One moment, she was a happy, carefree 15-year-old girl, strolling through a Kearns shopping center right after Christmas. The next moment, a white truck began following her, staying a short distance away. Then the truck pulled in front of her, blocking her path. The guy inside handed her a note:

"If you are reading this, you better come with me and do what I say. I have a gun in my pocket and if you try to run away, scream or do anything stupid, I will shoot and kill you."

Three hours later, Boone was released - no longer a child, now a rape victim.

"I had vivid nightmares of him coming to kill me," Boone recalls. "I was afraid to go to sleep, but also afraid to stay awake."

Boone reported the rape, but police were unable to find a suspect.

The attack occurred in 1997. Five years later, Boone read in the newspaper about a 6-year-old girl who had been kidnapped by a man in a white truck. Knowing it might have been a coincidence but hoping to find the perpetrator, Boone called the police. Faced with a photo lineup, Boone alleged Kevin Blanke, the man charged with kidnapping the 6-year-old, was the man who raped Boone.

"Then my world came crashing down," Boone says. Again.

She had found the alleged rapist, but it was too late to charge him with the violent sex crime. Although Boone and police believed they had found their man, state law allowed only four years after a rape to file charges. Blanke was successfully prosecuted on aggravated kidnapping charges, which have no time limits.

It was then that Boone decided to work toward changing the statute of limitations for rape. She fired off letters, made phone calls, and when she finally found a willing ear, she trekked up to the state Capitol to tell a roomful of strangers about her rape.

It was a difficult effort, but one that paid off.

Today, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is expected to sign Senate Bill 177, which extends the deadline to file charges to eight years after an alleged rape. Boone will be there to watch. It won't revive her case, but she says it may help future victims get justice.

SB177's sponsor, Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City, says Boone's fearless testimony and efforts to push the bill sealed its unanimous passage by lawmakers.

"I don't know how to describe it other than the fact that this was something that was meant to be, and it will definitely help any future Jennifers," Mayne says. "Jennifer is an extraordinary young lady, to say the least."

It never dawned on Boone that she could shy away from telling the story of her personal violation.

"I had to do this," says Boone, now 22 and dating a committed, loving boyfriend. "I couldn't see not doing it. It was not an option. I told myself and others that if I get upset and cry and scared when I talk about it, I will be all right. I won't be worse off than I was that night."

Blanke did plead guilty to kidnapping Boone and was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison in addition to a possible life term for abducting the 6-year-old girl. But Boone laments that her alleged rapist will never carry the label of sex offender.

"Having this [rape] law changed," she says, "is the closest to justice I will get."

tburr@sltrib.com