Woman struck by lightning near White House that killed three others confesses survivor’s guilt

Amber Escudero-Kontostathis shared her survivor’s guilt during her first interview after the fatal lightning strike outside the White House (Pictures: GMA/ABC News/Reuters)

The sole survivor of a lightning strike near the White House earlier this month says she doesn’t know why she survived the strike, which killed three others.

Amber Escudero-Kontostathis had been canvassing outside the White House on her 28th birthday when she took cover underneath a tree at Lafayette Square as it began to rain, she told Good Morning America in her first interview since the incident on August 4.

EXCLUSIVE: “I don’t know why I survived.”

Amber Escudero-Kontostathis opens up for the first time about being the sole survivor of a lightning strike near the White House earlier this month and her road to recovery. @evapilgrim has more. https://t.co/C4P7Ec9r61 pic.twitter.com/4v8fbuZoN4

— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 16, 2022

Six bolts of lightning struck within half a second, killing a married couple in their 70s, James and Donna Mueller, and 29-year-old Brooks Lambertson.

The group had hid under a tree across the street from the White House during a summer storm when a massive bolt of lightning struck the ground. Escudero-Kontostathis was left with burns covering her body from the strike.

The lone survivor of a lightning strike that killed three people near the White House on Thursday night is a 28-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit (Picture: Instagram)

‘I don’t know why I survived,’ she told GMA. ‘I don’t feel good about being the only survivor, that’s for sure. I’m grateful, but I just don’t feel good about being the only one.’

One theory she has is that her shoes may have played a role in how badly she was burned.

‘They definitely didn’t save my life,’ she said of the chunky Doc Marten sandals with a thick rubber sole she’d been wearing. ‘I definitely think it contributed to potentially less of a burn.’

She believes her rubber soled shoes may have helped her not get as burned in the incident

Still, the lightning struck straight through her body, resulting her to be rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She remained in the hospital for several weeks, and was able to recover fairly quickly in spite of her severe injuries.

Despite this, her recover has been a challenge both mentally and physically.

‘I forget that I can’t just get up and do stuff. I have to use a walker, for example,’ she said.

‘You wake up and you think that you can just get up and go and brush your teeth or get a cup of coffee yourself and I can’t, my whole left sides like pretty charred,’ Escudero-Kontostathis said.

Escudero-Kontostathis works as the director of Threshold Giving, a nonprofit that helps refugees, and had been canvassing for the group at the time of the lightning strike. Being unable to work now, she says, has been frustrating.

A lightning strike hits a tree in Lafayette Park across from the White House, killing three and injuring a fourth person (Picture: Reuters)

‘I get to help people find their inner activist and bridge them to the work they want to see in the world,’ she said. ‘Not getting to do that every day is probably more painful than cleaning the burns, which is pretty painful.’

The 28-year-old said that while she doesn’t remember much about getting struck by the lightning itself, she’ll always remember and be thankful for the care she received from the ICU nurses who helped her recover.

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