Woman Who Matched on Dating App with 'Serial Killer in the Making' Recalls Him Being 'Covered' in Her Blood

• A woman who was stabbed after meeting a then-18-year-old Utah man on a dating app has spoken out about the May 2022 attack
• “I remember turning around and seeing him standing there, staring at me covered in my blood,” Hadlie Monroe told KSL-TV of being stabbed by Kane Fairbank
• She said she’d spoken to Fairbank for hours on the phone and had met up with him once before the incident, as well as meeting some of his family

A woman who was stabbed after meeting an 18-year-old Utah man on a dating app is speaking out.

On May 12, 2022, Hadlie Monroe met Kane Fairbank in Mueller Park in Bountiful months after first meeting on Tinder that February, per KSL-TV.

Monroe is now telling her story after being stabbed multiple times in her face and back after she got in Fairbank’s car to drive somewhere else, the outlet reported.

In June, Fairbank — who pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of two women in the park after stabbing another elderly person that same day — was sentenced to 18 years to life for the crimes in Davis County, according to a sentencing order obtained by PEOPLE. Judge Michael DiReda said in court that he wondered if the suspect was “a serial killer in the making,” per KSL-TV.

While speaking to KSL-TV in an interview published on Wednesday, Oct. 30, Monroe said they’d had many phone calls before the park meeting, adding that she’d speak to Fairbank for hours, sometimes “until one in the morning.” 

She’d also met up with him two days prior to the attack, as well as meeting “his mom, dad and niece,” the victim told the outlet.

After Fairbank had wanted to go to “an area that was more secluded,” according to Monroe, she explained they went somewhere with no phone signal, spoke for a few hours, and ate, but she “doesn’t remember getting back in the car,” per the publication.

“All I remember was opening my eyes to him above me with a knife at my throat,” Monroe — who was luckily strong enough to fight her way out — said.

“I remember turning around and seeing him standing there, staring at me covered in my blood,” she told the outlet. “He was just so focused on me and so angry I had gotten away.”

Insisting there were no signs her date would do something like this, Monroe — who now has permanent nerve and tendon damage to her hand from trying to block the blade — told KSL-TV: “I think that’s what terrifies me… is because he was so good at fooling me.”

“In a way, I’m happy it was me. Because according to him, me fighting back deterred him,” Monroe told the outlet, urging anyone meeting someone off a dating app to “take him out with a couple of friends.”

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Fairbank “was detained by a Good Samaritan before his arrest,” following the May 2022 attack, the Davis County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time.

“The victim fought back, broke away, and was able to flag down nearby witnesses. Those witnesses took action and helped create a barrier between Fairbank and the victim. Among the witnesses were two nurses and an EMT who all provided first aid while another witness called 911,” the release stated.

The sheriff’s office confirmed the second victim was a 64-year-old woman, “who was previously unknown to him” before he “stabbed her.” She hasn’t been identified, but also managed to fight back before being treated at a nearby hospital.

While speaking with investigators, Fairbank allegedly said he planned “to kill other people,” KUTV reported at the time.

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ABC4 and KSL-TV reported in January that Fairbank had pleaded guilty to the crimes, but had been mentally ill at the time of the stabbings, citing court documents.

ABC4 stated that the suspect said he “should have picked a sharper knife” when he was questioned by investigators about the attacks.