Ashley Smith Robinson knows she shouldn't be alive today.
In 2005, Robinson, a widowed mother of a young daughter, was outside the Bridgewater Apartments in Duluth when she was confronted by and forced back into her apartment by accused rapist Brian Nichols, who killed four people after fleeing the Fulton County Courthouse.
She was held hostage for seven hours before persuading Nichols to surrender.
Since then, the “hostage hero” — who had been in and out of rehab — has been a much-sought-after speaker, a best-selling author, the subject of a soon-to-be released movie and, perhaps more importantly, a new mother.
"I think about myself and where I was in life 10 years ago. I honestly should not be alive today, based on where I was in my life," Robinson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from her South Carolina home. "... I feel it's possible that God took possession of Brian Nichols' body and said this is your last chance."
