The Cross Country Killer – Life of Serial Killer Tommy Lynn Sells –10.A Community Devastated

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A Community Devastated
Riding on trains, Sells traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, and signed up at Labor Ready. He lived on the streets for a few weeks, sometimes renting a home for a day or two from a woman who worked at a fast-food restaurant on the next street over from the Labor Ready office. He eventually found jobs at Excel Building Services and the Lexington recycling center. On May 13, he clocked in at Transylvania University.

Haley McHone was thirteen years old, and she was rather troubled, although most people didn't know it. Outside her family home, she was known to be a sunny girl who would always lend a stranger a helping hand when necessary. She approached life with boundless energy and seemed to get along with everyone but her family. There, she felt alienated.

Her incompatibility with her family left her feeling isolated, hurt, and alone. Luckily, refuge was nearby. She'd ride up the road to her grandmother's house, and her grandmother, Anne Walker, told her she could move in after school was over for the summer.

To make some spending money, Haley babysat, walked dogs, and pulled weeds in the neighborhood near the University of Kentucky. When her grandmother became ill and went into the hospital, she would ride miles on her bicycle to visit her. She always picked flowers to bring to her grandmother, whatever was in bloom.

Haley's real problems at home began after she stayed at Charter Ridge, an adolescent psychiatric facility. Since then, she'd been under the care of a psychiatrist and was taking anti-depressants. Authorities recorded the reason for her stay as emotional damage caused by sexual abuse.

On May 13, she was not in school due to an appointment she had with her psychiatrist. First thing in the morning, she went to her grandmother's house to have breakfast. Afterward, she stopped to play some games at her home. Then she got on her bike and went to Elizabeth Street Park.

As she rode to the park, she kept her eyes peeled for stray dogs. She'd been bitten by one about a month earlier and was nearing the end of a series of painful shots.

She placed her bike against the end of a set of swings, pushed off into the dirt beneath a swing, and pumped her legs as hard as she could to get as high as she could. Lost in the sensation of the ride, she was unprepared for what happened.

Sells' base instincts were ignited when he saw the teenage girl on the swing alone. He looked around the park to make sure no one was there, and then he crept up to the girl. He shoved her off the swing, slapped his hand over her mouth, and held her tight. His other arm squeezed her tightly to his side as she struggled with him, and he dragged her kicking and squirming from the park to a wooded lot behind it.

He demanded oral sex, telling her that he wouldn't hurt her if she complied. Afraid of what he might do to her, she agreed. While Sells was removing his shirt, he heard the sound of a couple walking through the park, and he put his hand over Haley's mouth to keep her quiet. She didn't make a noise or struggle, thinking she'd be safe if she didn't put up a fight.

Once the couple was out of earshot, Sells yanked off Haley's clothes and pushed her into the dried leaves, where he raped her. Again, she didn't struggle, thinking he would leave her alone when he was finished. However, he didn't just use her and walk away like her previous molester had.

Sells strangled her with her own shirt, twisting it tight and cutting off her air supply. She tried to aim for his eyes as she defended herself, but he managed to hang on and kill her.

Sells pushed her into a depression in the ground and shoveled debris over her body. Brushing the leaves off his clothes and running his hands through his hair, he emerged from the wooded lot. He took her bike and pedaled his way to the projects, where he sold her bike to a man for twenty dollars.

The time for Haley's psychiatric appointment came and went, and when her mother couldn't find her, she contacted Haley's grandmother. The rest of the day, Haley's father and mother and her three older siblings scoured the neighborhood for her. They walked the streets until well after it was dark.

At 11:52 that evening, a Lexington police officer found Sells passed out drunk, lying in a heap at the foot of a lamppost. He woke him up and arrested him for public drunkenness. He was released the following morning. Without picking up his paycheck, he hopped onto a freight train and got off near the Indiana border. He stole a truck that was parked near the tracks and drove away. When it broke down, he broke into a local business office, stole cash and another truck, and went north.

For ten days, Haley's family and the police stuck up posters about her everywhere. Sightings of her were reported, and everyone had a swell of hope each time, but none were confirmed.

Then one day a man was walking his dog near Elizabeth Street Park, and the dog picked up a scent. The owner didn't know what had gotten into his dog, but he allowed the animal to lead him into the woods. No amount of scolding could have kept the normally well-behaved dog away from his mission. By the time they reached the source of the dog's excitement, the smell was overwhelming. The man ran home to call the police. He had found Haley's body.

The neighborhood lit up with red and blue lights from police vehicles, and police bicyclists were soon patrolling the park.

Once the scene was processed and the body was removed, flower bouquets, notes, and potted plants were placed where Haley had died. On May 27, a crowd of two hundred neighbors, teenagers, faculty, college students, family, and friends all gathered at a candlelight vigil for Haley.

Her body had been found just a hundred yards from the spot on the railroad tracks where another body had been found 21 months before. Christopher Maier, a twenty-one-year-old college student, had been beaten to death and left on the tracks. His girlfriend had been raped, beaten, cut across her neck and discarded. She'd survived. At the time of Haley's death, this case had not been solved. Then, in June, Christopher's murderer was identified as Angel Maturino Resendiz – the Railway Killer.

There was naturally speculation that Resendiz was guilty of Haley's murder, too. The police department pursued that angle, but they found no evidence to support it.

In the coming weeks, the community joined hands to landscape the park and put up a fence. They created a neighborhood watch to improve safety for the children who visited.

Anne Walker grieved for Haley. Even after Haley's body was found, she continued to spend part of each day talking to her granddaughter. In an irony that went unnoticed at the time, a photo of Anna in Elizabeth Street Park was published in the Lexington Herald-Leader seven weeks after Haley was discovered. The t-shirt she wore read 'Tommy Girl'.

Before the body was even found, Sells was under arrest again. He had been picked up in Madison, Wisconsin, on a drunk and disorderly charge. He'd been waving a box-cutter around threateningly. The weapon earned him more than the usual overnight stay in the drunk tank, and while in custody, he assaulted another inmate.

When he came down from the frenzy that had overcome him when he'd attacked his fellow prisoner, he gave his jailer a handmade hangman's noose and told him he wanted to kill himself.

Released on June 24, he went home to Del Rio. His arrival was not as welcome as he would have hoped. He couldn't get his job back at Ram Country, and he had such a ferocious fight with Jessica that one of her daughters called the police to their home. Sells ended up accused of molesting Jessica's daughter, Samantha. The social worker made it clear that Jessica and her four children could not stay in the trailer with Sells.

Jessica took her family to her mother's home, and on July 3, Sells drove north to Oklahoma.