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A killer hitchhiker made a chilling confession to the shooting of two friends whose good deed proved to be a fatal mistake.
On Christmas Eve in 2014, Mary Fowler picked up John Villarreal who was hitching a ride to Georgia. Travelling in the vehicle with her 44-year-old friend James Dobson. Mary, 43, pulled over to talk to Villarreal who wanted a ride to Interstate 85, in South Carolina, US.
Unbeknown to the couple in the car, Villarreal, then 22, was a man on a mission to take their vehicle using lethal force. Their decision to collect the hitcher would see Mary murdered by the end of the evening and John fighting for his life.
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The day before his attack Villarreal had received a Facebook message from a 17-year-old girl living in Fitzgerald, Georgia, who he claimed he was in a relationship with. She alleged her stepfather abused her.
Since John did not own a vehicle, he asked her whether she would go with him if he managed to steal a car, and the girl reportedly agreed. John’s attempt to hotwire a car was unsuccessful on December 24, and he stood on the road asking for a ride, when he was spotted by his soon to be victims.
A&E’s ‘Interrogation Raw: The Killer Hitchhiker’ featured a video of Villarreal's original interview and confession to police officers about what happened next on Christmas Eve in 2014.
Villarreal, of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, claimed he didn't originally set out to hurt anyone when the pair pulled over. He said they agreed a $5 fee for fuel to take Villarreal to I-85 but then extended their journey to take him to the Georgia state line in exchange for an additional $25.
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"I got in that car, we started going, they were as nice as anything," he said. He chillingly added: "As we were driving down the road I got to a point where I was ready to try to commandeer the car. "I told him I had to take a leak and asked him to pull over. Classic move, they never suspected it. In the moment I presumed the man was armed, as a result I didn't try to commandeer the car, but I assumed.
"I didn't even give him a chance to show a gun. He continued: "The first thing you do is tell yourself 'don't think about it, don't feel', because you can't do it if you think. Because you know it's wrong.
"You take perfect aim, boom, one in the head with her. She slumps over before the man can react. I screwed over quick, boom, I missed, I hit him in the neck. Then I put three rounds right in his neck, cuz I was trying to hit the head, but I was trying to shoot too quick cuz I wanted to get it done."
He went on to say that for two days after the attack he prayed for the man to survive and prayed for forgiveness. One of the policemen who interviewed Villarreal at the time said in the documentary: "The only time he was really emotional was when he was talking about God and getting into heaven. Nothing else mattered to him."
Following the horrifying act, Villarreal abandoned James and Mary on the side of I-85, leaving them to their fate and continued his journey to Georgia. He was subsequently stopped two times by the police for separate offences before the vehicle he had commandeered was recognised by an Anderson County deputy on December 30.
Four firearms and the rain suit he planned to wear in Georgia during the “extraction” were discovered in his vehicle. The firearm used in the shooting, a Walther model P22 semiautomatic pistol equipped with a laser sight, was found in the vehicle.
Mary succumbed to her injuries hours after being found. James, despite the severity of the attack, managed to survive. Two bullets had entered his head behind his right ear, exiting through his left eye. He lost his left eye and most of his vision in the right eye.
His left side is paralyzed, rendering him unable to walk, and his speech is slurred. He has endured constant pain since the shooting, with six bullet fragments remaining in his brain.
The now 31-year-old Villareal remains incarcerated at the Lee Correctional Institution in Lee County, South Carolina. He was sentenced to life for the murder of Mary Fowler, and handed down sentences of 30 years in prison each for charges of carjacking and the attempted murder of James Dobson.
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- Shooting
- United States
- Crime
- Police
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