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Vicki Webb, who is possibly the sole survivor of the notorious I-70 killer, was shot in the back of the neck while working in her Houston store one morning in January 1994. She will share her story on ID's People Magazine Investigates in an episode titled The I-70 Killer, which is set to air on Monday, July 17, at 9:00 pm ET.
The official synopsis states:
"In 1992, store clerks across the Midwest are being shot dead in the middle of the day, and it's not long before police connect the dots and realize it's the work of one killer; the race is on as he threatens to strike anywhere at any time."
Vicki Webb claimed that the shooter reportedly walked into the store and started looking around, asking questions about traffic patterns, and making conversation about meeting his niece before shooting her as soon as she turned around. She had a 13-year-old child at the time and played dead to survive the killer, who then fled the scene.
The I-70 killer went on a 29-day-long shooting spree in 1992 and was behind six deaths that occurred across three states along the I-70 Highway. Five victims were women and one was a man. The case remains unsolved to this day.
Vicki Webb played dead to survive the "vicious, maniacal, evil" shooter, who police believe was the I-70 Killer
On the morning of January 15, 1994, a customer entered Vicki Webb's Alternatives Gift Shop located in Houston, Texas, shortly after she opened the store. She described the person as a small man, who was looking around and "asking a lot of questions about the traffic patterns."
According to Fox News, Vicki Webb claimed that the man had tanned skin and was probably in his mid-30s. She mentioned that he left her shop and later returned as he began talking "about his niece coming."
"He was meeting his niece. He kept looking out the windows. He pointed to a frame that he wanted," Webb said.
As soon as the mother-of-one turned her back to the man, he shot her in the back of the neck, and she fall to the floor. The shooter then dragged her body and rummaged through the cash register before turning his attention towards the woman laying on the ground.
Webb said that in the moment she knew she had to play dead, a tactic she had seen in many old films.
"If he didn’t think I was dead, I would be dead. And it was very easy to play dead because I could barely breathe. I was completely paralyzed from the neck down," she recalled, as per the New York Post.
The shooter then dragged Webb behind the counter and pressed the gun against her forehead. The gun clicked when he pulled the trigger, but there was no bullet. He let out a chuckle, that Webb claimed "was vicious, maniacal, evil" before fleeing the crime scene as he heard noises from outside.
About 10 minutes after the shooting, customers entered Vicki Webb's store and found that she had been shot
About 10 minutes after the shooting, two customers walked into the store and found Vicki Webb lying on the floor behind the counter. She was rushed to the hospital and later said:
"I simply knew I was going to be OK. I didn’t have a vision. There was no crossover. I just knew. I was conscious the whole time. I was sure I wasn’t going to die. This was not my day to be taken."
Webb was bedridden for a while and had to learn to perform simple tasks like walking again. Months later, investigators informed her that the man behind the shooting was the notorious I-70 killer, who caused havoc along the highway in the Spring of 1992. The killer murdered six people across three states - Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas - and is likely responsible for several unsolved killings.
Recently, in November 2021, police across the three states launched a uniform task force for investigators to re-examine all the evidence and develop new strategies to locate the serial killer. They continue their efforts to find the person responsible to this day.
People Magazine Investigates airs an all-new episode this Monday at 9:00 pm ET on ID.
