About 11 months ago, Maddie Weiler fought off a would-be carjacker who tried to drive away with her and her little sister, Mollie.
Maddie was 12. Her life hasn’t been the same since.
The Williamsburg girl, now 13, has done multiple interviews with newspapers and television stations, including an appearance on The Steve Harvey Show where she and Mollie, 8, scored free tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood. Maddie will have to tell her story once more next month, when the carjacking case is finally scheduled to go to trial.
“I feel OK about testifying, because people need to know what he did,” she says. “If I can go on national television, I can do this. And I would be super happy if he gets a fair punishment.”
The April 15, 2017, incident permanently changed her, Maddie says. It made her a little more nervous when leaving her home, but it also made her appreciate her life.
“Sometimes when I go out, it’s in the back of my head that something else could happen to me,” she says. “I’ve also realized how blessed and grateful you need to be in life, because things can be gone in an instant.”
Maddie was headed to Busch Gardens with her mother and Mollie when they witnessed a two-car accident near the intersection of John Tyler Highway and Greensprings Road. Her mom, Brandie Weiler, stopped to help. While Weiler was standing outside talking to a 911 operator, a man involved in the crash — later identified by police as Williamsburg resident Paul Salsman — suddenly made a beeline for her van.
Maddie, sitting in the front passenger seat, didn’t hesitate when the man got into the driver’s seat. As she yelled at Mollie to get out of the back seat, she began pummeling the man’s face, arms and legs. She also shifted the gear into drive and held it there, aware that would prevent the van from starting.
“I was never really scared,” Maddie recalls. “I was more like, ‘this guy is about to get a beat down, because no way am I letting this happen.’ Only later did I freak out.” In fact, Maddie was thinking so clearly that she kept her seat belt on, in case the car did start and she got into a crash.
Eventually, Brandie and Mollie joined the fight. Giving up, the man tried to steal another car before police officers arrived and took him down with a Taser, Brandie says. He reportedly told police he had used crack cocaine and LSD; Salsman, 21, was charged with multiple felonies. The trial has been postponed several times, most recently so Salsman can undergo a mental evaluation.
Four hours later, after all the adrenaline had worn off, Maddie realized her right wrist was aching badly. An X-ray revealed a fracture in her growth plate, caused either by her punches or the pressure of gripping the gear stick.
Brandie Weiler wasn’t particularly surprised that Maddie, a seventh grader at Greenwood Christian Academy, held her own against a grown man. Her daughter, she says, is remarkably poised, hailing from a family of firefighters and police officers. She’s ridden horses since age 3. “I figured if she can control a 1,500-pound animal, this guy wasn’t going to get away easily,” Weiler says. “For me, everything happened in slow motion. I was on the phone with 911 the whole time, just screaming.”
Like her daughter, Weiler is eager for the alleged carjacker to face consequences. “I know he wasn’t in his right mind, but I’m angry he stole some of my children’s innocence,” she says. “Mollie especially doesn’t like to go anywhere alone. She sticks to Maddie like glue.”
Weiler took her girls to talk therapy for a time, but they found open communication at home was more beneficial. Barn time also has become an anxiety buster, particularly since Maddie’s riding trainer has a counseling degree. “Long-term, I don’t know,” Weiler admits. “That is what I am worried about.”
When the case goes to trial, Maddie is due to testify either in open court or in a private room with the jury. She says she is fine with either, noting that while she was shaking with nerves before filming with Steve Harvey in Los Angeles, she relaxed as soon as she was on stage.
Looking forward, Maddie hopes to go to Virginia Tech and become an equine vet. She also loves photography, hunting, fishing, singing and playing the guitar and, as her brush with fame has taught her, her hometown.
“I don’t want to go back to California, ever,” she says. “It was too big and city-ish for me. I’ll take Williamsburg any day. I’m grateful for what I have.”
