When Camping Went Completely Wrong

This happened to my parents back in the late 80's. They were in their mid-20s when this all occurred. My parents decided to go camping in Cool, California. When they got there, it was kind of late. My Mom was sitting down on a log while my Dad was unpacking the truck. While sitting down, she heard walking around the campsite, so she went and quietly told my Dad she heard someone walking around. They noped the fuck out of there, just in case.

They drove about 3 miles down the road with their headlights off, so they wouldn't be followed. Once they got there, they set up camp and began to drink their asses off while listening to a boxing match on the radio. Eventually, they settled in for the night. Now, they don't know for sure that this next event is connected to the first, but they believe it is. So, they settled in, and my Dad was asleep far before my Mom. My mom was in the half-way state where you're half way awake and half-way asleep. Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside the tent. She abruptly snapped back to consciousness and listened. She tried waking my Dad, but he was way too out of it.

She listened for what seemed like hours when suddenly she hears, in the creepiest voice you could probably ever imagine say "Here I ammmmmmmmm. I'm going to killlllllllll youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu." While saying this man ran, what she believes to be a knife, along the tent. She could hear him walking and dragging the knife. She was literally frozen. She couldn't say anything or move. With her mouth agape, she finally snapped out of it and screamed "JIM, GRAB THE SHOTGUN. KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH." With that, my Dad finally awoke. They heard snapping of twigs and footsteps and heard the guy running away. Of course, my parents didn't have a shotgun. It was a huge bluff that actually worked. My Dad got up seconds later and began to run after him, but he was long gone. After that, my parents decided they were getting the fuck out of there before anything else happened. 

When they saw, their tires were slashed. They were in the middle of nowhere and no way out with some maniac that wanted to kill them. They actually tried blowing up their tires with one of those things you use to blow up rafts. Obviously, that didn't work, but they had to try, right? About an hour or so later, a ranger that was patrolling the area came along and helped them out. He brought them back to town, so they could get their tires fixed. While talking to the ranger, they found out that he had been searching for any suspicious activity due to recent murders nearby. My parents were likely the murderers' next victims. I tried finding some of the murder cases online but was unable to.