Share and Follow
Inset: Joseph Sellers (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in Mesa, Ariz., where Joseph Sellers allegedly stabbed a woman 19 times with a box cutter and “brutally” beat her following a minor car crash that they got into (Google Maps).
In Arizona, a woman suffered a stabbing and severe beating in a Burger King parking lot after she stopped to exchange information following a minor car accident. The man involved in the accident attacked her without any provocation, as reported by local police.
Joseph Sellers, aged 30, faces charges of attempted second-degree murder in connection with the February 20th incident. The victim was hospitalized with significant injuries, including a collapsed lung and 19 stab wounds approximately half an inch deep on her face, neck, and left torso. These injuries resulted in serious and disfiguring harm, according to court documents accessed by Law&Crime.
Details from a probable cause affidavit for Sellers’ arrest reveal that he admitted to police that they had pulled over near a Mesa Burger King. The location was where the woman was discovered in a severely beaten and bleeding condition following their minor traffic collision.
The affidavit states that Sellers claimed anger over the collision and believed he was being “gang stalked.” He stopped to exchange information when the woman reached into her purse. Sellers, aware that Arizona allows open carry of firearms, started hitting her repeatedly for 30 seconds to a minute, aligning with surveillance footage of the episode.
Sellers acknowledged that it was plausible she was simply reaching for her information, but he expressed indifference to this possibility, as noted in the affidavit.
“He admitted his intentions were to harm the victim, and had taken her cell phone afterwards in an attempt to identify if she was following him, even though they were going opposite directions during the side swipe collision,” the affidavit says.
Mesa Police found the victim in the Burger King parking lot, located at 4403 E. Broadway Road, and transported her to the hospital. She also suffered a broken tooth and was “bleeding profusely from her face, neck, and chest” when officers made contact with her, according to cops.
“She attempted to call police after the other driver had departed but found her cell phone missing,” the affidavit says. “[The victim] was able to do so using her smart watch.”
Sellers fled the state after the attack and was located in Las Vegas several days later, according to police. He was allegedly behind the wheel of the same vehicle he was driving on the day of the stabbing, but its rims had been painted a different color. Sellers was also reportedly caught with the victim’s cellphone.
“A search warrant was authored for the defendant’s vehicle, at which time multiple box cutters were located, matching the injuries sustained by the victim,” the affidavit says. “The defendant was interviewed under Miranda, at which time he … admitted to being in a traffic collision with the victim, whom was a complete stranger to him, and engaging in an assault against her.”
Sellers was extradited back to Mesa, Arizona, and booked on charges of attempted second-degree murder, armed robbery, and burglary. He is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on April 2.