In 1988, a teenager named Laurie Ann Powell was stabbed to death in Virginia. The killer dumped her body in the James River. It would take an entire month after Laurie Ann went missing for her remains to be discovered and identified.
Laurie Ann's mother, Jo Ann, sunk into a deep depression in the wake of her youngest daughter's death.
In 1998, Jo Ann appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to speak with Dr. Phil about grief and loss. At the time, she was in so much pain that she made a gut-punching admission. That night, Jo Ann confessed she was planning on taking her own life.
What followed is one of the most powerful moments on television.
In the video below, Oprah says she believes Dr. Phil literally saved this woman's life, right on camera for all the world to see.
Dr. Phil says something to Jo Ann that immediately strikes a chord with her — and even through her pain and tears, you can see the moment a lightbulb goes off in her head.
Watch the video below to find out just what Dr. Phil said to change Jo Ann's mind.
13 years after her daughter's murder and three years after her first appearance on Oprah, Jo Ann established a non-profit foundation to help others who have lost loved ones to violent crime.
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