D.C. sniper’s ex-wife reveals she was his intended target all along

Dr. Mildred Muhammad was marked to death by her ex-husband, a former Army soldier later identified as the “DC Sniper.”

Throughout their 12-year marriage, the mother-of-three suffered emotional and psychological abuse in silence. Even after the couple separated in 1999, John Allen Muhammad continued to stalk and terrorize her. When she changed her phone number, he found it, then showed up at her house uninvited.

“He said, ‘You have become my enemy, and as my enemy, I will kill you,'” she told Fox News Digital.

BTK KILLER’s daughter calls him ‘Subhuman’ after final confrontation in prison that ended the relationship

John Allen Muhammad and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation’s capital for three weeks. (Virginia Department of Corrections via Getty Images)

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Mohamed is now speaking out in a new true-crime documentary Discovery Investigation, titled Stalked by My Husband, which explores John’s persistent desire to kill her so he can get custody of their children.

John, an expert rifleman, and his partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, shot 10 people and wounded three others during a three-week period in October 2002, terrorizing the Washington, D.C., area. Associated Press I mentioned. Several other victims had been shot and killed across the country in the previous months as the duo made their way to the area surrounding the nation’s capital from Washington state, the outlet shared.

A map is displayed on a screen during the penalty phase of the trial of convicted Washington area sniper John Allen Muhammad in Virginia Beach Circuit Court on November 18, 2003, in Virginia Beach. The map, which was on Muhammad’s laptop, showed markers indicating alleged shooting locations and possible shooting locations in the Washington, D.C., area. (Dave Ellis Paul/Getty Images)

During the investigation, authorities theorized that John believed that killing Mildred would help him regain custody of their children by making her look like the victim of a random gunman.

Dr. Mildred Muhammad speaks in a new true crime documentary about the case of “Stalked by My Husband.” (investigation discovery)

Muhammad met John in 1985 while stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. She was shopping with a friend when he approached her with a “beautiful smile.” They went out that same evening and later married in 1988.

She described her husband as deeply invested in their relationship, and they quickly built a family together. But after serving in Operation Desert Storm in 1990, he came back a changed man. John suffered a shoulder injury and was later diagnosed with the condition Post-traumatic stress disorder. When Muhammad and their eldest child, John Jr., visited him in the hospital, she recalled, “the lights were on, but no one was home.”

A letter written by John Allen Muhammad was found inside a suitcase at the scene of the shooting on October 19, 2002. (Adrienne Snyder-Paul/Getty Images)

Follow the FOX TRUE CRIME team on X

John Allen Muhammad, shown here in this undated photo, was a skilled marksman. (Montgomery County Police/Getty Images)

“He would sit in the corner and rock back and forth,” she recalled. “He didn’t want to have conversations anymore. Even if I tried to participate, he felt threatened. He was filled with anger – but it was a different anger.

“John was quiet. He was trained in psychological warfare, so he would do things that made me question everything I did. I would look at him and say: ‘Why are you angry?’ He replies: Why do you say I am angry? Then he went to the mirror, wiped his face with his hand, and all the feelings that were there were gone.

David Reichenbaugh served as Commander of Criminal Intelligence Operations for the Maryland State Police. He is seen here catching up with Dr. Mildred Muhammad during the filming of “Chased by My Husband.” (discovery investigation)

Once warm and attentive, John became irritable and consumed by paranoia. He became cold and sensitive, making Muhammad’s possessions disappear if he rejected them. He would criticize little things, punishing her with days of silence whenever she dared to act independently. To avoid his quiet anger, Muhammad learned to remain silent. He belittled her self-worth, repeatedly telling her she didn’t matter.

Dr. Mildred Muhammad is shown here with her daughters in her office in Camp Springs, Maryland, on September 13, 2008. (Nikki Khan/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“I tried to seek help, but I had no physical scars,” she said. “I tried to go to my religious place, and all you guys talk about is that I’m supposed to honor my husband. But how do I honor a man who hurts me emotionally?”

“Abusive relationships “Don’t start out harsh,” she said. “They start with a dream they’re selling you because they’re trying to control your life without your knowledge. Once you submit to that dream, they reciprocate affection toward you. Then you start wondering: What have I done? You don’t understand that none of it is your fault. … If you try to reach out, you’re going to get in trouble.”

Brendan Shea (left), an FBI DNA expert, points to the Bushmaster rifle used in the sniper shooting as James Willett, assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Prince William County, holds the weapon on Nov. 5, 2003, in Virginia Beach. (Dave Ellis Paul/Getty Images)

The conflict deepened after Muhammad filed for divorce. When John threatened to kill her, she went into hiding with her family. The judge issued a lifetime restraining order, but there was one loophole.

Sign up for our True Crime Newsletter

Dr. Mildred Muhammad told Fox News Digital that her husband became a changed man after being diagnosed with PTSD. (Dudley M. Brooks/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“The restraining order was against me, not the children,” she explained. “Even though it was for life, visitation was still required every two weeks. We were preparing for the court to decide on detention. That’s when he took them.”

In 2000, John kidnapped their three children and took them on an 18-month trip to Antigua, Washington I mentioned. Muhammad told Fox News Digital that because there was no parenting plan set up by the court, she was told, “He has just as much right to the children as you do.”

Dr. Mildred Muhammad was separated from her three children for 18 months. (investigation discovery)

“There are no words to describe the level of pain I was feeling,” she said.

Talibah Muhammad, daughter of Dr. Mildred Muhammad and John Allen Muhammad, spoke in “Chased by My Husband.” (discovery investigation)

“In my prayersSo I said: Lord, I have to return my children to you. I can’t focus on what I should do and worry about them. I will put them back in your hands so I can prepare myself to stand in front of a judge to prove that I can take care of them. At the end of that prayer, I cried for two hours. Then I felt someone’s presence – like someone covering me with a blanket up to my neck. “I stopped crying.”

“I didn’t cry much after that,” she continued. “That’s when I started taking paralegal courses to learn how to get my kids back. I had a subpoena, which meant that wherever they found my kids, they had to return them to me.”

John Allen Muhammad kidnapped the children without permission. He took them out of the country to Antigua in the Caribbean using false identities and forged documents. (Steve Early-Paul/Getty Images)

The Washingtonian reported that Muhammad was reunited with her children in 2001 after an emergency custody hearing in Tacoma, Washington. Then, in 2002, investigators knocked on her door Maryland, where she resides.

Get real-time updates directly on Real crime center

Dr. Mildred Muhammad was in hiding when she learned from investigators that her ex-husband was the D.C. sniper. (investigation discovery)

“They said, ‘Have you heard about any shootings in the area?’ I said: No, I did not do that. “One agent stopped and said, ‘We have to tell you — we call your ex-husband the D.C. Sniper.’ He hit my head on the table. They asked, ‘Do you think he would do something like that?’ I looked up and said, ‘Yes.’”

Muhammad recalls that he was watching a movie with John one time when he turned to her and said, “I could take over a small town and terrorize it. They’ll think it’s a bunch of people. And it’ll just be me.” When she tried to ask why, he quickly changed the subject.

John Allen Muhammad was also known as the “Beltway Sniper.” (Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images)

The detective told Muhammad, “Didn’t you know you were the target? There was a man who was shot two miles from you in a convenience store. There was another man who was shot down the street from you six times. He took $3,000 and his laptop. Mrs. Muhammad, you were the target.”

“Hunted by My Husband” features never-before-seen home videos of Muhammad’s family and new interviews with the law enforcement officers who worked tirelessly to track down and identify the snipers. (discovery investigation)

Mohamed and her family were quickly taken to a hotel for safety.

“I saw TV, and there he was,” she said. “I put my hand on the screen and said, ‘What happened to you?’ My kids cried themselves to sleep. “I went to the bathroom, turned on the water, sat on the floor and screamed into the pillow.”

“The next day, he was arrested,” she added.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

John Allen Muhammad was executed on November 10, 2009 by lethal injection. He was 48 years old. (Steve Helper Ball/Getty Images)

In Antigua, John met Malvo, a Jamaican teenager with whom he formed a father-son bond. John was accused of manipulating Malvo into being his accomplice in the shooting.

Lee Boyd Malvo is serving a life sentence. (Rich Lipsky/Getty Images)

With the help of advice, The police arrested him John and the 17-year-old slept in their car at a rest stop in Maryland, ending a three-week period of terror that gripped Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. BBC.

John was executed in 2009 at the age of 48. Malvo, now 40, is serving a life sentence without parole.

Dr. Mildred Muhammad is now a speaker and advocate for survivors of domestic violence. (Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Today, Muhammad advocates for survivors of domestic violence and hopes her story will encourage others to seek help before it is too late.

“My help was slow to arrive,” she said. “But I knew I had to be able to make it happen for my kids.”

“Haunted by My Husband: The Untold Story of a DC Sniper” premieres October 28 at 9 p.m.