Delia D'Ambra

One of them made it out alive.

The other didn't.

A few months ago, I was able to speak with this survivor, and the story he shared with me is something I will never forget.

This is Park Predators.

Shortly after seven o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, April 27th, 1999, a park ranger named Jack Kerwin pulled into a parking lot at Oswald West State Park to meet up with his coworker, 50-year-old Danny Blumenthal.

The two men were scheduled to complete some ground maintenance at the campsites there before the campground was set to officially open in a few days.

So they parked near a small service shed that the parks department used to store supplies and tools in and got right to their duties.

As Jack shoveled some rock into a small trailer behind a utility vehicle and leveled out some campsites, Danny made his way to the end of the campground's parking lot to clean the restroom.

Jack watched his partner dip into the outhouse some 150 yards away from him, and then he refocused his attention on scooping the rock.

When he looked up a few moments later, though, he saw something that stunned him.

Danny was being marched out of the restroom by a man holding a handgun.

Before Jack could react, the assailant trained the firearm on him and then forced both rangers into the maintenance shed.

Once inside, their captor used thick zip ties to bind their hands behind their backs, and then he used an extra zip tie to link their wrists together, making it impossible for Jack and Danny to move independently.

After that, the offender frisked both rangers and took their wallets and keys.

Jack, who was 51 years old at the time, told me that Danny looked over at him and instructed him to stay calm and go along with whatever their captor wanted.

Jack remembers thinking something along the lines of, well, he could kill us right here and now, but he hasn't.

Shortly after tying the rangers up, the assailant took a key for Danny's truck and made sure it worked.

Then he marched both men through the campground's empty parking lot, across Highway 101 and about 300 yards up a dirt trail into the woods.

That path led towards the Cape Falcon area of the park.

In that time of morning, Jack didn't see any hikers around or cars passing by on the highway.