Charisma Carpenter is returning as host of Surviving Evil…

Investigation Discovery (ID) has ordered a second season of the series, which presents dramatically compelling and emotional stories of victims who fought back against their attackers and, against all odds, survived.

Carpenter is the survivor of a real-life incident that she endured more than 20 years ago. The actress and two of her friends were swimming at San Diego’s Torrey Pines State Beach back in 1991 when they were violently attacked by an armed, rogue police officer.

Carpenter fought back after being held at gunpoint, but her two friends were both shot by the attacker and seriously wounded. The police officer was later sentenced to 56 years in prison for the attacks, as well as a series of rapes and robberies.

“We feel especially lucky to welcome back Charisma, who adds an important layer of depth to the series as a survivor and symbol of female empowerment in Hollywood,” ID’s general manager Kevin Bennett said in the.

ID bills itself as the leading “mystery-and-suspense” network on TV, and America’s favorite “guilty pleasure.”

The 10-episode second season begins filming in early 2014.

Surviving Evil is one of ID’s strongest series, ratings-wise. The first season, which premiered on August 28 with Carpenter’s story, ranked as ID’s top series for primetime delivery in the third quarter of ’13 in the 25-54  demo (450,000).