TRANSCRIPT: '20/20' Interview with Tommy Lynn Sells

May 26, 2005 — -- Below is an uncorrected transcript of an interview "20/20" conducted in 2004 with convicted serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells.

INTERVIEWER

OK, Tommy, you know why we're here. So, let's get right to it. You have been questioned about the murder of a boy in Lawrenceville, Illinois.

TOMMY

No.

INTERVIEWER

OK.

TOMMY

See, I read that, too, and, and uh-

INTERVIEWER

You haven't been officially questioned, you're right. Let me start again.

TOMMY

OK.

INTERVIEWER

May I?

TOMMY

Yeah.

INTERVIEWER

When you heard about the murder of a boy in Lawrenceville, Kansas, excuse me. When you heard about the murder of a boy in Lawrenceville, Illinois, you indicated that you may have committed that crime.

TOMMY

The only thing I've ever said about that murder was that it happened two days before the Springfield, uh, Missouri murder.

INTERVIEWER

Why did you say that?

TOMMY

Because, I killed someone two days before that, and I wanted to know, was that it?

INTERVIEWER

You mean, you killed someone two days...

TOMMY

Prior to the Springfield, Illinois murder.

INTERVIEWER

Right.

TOMMY

And, and when I heard about that murder, I said, did it happen two days before the Springfield murder? And that's the only thing I've ever said. And, and no one has ever questioned me, no one has ever, period.

INTERVIEWER

Did you commit the murder of the boy in Lawrenceville?

TOMMY

I committed a murder two days before, the Springfield murder. I know this. Is it this murder you're talking about? I'm assuming, got a good shot at it. You know. But, but to be-

INTERVIEWER

Can you tell me, Tommy, what you remember about that murder?

TOMMY

Next to nothing. And, and I tried talking to Bob [NAME UNCLEAR] about this, and uh, y'all, y'all come here in forty-five minutes and you want me to disclose a murder investigation that, I've sat through many, and it takes hours. And, and y'all just want me to try to say that I've done something that I'm not a hundred percent sure, I'm not even forty percent sure. I know I committed a murder two days before Springfield...

INTERVIEWER

Can you tell me what you do remember about that?

TOMMY

I remember getting in a fight with a woman. Well, not a fight, but a struggle.

INTERVIEWER

Where was that? At a diner? At a restaurant-

TOMMY

No, no, during the murder.

INTERVIEWER

During the murder?

TOMMY

Right. OK. And I thought it was her that I killed. But apparently it wasn't. Now, y'all saying it's a boy, and, and you know, it wasn't like I asked for a name and, and, you know, I just went in to a dark room and started cutting. Or stabbing.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember why you went to that particular house?

TOMMY

Well, see, I wouldn't say I had the right house, but I'm not even sure if I went to the right house. Uh.

INTERVIEWER

Were you looking for someone or something?

TOMMY

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

What were you looking for?

TOMMY

I was looking for a woman, uh, that, that I had got into an argument with at a little convenience store earlier that day. And I had followed her, and thinking this is where she lives. No, go figure that. You know, it's, it sounds awful coincidental, the finger sure points to that one. You know. But, but before I say, yeah, I did something, I want to know I did it. I just don't want to come out here and say, uh, a bag of hoo-hoo, and say this is what you want to hear, this is what I want to tell you. I'm, I'm, you understand what I'm saying?

INTERVIEWER

I do understand, and we only want you to say what, in fact, you remember.

TOMMY

Right.

INTERVIEWER

And the details. But, if you could help us with any details that you remember of that night. You say you followed a woman home.

TOMMY

Uh-huh.

INTERVIEWER

And you don't know if you had the right house. What do you, how did you get into the house? Do you remember that?

TOMMY

Uh, through a side door I believe, uh, I believe.

INTERVIEWER

Was the door open, did you break it open?

TOMMY

No, I, like, move, when... A window…

INTERVIEWER

So, a window in the door?

TOMMY

No, no, no. I cracked, I broke the window.

INTERVIEWER

The, a window, oh, you broke a window to get to the door?

TOMMY

I think so. To unlock it.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember what you were wearing?

TOMMY

Almost have to be dark clothes or blue jeans with a dark shirt. Almost, that would have been typical.

INTERVIEWER

And what about on top, what did you have on top?

TOMMY

I just told you.

INTERVIEWER

Just a shirt?

TOMMY

A dark shirt.

INTERVIEWER

Did you wear-

TOMMY

A jacket maybe?

INTERVIEWER

Anything on top? Any, any kind of a mask, any kind of head covering?

TOMMY

Oh, oh, oh, you're talking further up top?

INTERVIEWER

Sure.

TOMMY

Uh. Typically, yeah. Uh, I, I did wear a, like a toboggan [PH].

INTERVIEWER

A toboggan?

TOMMY

Yeah.

INTERVIEWER

What do you mean, like a ski mask, you mean?

TOMMY

Well, yeah, but, but I very rarely had it rolled down. I kept it, you know, below the, below the ears.

INTERVIEWER

Are you talking about a hat?

TOMMY

No, I'm talking about a toboggan [PH]. I rolled, I didn't, like, necessarily have my, like a robber's mask. You know. But I just kept it rolled, you're not following are you?

INTERVIEWER

I'm not. You're talking like a hood?

TOMMY

I'm talking a toboggan [PH].

INTERVIEWER

I don't know what a toboggan is, I'm sorry, I don't want to get hung up on this.

TOMMY

It's just a nylon, stretch material put on when you're cold.

INTERVIEWER

Gotcha. Like a hat?

TOMMY

Yeah.

INTERVIEWER

OK. So you might have had that on.

TOMMY

Good possibility. I've used one many times.

INTERVIEWER

I think, I think you told Diane Fanning that it was a hood of a sweatshirt. Does that ring any bells?

TOMMY

No.

INTERVIEWER

You don't remember that? OK.

TOMMY

Uh-

INTERVIEWER

Don't remember. OK. What, what do you remember, Tommy, from being in the house?

TOMMY

Well. I, that's like a million dollar question because I've been through so many of them. It's, it's, am I going to tell you about the one that, in Lawrence, Illinois, or am I going, well, Lawrenceville, Illinois, or am I going to tell you about the one that happened in Springfield, Missouri. Or the one, or twenty other ones. Uh. I mean, how many houses is that different? You know, I mean, basically they're set up the same. You go in, there's a kitchen, there's a living room, there's a bedroom. Uh, it's, it's dark. Uh.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember going for a weapon or anything like that?

TOMMY

I, I do remember grabbing a knife there. Uh-

INTERVIEWER

Where did you get the knife?

TOMMY

From, uh, counter, uh, a, the kitchen counter, cabinet, top of a cabinet.

INTERVIEWER

And what did you do with it?

TOMMY

Well, if we're on the same page here, I would assume I went in the bedroom and killed someone. Or, or attempt to kill someone.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember doing that?

TOMMY

Uh, yeah.

INTERVIEWER

And who was it that you killed?

TOMMY

Now we're back at square one. You want me to lie? I mean, I'm not going to lie.

INTERVIEWER

Certainly not.

TOMMY

Uh, I wouldn't say we're on the same murder. Has anybody looked to see, uh, has, has anybody else was killed that day with, with the, you know. No one has asked me nothing about this murder in, in, if I give them, on this, this program, and say, if I give... Ask another question.

INTERVIEWER

OK, don't worry about it. Let's just keep going.

TOMMY

Please.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember, excuse me. You say you remember killing someone two days-

TOMMY

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

...after Springfield.

TOMMY

No, I think it's before.

INTERVIEWER

I apologize. You say you-

TOMMY

[OVERLAPPING VOICES] Now see, you're trying to trick me up here.

INTERVIEWER

...remember killing someone two days... Uh, no I'm not, I apologize, my fault. You say you remember killing someone two days before the Springfield murder?

TOMMY

Without a doubt.

INTERVIEWER

OK.

TOMMY

There, there is one hundred percent no question.

INTERVIEWER

You remember in the course of that murder having a fight with a woman?

TOMMY

That's not a fight, a struggle.

INTERVIEWER

A struggle?

TOMMY

Yes. Now, I tell you this, I, I remember coming out of the bedroom, and uh, I hear someone in the house, and like, kind of, and I get on my knees, but, but, uh, stoop down, and uh, you know, like trying to... [MUMBLES] ...because I thought I'd be in the house by myself. I didn't see no one earlier there. And, and then, then I, I seen that I couldn't avoid this person, and I, I get up, and that's when I notice it was a woman. And I'm like, who...

INTERVIEWER

And what did you do with her?

TOMMY

It was, it was a minor scuffle, uh, like, I went to cut her, but I think I left, left the knife some, uh, I didn't have the knife no more and I, I'm not sure what in the hell happened to it. Uh, so I just kind of like get her off of me, and, and, and took off.

INTERVIEWER

And did the struggle with her continue outside, or was it just inside the house?

TOMMY

Well, no, I think she, uh, I think she tried to follow me. Because there was one more, the one other time where, where I finally just turned round and, and went to, to uh, hit her, and, and, and that's when it stopped, and I went ahead and disappeared.

INTERVIEWER

Outside.

TOMMY

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

Did you, in fact, hit her again?

TOMMY

I'd almost lay money on it.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember how you got to Lawrenceville?

TOMMY

Uh. I would assume my van, my van-

INTERVIEWER

Your van?

TOMMY

Yes, van.

INTERVIEWER

Oh, you're van.

TOMMY

Yeah.

INTERVIEWER

That you drove in?

TOMMY

Yeah. Lived in. Sometimes.

INTERVIEWER

So you, you lived in a van at that point?

TOMMY

On and off.

INTERVIEWER

And do you know how you left?

TOMMY

In, well, on foot from the house, then I went and backtracked to my van.

INTERVIEWER

You said originally to me that you had seen this woman in a convenience store. What made you angry about her that made you want to go after her?

TOMMY

Just the way she, her demeanor, the way she tried to treat me. Uh-

INTERVIEWER

Which was how?

TOMMY

Well, I was, I was coming out the door, and she was going in the door and, and we kind of like bumped into each other, and I was like, excuse me, and she was like, excuse the hell out of you. Uh, and she, just, f***ing bitch. Excuse me. Just, just being... And, and I wasn't in no mood to hear all that. And that just, that ticked me.

INTERVIEWER

Do you have any recollection if you had blood on your clothes, anything like that?

TOMMY

I would venture to guess, maybe on, on my hands, or, or sleeves. And had I touched me maybe. Maybe.

INTERVIEWER

But you don't remember for sure?

TOMMY

No, no. I'm speculating there-

INTERVIEWER

Do you have any recollection of what you might have done to the woman during the struggle? Do you have any sense of how badly you might have hurt her?

TOMMY

Not bad.

INTERVIEWER

Not bad?

TOMMY

No, I didn't, I didn't put a bullet in her ass like I should have.

INTERVIEWER

You said you went there to kill her originally, why didn't you?

TOMMY

Well, sometimes, man, that's a hard question to answer too. Uh, sometimes getting a loved one is as bad if not harder on, on the person that you're pissed at.

INTERVIEWER

So you couldn't do it, for whatever reason?

TOMMY

You didn't hear what I said. If I was pissed at you, and lord hope that would never happen, it would be more trauma, trauma on you had I take out someone you loved than, than yourself. But, I do remember saying that apparently I went to the wrong room also. So it, it was accidentally the wrong person.

INTERVIEWER

You say apparently you went to the wrong room?

TOMMY

Right.

INTERVIEWER

You don't remember going into a bedroom and killing someone?

TOMMY

Yes, I do. But, when I seen the woman coming at me in, in, like, the hallway from the living room I, uh, I was like, maybe I didn't kill the right person.

INTERVIEWER

But does that mean that you actually remember killing the other person?

TOMMY

Oh yeah, I, there is no question about that, there is no question in my mind that I did kill a person, and I had a scuffle with someone. There is no question.

INTERVIEWER

Do you remember the actual moment that you killed this other person?

TOMMY

Uh-

INTERVIEWER

And how you did it?

TOMMY

Well, with a knife. Uh. Do I remember the actual moment, walk into a room, see the figure in bed, start cutting, bleed. Well, stabbing. Leave. I'm, and then I hear someone, maybe that's why I was distracted from, from figuring out it was not the person I was after. I, because I was distracted hearing a noise.

INTERVIEWER

You said in a letter to Bob Chance [PH] that he shared with us, and I know you knew he was going to share it with us.

TOMMY

Whatever he shared was OK.

INTERVIEWER

OK, you said, um, tell the truth, a woman pissed me off, I figure out where she live, I notice her car, and I think I'm at the right place, and slip in, get a knife, come to her room, see a young child asleep, stab him to death. So, were you, do you in fact recall that it was a young child?

TOMMY

Uh... Apparently. Uh. Maybe I just don't like to say that.

INTERVIEWER

Why not?

TOMMY

Saying it is one thing, writing it's, I don't, I'm not looking at you in the eyes and... It's, living with what I've done is a hell of a lot harder than doing it.

INTERVIEWER

But, if it's something you want to talk about, and if it's something-

TOMMY

Hold , hold it, I never said I want to talk about this.

INTERVIEWER

OK.

TOMMY

I'm being pressured to talk about this. Y'all bringing out demons that I left behind and, and I don't know how to deal with this s**t no more. You know, _______ this thing do, this does not do nothing.

INTERVIEWER

Uh-huh.

TOMMY

Talking about it is the hardest thing in the world.

INTERVIEWER

Why are you willing to talk about it now, Tommy?

TOMMY

Uh, maybe try and make amends where I did do something wrong.

INTERVIEWER

How would this help you make amends by talking about this?

TOMMY

Uh, well, it's kind of like when the rangers and I started out on, uh, bringing closures to crimes, it was just, we was just bringing closures, getting loved ones, uh, uh, a piece of mind on what did happen. But now, uh, it's like uh, our conversation has, has went north, and, and uh, uh, I believe their motive gets to be something beside my motive, and, and I still have a want to, to, to bring peace to someone's life I done wrong to. If, if, if there is such a thing to knowing, people, like the San Antonio murder, you know, they say they feel so much better now that it's, it's closed.

INTERVIEWER

So, so help me out, if you can, because it would lead-

TOMMY

I'm trying.