"I asked, 'What do I need to do?' and she said she was going to be fingerprinted, so call back in a couple of hours. That basically became the same line through the whole next day."
The other prisoners said that Eilman yelled and cried all night, saying she was sick and would hurt herself, but that police offered no medical assistance.
Monday afternoon in California, Kathy Paine's frustration grew. Police would not tell her when Eilman might be released.
Then came the news that was worse than knowing Eilman was in custody: She had been released an hour earlier and her whereabouts were unknown.
The doorbell rang at 2:30 a.m. A local police officer told the Paines to call Chicago police; their daughter had been severely injured.
They got on the first plane they could. "We just prayed the whole time," Kathy Paine said.
Eilman had a crushed pelvis, fractured vertebrae, collapsed lungs, a shattered ankle and massive internal bleeding. Respiratory failure put her in a coma. But the most serious injury was the bleeding on both sides of her brain.
She can make eye contact, but fleetingly. Some days she speaks a few words and appears dreamy, almost content. Other days she writhes and moans.
Doctors expect to discharge Eilman in mid-September. Meantime, her family remains in Chicago.
As Eilman drifted to sleep one night, her mother caressed her arm, saying, "We'll be here until we can go home as a family."
