Riding the housing boom of the 2000s, Diana Martin combed Austin for tired, rundown bungalows, bought them, and, with artistic flair, recast them into little gems for people looking for custom homes. Then Wall Street crashed. Trapped with three houses in a market where no one was buying, she couldn't make her mortgage payments. The banks--the same ones begging for government bailouts--began moving against her.

Desperate to sell, she opened the door to an interested buyer--who tied her up, pistol-whipped her, and forced her onto her bed to rape her...