A year ago today, Mitchell Walck kidnapped Susan-Marie Smith and took her into North Dakota and back to Montana in a horrifying 27-hour ordeal.

When she went to let her pets out that day, little did Smith know that the armed fugitive was casing her home.

Police had given the Rathdrum woman the OK to go about her business after the manhunt for Walck.

Walck had failed to stop for a traffic violation on Highway 41 south of Spirit Lake while driving a stolen vehicle, and fired shots at an Idaho State Police trooper before fleeing into the woods.

The trooper was not hit, and the hunt continued.

Smith checked on her dad’s home nearby, went to the post office, then let out her pets.

Then she heard her front door handle wiggle, assuming it was a friend.

“When I stepped onto the porch, (Walck) was about 15 feet away pointing a pistol at me,” Smith said recently, during her first interview since the experience. “He had been hiding out in my ‘58 Chevy.”

The ordeal ended in Glendive, Mont., near the North Dakota border with Smith being unharmed and released near an Albertsons grocery store.

“Things could’ve turned out a whole lot worse,” said Smith, a single 63-year-old who didn’t know Walck. “I wake up every morning thanking God I’m alive. I put myself in His hands and rolled with the punches.”

Walck was later arrested in Bismarck, N.D., after he was found hiding in a semi at a truck stop and pulled a gun on a trucker. He pleaded guilty in July to terrorizing, unlawful entry to a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property and felony possession of a firearm.

He was sentenced in October to 10 years in prison.

Coast wasn’t clear

Smith was awakened at 1 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2012, by a helicopter circling overhead searching for Walck. She didn’t have any details as to who or what the search was for.

“At one point, I got dressed and went to the porch to watch (the police overhead) and I thought, ‘This is stupid. You had better get inside and lock the door,’” Smith said.

Later in the morning, she called the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and learned that an armed felon was on the run.

“That’s when I opted to stay home from church,” she said. “I felt safer at home.”

After police thought they’d exhausted their search of that area, Smith was told she could go about her day.

“I took them at their word,” said Smith, who works as a seamstress at All Seasons Apparel in Post Falls.

Smith said she was focused on letting her pets back inside so, when the door handle wiggled, she stepped outside to see who was there rather than taking a peek from inside her home first.

“I remember saying an expletive when I saw him point the gun at me,” Smith said. “He pushed me inside the house with the side of the gun pressed against my back.”

Smith later learned from Walck that he had earlier been on her property during the manhunt and said that seemed like the best place to hide out.

Smith said Walck, 58, was very demanding.

“The first thing he wanted was coffee,” she said. “He said it was too cold, so I put it in the microwave, then he complained that it was too hot. He wanted gluten-free food because he felt he had Celiac disease.

“He also complained that Christian women shouldn’t have short hair (as Smith has), but that they should have long, flowing hair.”

Smith, who attends a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Coeur d’Alene, said Walck’s demeanor changed after he learned that is where she attends, because that church was among his earlier stops to receive assistance.

“When he found out that I went to that church, he was a lot nicer to me,” Smith said. “But he still had to be in charge. I had to do what he wanted me to.”

To keep an eye on Smith at her home, Walck urinated in her kitchen sink.

Walck threatened to shoot Smith’s three dachshunds because they were barking, so Smith took them to a room and closed the door to quiet them down.

After learning of the manhunt, one of Smith’s friends tried to call her to check on her. However, with Walck by her side, Smith didn’t answer.

“I have some intuitive friends,” Smith said. “We have a routine.”

A multi-state ordeal

After finally becoming convinced about Smith’s assertion that police had cleared the area, Walck was ready to make a break for it.

And Smith was coming with him in her Subaru.

“I tried to reason with him to take my car and leave me,” she said. “But he said, ‘No, you’re coming with me.’”

Smith said Walck refused to take Smith’s credit card on the excursion because he said it was of the devil. Walck took two guns of Smith’s, clothes, food and $260 in cash.

“Out of the blue, I said, ‘If you take me, don’t drop me off in North Dakota,’” she said. “I don’t know why I said that.”

The two headed across the border into Spokane Valley before Walck turned around and drove across Montana.

“I think he wanted to cross as many state lines as possible to get the feds involved,” Smith said.

Smith said she silently prayed often during the experience.

“I’d say something to the effect of, ‘Whatever happens, happens. I’m leaving myself in your hands. If I live, then so be it and, if I die, then so be it,’” she said.

Smith said she only cried once — and it wasn’t for long — when she returned home with FBI agents along Interstate 90.

“It was a release,” she said.

Mitchell pulled over along the road whenever either of them had to go to the bathroom. When he did, he’d place the pistol on top of the vehicle so it was close by.

Walck also made multiple stops for coffee and water.

“I did what I was told because I didn’t want to get shot,” Smith said. “There were times when we were in populated areas, but if I tried to leave and he was not a good shot, others could’ve been hurt. I opted to roll with the punches.”

Much of what Walck talked about was random thoughts that rambled — and some of it wasn’t true, based on a later conversation that Smith had with an acquaintance of Walck’s. He’d twist things, she said, to make it look like he was the victim during certain times of his life. He married at a young age, was divorced and had a violent criminal history.

Walck had no known ties to Kootenai County, police say. He was known to frequent areas such as Priest River and Clark Fork and multiple cities in western Montana.

Glimmer of hope

Walck’s criminal history prior to kidnapping Smith included simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct in Pennsylvania in 1997. He also was involved in a standoff in Montana, and attacked a deputy while in the Powell County (Mont.) Jail in 2001, for which he served 10 years in prison.

But the longer the abduction lasted, the more Smith felt confident that it would end positively.

“Although there were times I felt that it could go either way,” Smith said.

Not long after reaching North Dakota, Walck headed back into Montana. Smith ate for the first time during the ordeal when Walck stopped at a McDonald’s in Sidney, Mont.

As the two approached Glendive — and with Walck fretting over cash drying up and regretting not bringing Smith’s credit card — a glimmer of hope came.

“He said, ‘Susan, what am I going to do with you?’” she said, adding that he declined her idea to drop her off along the road.

“I then suggested that he drop me off either at the college (Dawson Community College) or a church (in Glendive),” she said. “He was silent, then said, ‘That’s a good idea.’”

The college was closed — it was a Sunday — so the two stopped at a bar to find out where the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was. With no one at the church, Walck decided to drop Smith off near an Albertsons.

“He stopped the vehicle, told me to get out and to take the (McDonald’s) garbage with me,” Smith said. “It took me a bit to get out because I hadn’t been walking.”

Smith was free at last.

Walck gave back Smith $5.50 of her own money to make a phone call for help. Inside the Albertsons, Smith called her brother and sister in law in Spokane to let them know she was safe.

Walck was later arrested in Bismarck, where Smith’s vehicle was also recovered. The vehicle had 1,600 miles put on it during the ordeal.

“When he drove off in my car, I thought, ‘It’s all just stuff compared to anybody’s life,’” Smith said.

Reflections and a new start

Smith said she doesn’t have nightmares over the tense experience.

But she said her life has been changed.

“I’m more reclusive, so I need to force myself to get out to be around people,” she said, adding that her job that she got in April has helped in that regard. “I’ll also make sure that I know who’s at the door before opening it.”

Smith said she doesn’t have ill feelings toward Walck.

“But it’s nice for his own sake that he stays in prison,” she said. “I think that three hots (meals) and a cot are what he wanted. That way he doesn’t have to take care of himself. He wanted to go back to prison.”

After returning to this area, Smith spent the first two weeks staying with relatives.

“The church had the house and Subaru blessed,” Smith said.

Smith sees a lot of bright sides in the aftermath of the frightening experience.

“I’ve been blessed in so many ways,” she said. “Relationships with my family and my lady friends from church and their husbands are stronger.”

She’s also made a few new friends, including FBI agents who were involved in the case.

“I’ve taken some huckleberry picking with me,” she said. “I’ve met a lot of wonderful people through this experience.”

She’s also thankful to have her dogs and cats for companionship at home.

“They had more trauma than I did,” Smith said, tongue-in-cheek. “They never left the home during the outing, so their eyeballs were floating.”

Smith plans to spend today’s one-year anniversary of her experience relaxing with friends and playing games.

“We’re going to have a pizza night and play Mexican train (with dominos),” Smith said. “It will be really low-key.”

Some day, Smith said she wants to return to visit eastern Montana, as she has heard about the unique geographic features of that area.

“But, when I go, it will be on my own terms,” she said with a smile. “I just don’t want to ever sit in that passenger seat again.”