Hitchhikers on a Verge to Kill

I found a violent story that took place in the year 1983.
There was a man named Jesse that was driving his van on a road trip through the Texas Badlands during winter. He spotted two guys on the road freezing their butts off, and they had a dog with them. He knew that they needed to hitch a ride, but he didn't know if it was the right thing to do, although he did feel sorry for them.
He decided that leaving the two young men out in the snow was not a very noble thing to do, so he revved his van up towards them, and told them to hop in.
The road was filled with ice, and it was slippery, and it was dangerous. The two guys thanked the man and took a spot in the back. One of them was very talkative, while the other was quite timid and silent.
Jesse considered them nice people, but he still felt doubtful of letting them hitch a ride on his van.
Finally they had to stop at a hotel for the night. Jesse checked in at a room, and the two men checked into the room next to Jesse's. Jesse thought about leaving the two men in the hotel the next day. He even called his mother to ask her for advice about the hitchhiking thing.
The next morning he knocked really softly on their room door, so that he could say that he at least tried to advice them, so that he could leave them.
But to his "luck", they answered the door and came out ready to go.
They hopped back into the van, and left. The supposedly talkative guy didn't seem so talkative anymore, and they had a look in their eyes that didn't seem so friendly.
All of a sudden, one of the guys takes out a sledgehammer and brutally attacks Jesse with it.
Jesse fights back with all his might, but he failed to defend himself from the sledgehammer attacks. He took damaging blows to gut, ribs and face. Jesse lost control of the wheel and the van skidded off the road into the snow until one of the guys took control of the wheel. One of the guys opens the door in the midst of the struggling, and by this point, they had gone about 100 yards away from the highway. Jesse knew that he might die if he didn't escape from them and their sledgehammer, so he jumps from the van and into the snow.
Jesse felt the snow around him, and he heard the van coming back towards him. He thought that they were coming back to kill him so that he couldn't accuse them of anything. But they had come back for their dog which had accidentally jumped out of the van along with Jesse.
That's when they ran over Jesse's legs, and then they drove away with his van.
Jesse couldn't seem to catch his breath, but knew that if he lost consciousness, he would most likely die.
He crawled all the way to the highway, which was an extremely painful experience.
Somebody spotted him laying there helplessly, and covered in his own blood.
He was taken to the hospital and had surgery on his face, arms, ribs, legs, and on his collapsed lung.
The two guys got arrested, and sent to prison for attempted murder, grand theft auto, and use of weapons.
I was astounded at this man's story. Maybe he should have followed his instincts, and he should have left the two guys at the hotel. I guess you can't really trust anyone you don't know. Especially hitchhikers, because they can be a real pain in the butt. Take this story as an example. And sometimes the attacker isn't necessarily the hitchhiker, but also the one who owns the vehicle. So whatever you do, don't hitch a ride, or pick up a hitchhiker. Ever.

http://www.biography.com/video.do?name=isurvived episode 24