Man shot dead by escort may have been a serial prostitute killer

AN ARMED attacker said three words when this woman opened the front door: “live or die”. So she made a choice.

THE armed attacker said three words when the woman opened the front door: “live or die”.

The woman, who worked as an escort, had arranged to meet this man, 45-year-old former security guard Neal Falls, after he responded to her ad on Backpage.com, an online portal used by men seeking escort services.

But it wasn’t until she opened the door of her apartment in Charleston, West Virginia, on July 18 that she realised Falls was there to kill her.

And according to police investigations, she may have been the next prostitute on Fall’s kill list.

The woman, known only as ‘Heather’ told journalistsFalls held a gun to her stomach and said “live or die” when she answered the door.

Falls then grabbed the woman by the throat and dragged her around her home.

“I was telling him to please just let me breathe, but he wouldn’t,” the woman, aged in her late 20s, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Falls was carrying a 9mm gun and handcuffs, police said. Picture: Charleston Police Department

“He said, ‘I’m going to call the shots and you’re going to be quiet.”

As Falls dragged the woman through the kitchen, she managed to grab a rake and tried to hit him. To stop her, he put his gun down. Then she pounced.

“I grabbed the gun and just shot it behind me,” she said. “It hit him.”

The shot killed Falls instantly.

But the tale took a more macabre turn once police arrived to investigate the fatal shooting.

Inside Falls’ car, police found several axes, a shovel, bleach, handcuffs, knives, a machete and garbage bags.

They also found a list of women’s names. Lieutenant Steve Cooper from the Charleston police department told the Huffington Post the names were of other escorts on what appeared to be a kill list.

“We have been able to locate most of them and they were all on a website advertising for escort services,” Cooper said.

“The stuff that we found is so alarming that we want law enforcement across the country to be aware of it.”

The grisly evidence has led police to investigate the possibility that Falls was a serial killer who operated across several US states.

If that was the case, the woman not only saved her own life but may have prevented the deaths of many others.

Falls’ car was filled with suspicious items such as knives, axes, bleach and a shovel. Picture: Charleston Police Department

The police investigation has extended from West Virginia to Nevada, where detectives are comparing Falls’ DNA to materials found at the scene of the murder of four prostitutes between 2000 and 2008.

Authorities say Falls lived in Nevada at the time three of the prostitutes’ dismembered bodies were found along highways.

They are also investigating a small town in Ohio, Chillicothe, where at least six women have disappeared — and four later turned up dead — in the past few months.

Young women in Chillicothe were living in constant fear of being the next victim, reported Charleston news station WCHS.

“From here to Charleston, West Virginia you shouldn’t be scared to walk out your front door ... for someone killing women. At random,” one woman said.

The cache of weapons and other items found in Falls’ car. Picture: Charleston Police Department

“Any of us could be the next if it’s not him (Falls) that got caught. I pray to god that it is.”

The FBI has joined the investigation by Charleston police. But Cooper told the Charleston Gazette-Mail it was hard to find solid information about Falls, who did not appear to have a criminal record, and was seemingly living “off the grid”.

“We have examined as many investigation avenues as we can and have not been able to come up with much information about him,” he said.

“It does not appear he had a residence and we’ve done a thorough background and the only family members that come up are either deceased or unable to be found. We’ve got very little information on this guy. It’s almost like he was a ghost.”

Authorities have determined the shooting was an act of self-defence — known in the US as justifiable homicide.

After the terrifying attack the woman was taken to hospital with multiple injuries, including broken vertebrae.

But she downplayed her role in ending Falls’ suspected killing spree.

“I don’t see myself as anybody special, or a hero,” she told the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

“I seen him lay the gun down and that was my only chance.”