She Dramatically Escaped a Serial Killer’s Grasp, Ending a Multi-State Murder Spree Police Couldn’t Stop (Exclusive)

Sean NeumannTue, June 9, 2026 at 5:38 PM UTC

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Melinda AguilarCredit: Investigation Discovery/YouTube -

A new episode of People Magazine Investigates explores the serial killings of Carl Eugene Watts between 1974 and 1982

The episode hears from Melinda Aguilar, whose dramatic escape from Watts' grasp helped bring down a serial killer who claimed to have attacked dozens of women

The episode airs Tuesday, June 9, at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on ID

For more than a decade, Carl Eugene Watts stalked and hunted women in their early 20s across Michigan and Texas — once even getting arrested and charged in late 1974 after forcing his way into a Kalamazoo, Mich., woman's home and strangling her until she passed out.

But investigators in Michigan at the time couldn't find enough evidence to convince prosecutors they had a convincing murder case against the 21-year-old college dropout, who psychologists warned was "impulsive, emotionally detached, and remorseless," posed "a serious danger" and was "likely to strike again."

In the latest episode of People Magazine Investigates, the details of Watts' murderous journey from Michigan to Texas — between which "The Sunday Slasher" claimed to have killed more than a dozen women — are shared, as one survivor recounts her dramatic escape that ultimately led to Watt's conviction.

The episode, airing Tuesday, June 9, at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on ID, explores authorities' shortcomings in their initial investigation against Watts and reveals the story of Melinda Aguilar, who thought she heard her roommate Lori Lister coming home from a late night out one morning in 1982, only to find Watts standing at the door with Lori laying unconscious behind him.

"All I saw was his eyes," Aguilar remembers in the episode. "His eyes were evil."

Carl Eugene WattsCredit: Richard Lee/Detroit Free Press-USA TODAY NETWORK

Watts lunged at Aguilar, who feigned passing out instead of immediately fighting back.

"I figured that if I was passed out, he would leave me alone and give me time to hopefully be able to get away," Aguilar says.

Watts then bound Aguilar's hands with a belt she had left on the bed. "I knew I was in trouble then," Aguilar says, explaining that he then drew his attention back to Lori, whose body he dragged inside the apartment and into the bathroom before putting her in the tub.

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"I thought, I need to get help for her," Aguilar recalls.

Melinda AguilarCredit: Investigation Discovery/YouTube

Walking People Magazine Investigates through her account of that morning, Aguilar says she managed to get up and open a sliding door to their second-floor balcony, where she leapt "as high as I could," doing a summersault over the balcony and hitting her forehead on the railing as she jumped.

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Aguilar says she landed on her knees, found the strength to stand up and ran straight to the first neighbors she saw.

"Help me! Help me! Somebody's trying to kill my roommate!" Aguilar remembers screaming to the two women sitting outside a nearby apartment. "I need you to call the police! Call the police!"

What happened next was miraculous, Aguilar explains in the episode. And it may have helped save the lives of countless other women.

Find out what happened when People Magazine Investigates airs Tuesday, June 9, at 9 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. CT on ID.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”