Police in West Virginia received a frantic call last week with a woman in the background saying, “He pulled a gun on me! He was going to kill me!” The woman, who wants to be known only as “Heather,” spoke to the police after a struggle with an attacker who tried to rape her and held a gun to her chest. Luckily Heather was able to fight back to the point where the gunman set down his weapon. She then grabbed ahold of it and fired the gun, killing him. Heather ran out of the house and found a neighbor who called 911 for her. The neighbor said she “had to defend herself,” and she had “cuts and stuff all over her.” Heather made it out of the fight with just a broken vertebra and a separated shoulder. Now, police believe she may have killed an unknown serial killer, and saved countless lives in the process.

Heather’s story was understandably traumatic. In her own words, she stated the gunman asked her: “live or die?” and started to choke her. “When he strangled me, I grabbed my rake, and when he laid the gun down to get the rake out of my hands, I shot him,” she said. “I grabbed the gun and shot behind me.” Police identified the man as 45-year-old Neal Falls. Inside Falls’ car detectives found a machete, axes, knives, a shovel, a sledgehammer, bleach, plastic trash bags, bulletproof vests, and four sets of handcuffs. Heather met Falls through an escort section of backpage.com and after authorities saw what they called Falls’ “kill kit” and Oregon license plate, this led them to wonder if he could be connected to other unsolved cases involving the murder of escorts. Police are now investigating if he was linked with the disappearance of nine women across Ohio, Illinois, and Nevada. In 2005 Falls lived in Las Vegas, the same year four women went missing and were later found dead. Outside of Las Vegas, evidence found with the dismembered bodies was similar to an item found in Fall’s car.

Man slain in West Virginia may have been a serial killer, police say: http://t.co/DrvtvJbnRj pic.twitter.com/L1T2jF2Nb1

— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) July 27, 2015

Police find ‘kill kit’ in trunk of Neal Falls’ car, suspected serial killer. More: http://t.co/NeqlPrjbH4 pic.twitter.com/fFGOGXtXZk

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) July 28, 2015

All the missing women were escorts, most of whom advertised online. Police said Falls also carried a list with the age and phone numbers of about 10 women who were also escorts in West Virginia. The listed women are all alive and have not had any previous contact with Falls, according to Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives Steve Cooper.

However, given the damning evidence, police do not believe this was Falls’ first violent crime. “It’s likely that Mr. Falls is a serial killer,” said Cooper. “I believe she saved lives by shooting Mr. Falls, based on what he did to her and based on the items found in his car.” Heather stated, “I knew he was there to kill me…I could tell he had already done something because he said he was going to prison for a long time.” Fall’s former landlord, who wants to be identified as “Pauline,” stated that he stayed at her house in 2010, but she evicted him after only one year because his strange behavior made her feel uncomfortable. Pauline told KVAL:

The first thing that he did that was a little odd was that he immediately changed the deadbolt to his own room so that only he had a key. He said he had guns and weapons and that he was a security guard….Little creepy, very tightly lipped and not a chummy guy, definitely not a chummy guy. Somebody who doesn’t like to be exposed.

Heather’s case has been closed and she is not being charged for killing Falls because it was considered an act of self-defense. Authorities are now focused on finding out if Falls was related to other crimes in the past. Police in West Virginia have asked the FBI for help, and are entering Falls’ name into a national DNA database to see if they can find any kind of connection. If Heather did in fact kill a serial killer, it may help solve a number of cold cases, and prevent Falls’ future crimes.

Taelor Bentley

Taelor is a member of the Hampton University Class of 2017 and was a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Taelor at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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