This I Survived a Serial Killer Sneak Peek Will Have You Locking Your Doors
Fabienne Witherspoon is one of the few people who lived to tell the tale of her near-death encounter with the so-called "Coast to Coast Killer" Tommy Lynn Sells.
Sells was eventually convicted of murdering 9-year-old Mary Beatrice Perez and is suspected of killing at least 21 other individuals, including a child as young as 4.
Fabienne recalls the harrowing experience in an exclusive sneak peek of A&E's I Survived a Serial Killer, premiering Friday, Feb. 4. And while the events took place nearly 30 years ago, the survivor can describe the details like it was yesterday.
The attack began when a 19-year-old Fabienne offered to give Tommy some food and clothes, as he was living on the streets at the time. But when she told him to stand outside her friend's house while she gathered the things, he followed her into the home, threatened her with a knife and forced her to go into the bathroom.
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"After the first assault, he pushed me up over the toilet," she recalls. "I remember looking down and there was a ceramic duck and I remember just looking at that duck and thinking, 'That's your only weapon, use it.'"
She repeatedly struck Tommy and says she stopped only "there was nothing left in my hand but the beak."
Despite her best efforts, Tommy remained standing, though somewhat shaken. "He was really upset," she shares, adding that he then made a crucial mistake. "After that he did assault me again, but he put the knife down on the countertop by the mirrors, so when I saw my opportunity I grabbed the knife."
And while Tommy was quick to react, Fabienne was able to repeatedly stab him and get out of the bathroom. She went to make her escape, Fabienne says, "but before I knew it he had me by the back of my hair and pulled me back and he threw me into that bedroom and I was just flying."
A struggle ensued and all Fabienne can remember thinking was, "This is it. He's going to kill me."
Learn how Fabienne survived her encounter with Tommy when I Survived a Serial Killer premieres on A&E Feb. 4 at 10 p.m.
For more true crime updates on your need-to-know cases, head to Oxygen.com.
