Editor's Note: This is part of a new series on KSL.com where we do a follow-up article about Utahns who we have previously featured on KSL. If you have been the subject of a feature story on KSL in the past and would like to be part of our "Where Are They Now?" series, email cwilliams@deseretdigital.com for consideration.ROY — A Utah mother who survived a 2014 attack when her neighbor attempted to kill her and her son in a North Ogden townhouse is now releasing a book about her ordeal and the string of “miracles” around it.

“I made this book, honestly, to give back to my students and to give back to women, and to show that a miracle happened even after the fact,” said Savannah Fuchs, who moved to Roy after the attack. “There’s a few miracles in (the book) that have happened throughout my life that are pretty big. That night, I survived when the gun jammed. … It’s really kind of a spiritual book.”

The book, “Intervening Angel,” written with the help of Kevin Anderson & Associates, is slated to be released by the end of June, Fuchs said.

In 2014, Fuchs was living in North Ogden and after months of troubles with her neighbor, Todd Alan Barber, Barber entered her townhouse during the early morning of April 1, went to her bedroom and turned on her light.

"And there he was with a gun, bags and duct tape, and he had zip ties and he came in to rape me and kill me and my son. And I survived. There were so many miracles," Fuchs told KSL in February 2015.

Related Stories:

No. Ogden woman files lawsuit against police for not protecting her

Savannah Fuchs said the warning signs were there but North Ogden police kept assuring her that she would be OK.

Fuchs said Barber whipped her with a gun, fired at her and held her hostage before calling 911 himself for an ambulance and police. He then shot himself in the head when emergency crews arrived at the scene, the police report said.

The attack left Fuchs with multiple injuries to her head and face, which required 60 staples and 50 stitches, she said.

In 2015, Fuchs filed a lawsuit against North Ogden over three police officers that she said failed to protect her. That lawsuit was eventually thrown out in August that year, but a second lawsuit against her landlord ended in a settlement, which Fuchs said she used to cover the costs of having a book published about her ordeal and the moments around it that she sees as miracles.

Among the stories is the Barber family’s act of anonymous kindness after Fuchs’ attack. The assault, Fuchs said, left her with nothing much to wear when she was preparing to head back to work again.

“Everything was ruined and I had blood all over the house,” Fuchs said.

So Fuchs’ mother contacted a local Dillard’s to find her daughter a new wardrobe. A woman at the department store answered the phone, and the next day that woman offered to pay $500 for new clothing when Fuchs' mother showed up at the store.

Fuchs wore a new wardrobe when she returned to her job as an instructor at the Paul Mitchell School three weeks after the attack.

“Everyone was shocked,” she recalled of the day she returned to work. “They said, ‘You don’t look like anything happened to you.’ ”

Six months later, Fuchs said she ran into a woman while taking her son ice skating. That woman, who had never met Fuchs, said she worked at the same department store and knew the woman who offered to pay for the new wardrobe.

The woman who paid $500 for the new clothing turned out to be the niece of Fuch’s attacker.

“(She) recognized the story from the location and she went home to the Barber family and the evil man’s family bought my wardrobe,” Fuchs said, voicing her astonishment in a phone interview with KSL.com.

For Fuchs, that act of kindness went a long way. She said it gave her the self-confidence to move on after the attack.

“What a good family to have helped me to get back on my feet,” she said. “I had nothing — I mean I had nothing. I had no clothes, I had nowhere to go home to and they put me back on my feet, and I felt beautiful.”

Fuchs added that not only does she still own the same wardrobe, but she also will look at it from time-to-time to remind her of the positivity she felt when she wore it the first day back to work after the attack.

Another is the story of her friend, Dennis Long, who taught at her son’s school and who came over to Fuchs’ house the night before the attack to give Fuchs supplies for a project she was working on. Long, a Christian, offered a prayer of protection on the home for Fuchs, who is Jewish, which Fuchs said resonates in the book, as does an angel Fuchs’ son told her he saw guiding him the morning of the attack.

Fuchs also had recently taken a self-defense class prior to the assault that she said helped her.

Overall, Fuchs said she hopes the experiences shared in her book are positive messages to women that may have dealt with similar tribulations in their lives.

"This is my gift to my students and to my co-workers, and everyone who has helped me along the way," she said. "And at the beginning, I really thank God. I mean, my life was really saved."

Related topics