WHEN Tracy Otto’s boyfriend started talking about their dream future together and lavishing her with heartfelt gifts, she thought she’d found her perfect match.
She had met Francpiero Del Medico – better known as Franc – in January 2018 while he was working in a bar.
His ambition – to move over 1,200 miles away to and become a – sounded exciting and adventurous.
So just months after they’d started dating, the aspiring model, then 22, moved state with him.
But by August that year, Del Medico was a changed man.
He had started to behave erratically, jealously riffling through her mobile history to see if Tracy was on him.
He would steal away with her laptop to look for more signs of her with men – even though she remained loyal to him.
Franc even started arguments every time Tracy hung out with new friends, to the point that she began feeling isolated.
She had enrolled at the University of Tampa with ambitions to become a doctor.
Now she was forced to drop out to take on more bar work to pay their rent – which Franc was no longer covering.
Far worse was to come, though.
Just over a year after their move, in August 2019, Del Medico launched his first vicious attack on her at their home in Riverview, Florida.
Speaking to Fabulous, Tracy says: “I don't remember the context of the fight, but we end up screaming at each other.
“He grabbed my phone, smashed it, and then when I tried to get my laptop, he grabbed that too and went to break it in half.
“I ran to try to get out the door but I’m only small – 5ft 3 – and he came after me so fast, grabbed me from behind and just threw me into the house across the room.”;
Bruised and battered, Tracy called the . Del Medico was arrested but Tracy felt guilt-tripped into dropping the charges by one of his relatives.
Feeling guilty, Tracy picked Del Medico up from jail but she knew she had to end their relationship.
She says: “I felt like it was my fault he was being violent and not able to control himself. But I also knew we were over.
“When I broke up with him a few days later he called me a scared little b****.
“He said that he wasn't going to f*** me up physically, but this time he was going to f*** me up mentally.”;
Moving out of their home, Tracy thought she’d seen the last of him and was keen to move on with her life.
Within weeks she grew close to a friend she’d met working at a golf club bar called Ricky Riessle.
The pair went on their first date in October 2019 when they were both in Chicago visiting loved ones.
When they returned to Florida, Tracy invited Ricky over to spend a few days at the home she had once shared with Del Medico.
Their relationship was very new but as she sipped wine and the pair curled up in bed together she felt very content.
She recalls: “I just remember the feeling of the cool sheets on my body, and I drifted off to sleep.”
Then came the terrifying moment she'll never forget.
She says: “The next thing I remember is being woken up by a really bright flashlight and someone screaming at me to get out of bed.
“I was like ‘what’s going on?’ because I was half asleep and groggy.
“Then I realised it was Franc.
“He was screaming at Ricky and I to get out of bed. I moved towards him and I saw he had a gun. I remember that feeling of my heart falling out of my chest, like, ‘Ok, this is how I die’.”;
The frenzied physical and sexual attack that followed would change Tracy’s life forever.
She says: “I remember Franc punching me in the face and when I fell to the ground, he kicked me in the stomach.
“I remember the wind leaving my lungs and just not being able to breathe.
“He said, ‘open your f***ing mouth’ and I remember feeling the gun go into my mouth and him firing inside – that feeling of it hitting the back of my throat and tasting the blood in my mouth.”;
When she slowly came around at the hospital, her first thoughts were for Ricky.
She says: “I remember this feeling of knowing something incredibly awful happened, but just not being exactly sure what.
“I was thinking ,’oh, my God, is Ricky alive?’. My whole body felt numb and alien to me.
“I remember hearing the sound of a camera shutter and discovering later it was a detective taking pictures of my body.”;
As Tracy regained consciousness, the full horror of what had happened to her and Ricky became clear.
Twisted Del Medico had used a spare key to get into the house and attack Tracy and Ricky with a knife and a high powered pellet gun.
Both shot multiple times and stabbed. Del Medico had then called the police to confess his crimes while leaving Tracy for dead.
She says: “Franc had stabbed me in my neck, causing huge spinal damage.
“He shot me through my left eye, which exploded my eye and meant it had to be completely removed.”;
Tracy also told how the gun had been used to sexually abuse her with details too graphic for Flying Eze to mention.
As a result of the brutal attack Tracy was now paralysed from the chest down and quadriplegic – meaning she had paralysis in both her arms and legs – as well as being left half blind.
Ricky had been shot twice in the face and stabbed in the lung, yet remarkably made a full recovery.
Despite their relationship being in the early stages, Ricky was by Tracy’s side every step of the way, through months of torturous rehabilitation.
Paralysis meant she could wiggle her hands but had no strength in them. Simple tasks like learning to hold a spoon were a huge mountain to climb.
She was now permanently wheelchair bound, half blind and unable to regulate her body temperature.
She says: “I don’t remember being told I was never going to walk again.
“My memory is very blurry but I remember telling Ricky how sad I was with the realisation that I’d never feel the sand between my toes on the beach again.
“It was, and still is, absolutely devastating.”;
Six years on, Tracy’s life can never go back to the one she led before the attack yet she will go down in history books for the inspirational journey she has led since.
In March 2021, she decided to try archery on a whim.
For the first time since the attack, it finally brought her a sense of freedom. Because of her disabilities, she uses a specially designed harness to shoot and uses her mouth to release arrows.
From the get-go, she made it her life’s mission to compete in .
Three years later she made her debut at the as part of the United States Archery Team. At the time she was ranked Number One in the world in her class.
The trip was made even more memorable when Ricky proposed under the .
Ricky has been by her side not just through her on-going rehab but as her arrow agent – the person on the team who passes her the arrows.
“Had you told me I’d be a one-eyed, quadriplegic who shoots archery five years ago, I’d have laughed at you,”; she says.
The pair recently became first-time parents to daughter Rylee, now three months-old.
Tracy, who has spent years in therapy, is now training for the LA28 Paralympic Games.
In January 2023 Del Medico, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary with assault, two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, one count of sexual battery and two counts of aggravated bodily harm. He was sentenced to 40 years in jail.
Tracy hasn’t seen or spoken to him since.
Tracy, who still lives in Florida, says: “I don’t want to give credit to Franc for the life I have now – the one I love and enjoy and is so beautiful – because there’s also been a lot of blood, sweat and tears put in, not just by myself, but also by my family.
“I will never be able to pick up my daughter. I’ve had to adapt and overcome the limitations.
“At court I had to be pushed up a ramp in my wheelchair and it got stuck which was embarrassing, but I told Franc that I forgive him and that it wasn’t my burden to carry.
“I told him that I was going to live my best life that I possibly could and to help as many people as I can and to change the world.
“He didn’t even look at me but that is what I continue to do every day in my life.
“I want to inspire and motivate others to live a beautiful, healthy and happy life – to keep going in the face of trauma and to know that even when you don’t see that light, it’s always there.
“I’d say to others, to find hope in your heart and the things that bring joy in your life.”;
Tracy appears on The Girlfriends: Spotlight, from Novel and iHeartPodcasts, available everywhere you get your podcasts, from April 7
