Paul Boehlke/KTVB

Louise Erdmann talks about the ordeal that almost cost her life.

Louise tells her story

BOISE - A kidnapping at a Boise home turned into an all night odyssey – in the end, one person was dead and another’s life shattered.

For the first time, the chilling details from the woman at the center of the crime spree - a mother of six who nearly lost it all.

Louise Erdman was at her Boise home helping to finish up homework and getting the kids ready for bed March 30^th. But late in the evening her world changed forever.

"I just felt like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this is happening to me," said Louise Erdmann. "He started saying, ‘you need to shoot yourself in the head and then I will shoot myself in the head,’"

Jim Rose

Louise Erdmann was getting ready to tuck her three youngest children into bed.  But then a man from her past threatened to end their future.

"All of a sudden our world was just pure hell," she said.  "I just started praying that somehow I'm going to get through this.”

Earlier this year, Jim Rose was arrested for threatening to kill Louise.  On the cool March night, it looked like he would make good on the threat. He busted in the front door and made his intentions known.

(Related: Kidnapper shoots woman, kills self)

"He grabs my little girl's hair and, at gunpoint, tells her 'You see this gun?  If you don't get out, take the baby and go to a neighbors, this is up your mom's head,’” Erdmann said.

The children fled to safety -- then Louise tried doing the same.

"I just went running as fast as I can, but the next thing you know he was right on me, he grabbed me and said, ‘you get in the car right now or I'm gonna shoot you right here.’”

She complied – then a nightmare of a road trip ensued.

"He's like, ‘you know what's going to happen tonight, don't you? We're both going to die tonight, that's what's going to happen,” she said.

"I'd say, 'I don't want to die and I don't want you to die either'. And he'd say, 'Well, it's too late, it's happening, baby, it's happening.’ He took the gun and put it to my head.  And that's when I was like ‘I gotta fight now, because he is not going to shoot me in the head, there's no way.’"

Louise sprang into action.

"I grabbed the gun - and then he got really mad and said ‘let go of the f-ing gun, now!’"

"I let go… and I got shot in the legs.”

Shot through both legs, terrified and now 250 miles from home.  Louise's captor pulled off the interstate onto a remote road south of Snowville, Utah, where the saga takes another dramatic turn.

"I remember driving over all this rough terrain,” she said. “He wanted to just drive and drive and run out of gas.”

On that cold, snowy night -- that's what happened.

"I'm thinking, ‘I'm going to bleed to death and freeze to death at the same time.’"

But, with the rising sun came a ray of hope.  Two hunters approached the car.  Rose told them Louise accidentally shot herself. 

He asked them to take her to a hospital, but also requested they not call police.  Suspicious, the hunters drove off – and called 911.

Utah State Patrol

This image from dash cam video shows police approaching the vehicle with Louise Erdmann inside.

Soon officers rushed down this desolate rural road.

"He said he saw people coming up behind us and he said, ‘I'm not going live to prison for 20 years.’ All of a sudden, next thing I know... boom..."

Jim Rose took his own life. It all happened as armed officers closed in on the car, with their video cameras rolling.

"They started hollering and telling me to get out of the car and I opened my door and I said, 'I can't get out of the car, I can't, I've been shot.’”

"And they just kept hollering at me and running toward me with riffles and I thought they were going to shoot me because I wouldn't get out of the car."

In fact, her traumatic 12-hour ordeal was about to end -- and she was about to go on living - unbelievable news delivered by a female officer on scene. 

"She's like, ‘you're going to be okay, you're going to make it’ and then she goes look up there and there was this helicopter coming. And, it was like, ‘I hope I'm going to make it to the hospital.’”

After 5 days in a Utah hospital Louise returned to Boise. It was two weeks before her three youngest children were given back to their mother - after authorities put them in state custody during the volatile situation.

(Related: Boise woman shot in leg could leave hospital soon)

Now, as she plans for her daughter's 10th birthday party, she takes stock of what was nearly lost -- her life as a mother.

Paul Boehlke/KTVB

Louise Erdmann holds her 7-month-old baby Dekenzy earlier this month.

"I'm concentrating on every day with them,” she said. “Every moment is like really precious,"

Louise is still in a lot of pain from her gunshot wounds.

Along with the scars, the bullet still remains in her right leg -- lodged next to her femur. Doctors say there's less risk leaving it there than there would be trying to surgically remove it.

Six weeks after this ordeal, Louise is still not able to live in her own home because of all the damage done during the break-in.

She's currently living with her 22-year old daughter as they try to find a handyman to help with the necessary repairs.

Louise tells her story