Kidnapping, sexual assault victim testifies how she escaped suspected Detroit serial killer
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The suspected serial killer accused of raping and murdering several women in Detroit was bound over for trial Thursday as one of his victims described escaping his grasp.
DeAngelo Marin, who has not been charged with murder, appeared in court, charged with the kidnapping, assault and sexual assault of a 51-year-old woman on June 3 near Mack and Mt. Elliot.
"Someone ran up from behind and grabbed me," the victim testified.
The victim says he put her in a chokehold, strangling her. She passed out and woke up in an abandoned house where she says his hands were still around her neck.
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"He was on top of me when I woke up. He was on top of me," she said. "(I thought) I'm about to die."
The victim broke down in tears.
"Why did he do this to me?" she said.
Court went into recess as the victim composed herself and continued testifying, saying the suspect was choking her and removing her sweater when she knew she had to act.
"I had to do something. I had to do something," she said.
Attorney: "What did you think that person was going to do after the shirt was off?"
"Kill me and rape me," she said. "I remembered I had the blade in my pocket."
It was a red box cutter she carried for protection. She says she grabbed it, they scuffled, but she was able to stab him.
"I just stuck him and I went back again and stuck him again," she said.
The victim says she stabbed the man who then got off of her. She jumped out a window half naked. Desperate to get away, she ran next door to the gas station screaming for help. A woman gave her a jacket and her phone to call for help. The victim says she called her boyfriend.
"I was terrified," she said.
The victim says she was covered in the suspect's blood and scared. She threw the box cutter in the Detroit River. When asked why she was scared: "I stabbed someone," she said, adding she worried she would get in trouble.
But it's Martin who is in trouble. The victim says she spoke with police a few days later after she saw Martin's picture on the news. The suspected serial killer was, she says, the same man who attacked her and is now bound over for trial.
He's also charged with raping and stabbing a 26-year-old woman on the city's east side.