High school student who was choked by a belt and left to die in the woods by a driver's ed teacher takes Elizabeth Smart back to the scene where paramedics found her and assumed she was already dead

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A woman who was left for dead after her neck was brutally broken by a high school wrestling coach returned to the woods where she once lay helplessly for more than 30 hours.

Ashley Reeves was thought to be dead by investigators who found her in the woods of Belleville, Illinois, covered in thousands of insect bites after Samson Shelton choked her with a belt in 2006.

Upon revisiting the scene of the harrowing crime with kidnapping survivor and Crime Watch Daily's Correspondent Elizabeth Smart, Reeves said: 'I think it's kinda hard to believe that this is actually where I was for that long and in that condition.

'[It] makes me feel like maybe I am as tough as everybody says I am,' Reeves said, after she beat all odds and learned how to swallow, talk, and move her arms and legs again.

Ashley Reeves (left) was left for dead after her neck was brutally broken by Samson Shelton in 2006. She sat down in an interview with kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart (right)

Reeves lay helplessly in a desolate park for 30 hours before she was rescued. She returned to the scene and said: 'Maybe I am as tough as everybody says I am'

Reeves said she had little memory of the attempted murder and said she had difficulty watching recordings of Shelton's interrogation

Reeves had gone missing after she left her home for a job interview and the Jeep she was driving was found eight hours later in another park in the area. 

Search dogs and helicopters were dispatched in the search for Reeves before Johnson entered Citizen's Park with other cops in tow. 

When they finally spotted her in the dark, they thought they had a corpse — until Johnson saw the blonde, blue-eyed girl breathe. 

Swansea Police Chief Steven Johnson said: 'She was laying on the ground, on her back, all curled up in the fetal position.' 

Footage of the rescue showed investigators shining a light in her face and asking for a response as Reeves appeared lifeless.  

Reeves was in serious condition after Shelton, a wannabe pro wrestler and driver's education teacher tried to strangle the high school junior.  

Shelton told authorities he once had sex with Reeves, and was trying to break off the relationship while they were both in the car.

He injured her in an ensuing altercation, and then drove to a nearby park, where he tightened a belt around her neck to make it look like she had been strangled, he told investigators.

Shelton told investigators he had to turn his head while he pulled on the belt because he couldn't bear seeing Reeves.

He heard a gurgle and saw foam emerging from her mouth, telling the investigator: 'She was the sickest color I'd ever seen.' 

Shelton pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years. The former high school teacher told investigators he had sex with Reeves

Shelton injured her while trying to break off the relationship and tightened a belt around her neck to make it look like she had been strangled, he told investigators (above)

Shelton said he heard a gurgle and saw foam emerging from Reeves' mouth. He the investigator: 'She was the sickest color I'd ever seen'

Shelton pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years.

Reeves and her family agreed to the deal at the time in part because it would spare her from having to testify.

And some of those uneasy feelings lingered when she spoke to Smart, who hit headlines after she was kidnapped from her bedroom in 2002 at the age of 14.

Reeves said she had difficulty watching recordings of Shelton's interrogation, saying: 'I made it about a minute and thirty seconds [into the interrogation] and then I was so upset by it. 

'I had to turn it off…I watched my [rescue video] up until the point where they actually found me.' 

While she was initially ambivalent about revisiting the site where she almost died, she left realizing her strength in fighting to stay alive.

She said: 'I’m a fighter and I just keep wanting to push myself harder and harder.' 

Smart (pictured after she was found) hit headlines after she disappeared from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002 at the age of 14. She is now a correspondent for Crime Watch Daily

Mitchell (left) was sentenced to life in prison in May 2011, and his wife Wanda Barzee (right) was sentenced to 15 years for her role in the kidnapping of the girl

Smart was kidnapped and held captive for nine months, during which she was repeatedly raped. 

Within hours of the kidnapping, she testified, she was stripped of her red pajamas, draped in white, religious robes and forced into a polygamous marriage with Brian David Mitchell.

She was tethered to a metal cable strung between two trees and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs.

She described the horrific events as her 'nine months of hell', during which she was forced to live homeless, dress in disguises and stay quiet or lie about her identity if ever approached by strangers or police. 

Mitchell was sentenced to serve life in prison in May 2011, and his wife Wanda Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in a Texas federal prison hospital for her role in the kidnapping of the girl.   

She is now an advocate against abuse. 

For more, tune in to Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen. See Crimewatchdaily.com for listings.