Tommy Lynn Sells

Tommy Lynn Sells (June 28, 1964 – April 3, 2014) was an American serial killer.

Though convicted of only one murder, for which he received the death penalty and was eventually executed, authorities believe he committed a total of 22 murders.

Sells himself claimed on various occasions to have murdered over 70 people.

Tommy Lynn Sells was born in Oakland, California on June 28, 1964, as one of five children to an unwed mother.

Sells’ presumed biological father, Joe Lovins, died when Sells was 11.

Sells and his twin sister, Tammy Jean, contracted meningitis when they were 18 months old; Tammy died from the illness.

Shortly thereafter, Sells was sent to live with his aunt, Bonnie Walpole, in Holcomb, Missouri.

When he was five years old, he was returned to his mother after she discovered that Walpole wanted to adopt him.

At the age of seven, Sells began regularly drinking alcohol obtained from a supply stash belonging to his maternal grandfather.

Within a year, he was socializing with an adult man named Willis Clark, who Sells alleged began molesting him.

Sells also claimed his mother encouraged the relationship, which traumatized and further impacted him greatly.

Sells said he would later relive those experiences while committing his crimes.

At age 10, Sells started using narcotics.

Three years later, he entered his grandmother's bed nude while she was sleeping, leading to him being banned from the house.

Shortly after that, his mother and siblings abandoned him by abruptly leaving town.

A few days later, in a fit of rage, he shot a woman and assaulted her, although she survived.

Sells began living as a nomad permanently in 1978, at the age of 14.

Homeless, Sells hitchhiked and train-hopped across the United States from 1978 to 1999, committing various crimes along the way.

He held several very short-term manual labor and barber jobs.

He drank heavily, abused drugs, and was imprisoned several times.

When Sells visited family in Little Rock, Arkansas, in May 1981, his mother threw him out after he tried to molest her in the shower.

Thereafter, he failed to receive mental health assistance, his drinking worsened, and ultimately led to his first arrest in 1982 for public intoxication.

In 1990, Sells stole a truck in Wyoming and was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment.

He was diagnosed with a personality disorder consisting of antisocial, borderline, and schizoid features, substance use disorder (severe opioid, amphetamines, and alcohol dependence), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and psychosis.

On May 13, 1992, Fabienne Witherspoon, a 19-year-old woman in Charleston, West Virginia, was driving when she saw Sells panhandling under an overpass with a sign that said, "I will work for food."

She felt sorry for him and took him to her home, asking him to wait outside.

She went into her home to get some food for him, and by the time she got back to her front door, he was inside.

When she walked away to get something else, he got a knife from her kitchen, trapped her in a bathroom, and attempted to rape her.

The woman fought back, hitting him in the head repeatedly with a ceramic duck, getting control of his knife, and stabbing him, nicking his kidney and liver.

In addition, his testicle was sliced.

In retaliation, Sells beat her over the head with a piano stool.

Sells tried to get away but his injuries landed him in the ICU and in police custody.

Witherspoon sustained significant injuries herself including a gaping head wound and a severe hand laceration that required surgery.

After this attack, Sells took a plea deal on malicious wounding charges and served five years in prison.

While serving this sentence, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and married Nora Price.

He was released in 1997 and moved to Tennessee with his wife.

He then left her that same year and resumed his cross-country travels.

Police investigators believe Sells murdered at least 22 people.

Retired Texas Ranger John Allen said, "We did confirm 22... I know there's more. I know there's a lot more. Obviously, we won't ever know."

Sells said he committed his first murder at age 15 in Mississippi, after breaking into a house.