Through The Window by Diane Fanning

 

Tommy Lee Sells was one of the worst serial killers the United States has seen.  Thirty-five when caught, he spent the years before traveling the country and killing men, women and children.  He seemed to have no preference although he would sexually assault his female victims.  He killed by bludgeoning, shooting or his seeming preference, slitting the throats of those he murdered.

He was caught in Texas.  He went through the window of a home during the night.  In the home was a woman, her two daughters and her younger daughter's friend who was having a sleepover.  He bypassed the adult woman and her elder daughter.  He killed the younger daughter in front of her friend, slashing and stabbing her to death.  He then used his twelve-inch boning knife to slit the throat of ten year old Krystal Surles.  Somehow this little girl found the strength to crawl to the neighbor's house and get help.  As soon as they stabilized her in the hospital, she was ready to testify.   Although she couldn't speak she wrote what happened that night and helped a portrait artist to make a mugshot.  Sellers was arrested and started confessing.

Tommy Sells confessed to more than seventy murders.  He was known as the Coast To Coast Killer.  His real total is not known as some of the murders he claimed were proven to be committed by others but he did kill across the country.  One of the saddest to me was the case where he broke into a house, killed a ten year old boy with a kitchen knife he found there and escaped.  He always cleaned the site of his prints and DNA as best he could.  The boy's mother was arrested, found guilty and served time until she was finally exonerated after Sell's death.  

Diane Fanning is known for her true crime books although these days she has moved on to write mysteries more often. She started in advertising and then worked as an executive director at several nonprofits.  She has won numerous awards both for her work and her writing.   I've had this book for years but finally found the courage to reading it.  I cannot imagine the strength it took for her to sit across a table in prison and look into the eyes of Tommy Lynn Sells as he confessed crime after horrid crime.  He was executed in Texas in 2014. This book is recommended for true crime readers.