that I noticed a couple of
people walking to a car that was parked sort of nearby and I did scream. Um, but
he put the knife to my throat a little harder and pushed me down and laid on top of me so they couldn't see me.
It's really hard to hear Ann describing those moments just to think about the terror that must have been going through
her mind. Um, she told us, you know, in after he put the knife to her throat, he
actually took her underwear and put them in her mouth almost as a sort of gag so
that she wouldn't keep screaming, so that she wouldn't be heard. Right. And and there were people nearby pulling up
into the parking lot. So, she was trying to get people to notice and to to come help her. Um, but talk about that
terrifying few minutes for her. Well, we learned from an then what happens next?
>> Um, he told me to get out of the car and he had a shirt that he put over my head.
He actually told me to put it on and I refused. So, he put it over my head and put my left arm through it and grabbed
the back of it and shoved me towards the bank of the river. Um, and we started walking and we got about
halfway down the bank and he told me to stop and I didn't. Instead of stopping, I pulled the shirt off over my head and
ran down the bank and dove into the river and swam >> because at that time I was thinking he
told me he couldn't swim. So I swam out and swam as hard as I could. >> Swam for your life.
>> I swam for my life. All I had on was my tennis shoes >> and uh I swam to a dock and started
screaming for help. >> Wow. I mean to have the presence of mind to to be thinking in that moment he told
me he can't swim >> and to see that that is your opportunity. >> You know every time I hear that I just
get goosebumps because even as she was reliving that moment you could just see the ter the the terror in her eyes and
just feel the emotion of that. Um truly remarkable. Yeah. And just talk about all the moments of luck here. all the
things that happened for her to be able to put that together that he couldn't swim that he was leading her towards
that riverbank. You know, we went down there to film it and it is it's very steep. It's very hard to just jump right
down there. So, once she swam for her life and made it to the dock, thankfully there were people there and she was able
to get help and the police came to her help as soon as she arrived there. And so, she was able to tell police, "This
happened to me and his name is Pat." and gave them a good description of what who
they were looking for. And based off of his name and his description, the local police pretty soon realized that Pat was
likely this man Patrick Nicholas, who had just recently been released from a halfway house nearby for those previous
attacks that he had committed on a juvenile. So, police went to track him down. Uh, they visited his apartment. He
wasn't there. They suspected he must have fled, gotten out of town really quickly, but they did find some key
evidence there. They found the notebook that Anne had remembered writing her number down in and I think they actually
found a piece of the page torn out where he tried to give her his number. So after they searched his apartment were
like, "Okay, this is probably our guy." They went to the airport and found out that Patrick Nicholas had hopped a
flight soon afterwards and gotten out of town. Uh they tracked him down to the Midwest and within a few weeks they
arrested him and he actually pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted rape. He was sentenced back then to what was
the maximum sentence that he could receive and that was 10 years in prison. So an assumed rightfully so that he's
safely locked away for those 10 years, all of those 10 years in Washington state prison. But it turns out in 1987,
Nicholas is let out early on parole. So an was never notified. Police never told her, never sent her a letter or
anything to let her know that the guy who did this to you, he is now out. She told us though, Lauren, that she tried
really hard within those years to kind of put this out of her mind and she didn't want it to have a major impact on
her life. All of that changed though in 2019. Here's an again. The police knocked on my door in Portland and said
that there were detectives in Seattle that wanted to talk to me about a cold case and I had no idea what they were
talking about and they wanted to come interview me about it. So that was the first I'd heard of it. And how did you
feel hearing about what happened to Sarah? What did they tell you about her story?
They told me that there were similarities in the cases and uh I was crushed. >> It's this part in the interview I
remember this is where an just kind of paused and broke down. Um she'd been really kind of strong through that
interview and was just recounting things. But I think, you know, this is describing the realization that Sarah
Yarborough's murder was in any way connected to what had happened to her so many years ago. And she, I think, was
dealing with, as she described to us, her own version of survivor's guilt, you know, once she realized how her story
and Sarah's were connected tragically. >> Yeah. Um, it had never occurred to me that what I
escaped from was a murder. I just had always figured I'd escaped from a rapist, >> which you can survive a rapist. You can
get past it. You can't get past murder. Um, and the fact that she was only 16, um,
was really hard to hear. And then when I found out that he had been released early, and this happened when he was
supposed to be in prison >> for what he did to you, >> for what he did to me, um, really
affected me, >> a lot. >> I bet you were angry. A lot of it. was very angry >> when he um was arrested for for what he
did to you. He confessed and he wrote in his confession, "I realize I have a problem concerning raping girls."
>> You had never heard that? >> No. >> No. So he says that and he ended up serving.
>> So why was he let out after three and a half years? Yeah. What a little [ __ ]
No, I didn't know that. You little I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So, that's the part you didn't
hear on our 48 hours episode, obviously, because of the language. Now, you know,
we all kind of laughed a little bit at that, but usually humor is a a coping mechanism, and that was the case here.
Um, this was truly a very traumatic experience and memory for Anne and and especially, you know, learning that he
did not complete his full sentence and then hearing that detail that she only heard now for the very first time that
he had told police at the time that he had a problem raping girls, trying to rape girls, and yet he was able to get
out early um on parole, which she just was clearly very angry, but at the same time she had to laugh at the the
insanity of it all. >> I remember in that interview she had been so strong and then it just kind of
broke through and yeah, you hear us laughing in the background cuz we're all crying and then hearing
>> it just gave us a moment of levity. I think just having her real life reaction. I think it just made us all so
grateful that she was able to speak so freely and to just tell it like it is with us. And I remember like we we
weren't really sure how far she'd want to go. We we'd wanted to be very sensitive with this because we knew it
was a lot for her to come forward, you know, using her name to come on TV to talk about this. We actually were in
this really incredible space because we wanted her to feel very comfortable. Um it was like a horse ranch. It was my
version of paradise and there was horse therapy right outside the door. So after this
interview, we all went out and we were petting the horses because we needed it. I mean, it was just really such a
powerful interview and she just gave us so much. >> Absolutely. I mean, her her strength
just stuck out to us all along and even going back to the trial. I mean, so I was there, we were hearing these
whispers that there was a victim there and it was almost inconceivable. I mean, like, wait, what? How could someone have
the strength to come and do this? uh and learning that it almost brought this back full circle for her that she had
thought she had done her duty back in 1983, that she had put away this bad guy, that the justice system had worked
for her. And then so learning that it had failed Sarah Yarbor by him being let out early so that he was able to attack
Sarah Yarborough, she felt like she had to be there. She had to see justice truly be done this time around. I mean,
she was there for as much of the trial as she could be. You were there, Lauren. I mean, there was so much emotion. It
was a packed courtroom. Her friends, her family, they were all there. They were there to witness this moment nearly 30
years later. That speaks to the kind of woman that Sarah Yarborough was. She was
a connector. I've actually never seen anything like this. Um, and it was almost overflowing. everybody. Usually
in a in a trial, there's like the victim's side, the victim's family side, and then the defendant side. And in
this, there were just so many people there. So, this brings us to how Anne Crony came into the courtroom and where
she sat. You know, the courtroom's full. So, she goes and chooses to sit right behind Patrick Nicholas because that was
the open spot. I was sitting there thinking, I could easily jump up and put my hands around his neck or I could slam
his face into the table. That would be great. I thought, no, I don't think anybody else would really appreciate
that. So, order in the court, you know. >> And so, it it's interesting because it
made me think that two of Sarah's friends that they first saw you get behind him, they're like, "Is she with
him?" No. And then they cornered you. They said they got out into the hallway and they were like,
>> "Who are you?" Like wanting to know what you were there for. Yes. >> So they hadn't heard your story yet
about you as the judge wouldn't allow that. >> Yeah. >> I think they they must have heard
something because uh they did ask my connection and I said I believe I told him I was the one that got away and it
took him a second and then >> Yeah. >> full embrace. >> Yes. Wonderful people. Oh my gosh.
Wonderful people. Sarah's been gone a long time, but they could hug Anne and they have remained friends with Anne
Crony, which is remarkable. The thing that I heard in court was that one of his survivors is here and she's a
badass. Then I remember I just gave her my card very tactfully. I don't know if you want to talk. Um, but then I
remember at your interview with her, Natalie, we were sitting there and we're just like, she's a badass. Like totally
I get it. Yep. And Natalie, in your interview, you asked her what Nicholas looked like when she saw him in court,
and here was her response. >> Can I say him? >> Yes. Go ahead. >> He looked like a piece of
>> I mean, he just looked like an old piece of um you know, he was young when I saw
him. He was young. Vital comes to mind. Um fairly attractive and he's just an old piece of now. Sorry,
>> you heard the anger there. she was still, you know, living in that moment. But she, even though she was struck by
the fact that his appearance had changed, um, but she said looking at him and staring at him in the eyes, she saw
those same evil eyes staring back at her. They were the same. So, after the jury found Patrick
Nicholas guilty of the murder of Sarah Yarro, Anne was able to finally speak her truth by giving a victim impact
statement during the sentencing hearing. Let's listen to some of that. >> We rely on a system of justice that is
designed to protect us from predators like Nicholas. And this system failed me. It failed Sarah, her family,
friends, and countless others. I asked the court to please not make the same m mistake.
>> And I don't know if Nicholas knew that she was there until this moment. And she
stood up and she gave it to him and she told the judge like, "Hey, don't mess this up again." Uh, I can't imagine the
feeling that she had inside of her to do that. It must have been so scary and so
intimidating at first, but she told you like it was really that community and that love from Sarah's friends and
family that really helped her get up there and put it all out there. >> Yeah. >> And he was, you know, and the judge did
sentence him to 46 years in prison. Um, so he's not going to get out anytime soon. And and I think an important
detail was that an has a daughter as well at the time of the trial who was Sarah Yarro's age, 16 years old, and how
much that probably impacted her as she was saying those words. Yeah. And she talked with you in her interview about
how like they have had talks about how when something happens, what to do when you're attacked that you fight. And if
you're lucky, really like the luck here is so essential. if you can put those pieces together, you can get away. Uh
she was able to really follow her instincts there and again the luck of being near the water and knowing that he
couldn't swim, her gut telling her that something was off. Uh she was able to have the presence of mind to recall all
of this to get away. So I mean just her thinking that all right, I've got to protect my kid here,
>> give her the tools she could use. I it's really really impactful. >> Yeah. I mean truly everything sort of
lined up in order for her to be able to survive. Um there was also a moment what
I love about an is that she told us um she wanted to take back that part of her life. She decided to do a triathlon that
summer after Nicholas's murder trial, diving right back into those very waters of the Columbia River that saved her
life. and she started by parking in the exact same spot that she did in that parking lot in the park where the attack
occurred. Take a listen. >> The parking lot's the same. The trees have grown up, so it looks different,
but the the bank is a lot steeper than I thought it was. And further up from the
river, it's about 10 ft. So, I was surprised. um pretty proud of myself for what I'd done
because it was it was pretty amazing that I was able to do that. There was a reason that I was meant to do that and I
was able to do that. But doing the triathlon was interesting. I didn't have any I didn't have any odd or bad
feelings. Swimming in the river was great. Uh >> do you feel like you reclaimed that
>> though? I I do because the swim took off at the same dock that I was rescued on.
So, um I do I felt like I reclaimed all of that and there's no fear to stop me from doing
what I love to do. >> I just we just loved that moment so much. Even after going through hearing
about Sarah Yarro's death, going through the trial, stepping forward, she was like, you know what? I want to get back
there and I want to show that I can do this and I'm going to reclaim this. It's just incredible. And I think you hear a
lot of survivors who say that. They say, "I wanted to, you know, get myself back,
take my power back." And in doing that triathlon, she did. I think it's so important that we tell these survivors
stories because I think we can all learn so much from them as well. What it takes
to do something when something feels off or doesn't feel right. What it takes to
speak up. what it takes to fight back, to scream as loud as you can possibly scream. She did all of that and then
some. And then at the end of the day, she got her peace with justice. Lauren, I have to thank you so much for joining
me. And of course, I have to say our thanks as well to Anne Crony. And thanks to all of you who have listened. And be
sure to stay tuned for more stories from courageous individuals like an by following and listening to 48 hours it
could have been me on Tuesdays on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like this episode,
please rate and review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. I'm Natalie Morales for 48 Hours.
[Music]

Anne Croney said she is the "one that got away" when she survived an attempted attack by Patrick Nicholas back in 1983. Years later, she learned that Nicholas was charged with the murder of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough. "48 Hours" correspondent Natalie Morales spoke with Anne about how she made her escape from her attacker and what happened when she came face-to-face with him again in court for his murder trial. You'll also hear behind-the-scenes details about the interview from "48 Hours" producer Lauren Clark.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Anne Crony survived an attack by Patrick Nicholas, who later murdered Sarah Yarro; she reclaims her life through a triathlon after the trial.

Key points

Anne Cron's Escape. Anne Cron recounts her terrifying encounter with Patrick Nicholas and her miraculous escape into the river.
The Connection to Sarah Yarborough. Anne learns about the tragic murder of Sarah Yarborough and the similarities to her own case.
Nicholas's Early Release. Anne discovers that Patrick Nicholas was released early from prison, leading to Sarah's murder.
Anne's Victim Impact Statement. Anne speaks out in court, urging justice for Sarah and others affected.
Reclaiming Life Through Triathlon. Anne completes a triathlon in the same waters where she survived an attack.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I swam for my life.

Anne Cron describing her escape from Patrick Nicholas.

10:02WatchJul 15, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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