U.S. & World News

CAMP SPRINGS, Md. (CBS) ― For 23 days in October 2002, terror, fear and murder gripped the Mid-Atlantic region. Ten people were senselessly gunned down that month, and many wondered who would be next.

But there is one woman, Mildred Muhammad, who said she was the real target all along.

"There is no doubt in my mind that he came here to kill me," said Mildred to CBS station WJZ-TV's Denise Koch. "What everybody went through for 23 days, I went through for three years. I always checked the rooftops. I always checked the pumps."

A prosecutor in the Virginia trial against John Allen Muhammad, who is now on death row for the murders, says the sniper spree stemmed from a revenge plan to kill his ex-wife Mildred. Five years later, Mildred says she and her children are still struggling to reclaim their lives.

She says John Muhammad still shows up on her credit report, and his debt and infamous legacy have put financial constraints on their family.

Now, the unsung character in this tragic saga that left several states stunned speaks exclusively to WJZ-TV about the custody battle that she believes led to a month of bloodshed.

"John doesn't do anything without a plan. He was going to create a diversion because this is what he did in the military," said Mildred, as she reflected back on the sniper attacks. "He would do random shootings, and I would be one of the victims. No one would have investigated the reason why I was shot. He would have come in as the grieving father to my sister and brother, because they have no legal right over the children. He would have gotten the victim compensation fund. He would have left, and nobody would have been the wiser."

Mildred says she once loved the man she grew to fear the most. They met each other in Louisiana, and she describes him as extremely charismatic.

"John was the life of the party. He was the person to go to if you needed anything," said Mildred.

Mildred told WJZ-TV things changed when John came back from the first Persian Gulf War where he served as an advanced sniper. The Muhammads then moved to Washington state, where both established a car repair shop together.

"He was distant. He had a particular chair he sat in and he would say only a few things," said Mildred. "Afterwards [he would say] the military is not right, and that they are not treating people correctly. He said if the American people only knew."

Mildred says to the outside world John appeared to be the same loving husband and father of three. However, he had become a monster to her. She says after several years of incessant verbal abuse and cheating, she decided to file for divorce. That's when he gave her a chilling warning.

"He said you are not going to raise my children by yourself," said Mildred. "You have become my enemy and as my enemy I am going to kill you."

Mildred says she took those threats seriously and feared for her life. She says she warned her family and friends, but nobody believed her. She filed a restraining order against him, but she says that did not stop the threats.

"He kept coming back in the middle of the night standing over me. His eyes were already adjusted to the night. Had I opened my eyes he would have seen the white of my eye, so I kept them closed. He thought he was sneaking in, but I heard everything."

Things took a dramatic turn for the worse in 1999, when John took their three children out to shop and never returned. John and the children fled to Antigua, and did not resurface for more than one year.

Mildred says she had no idea where John was, but feared that he would kill her.

"I told the authorities it would be a headshot, when my kids were kidnapped. I came here and I called the FBI, and they sent an agent. I explained everything. He took the paperwork, and they called me and said there was nothing they could do," said Mildred. "So I called agents in Washington state, and they said 'Mrs. Muhammad we will use you as a decoy, and put you in a parking lot to draw him out.' I said 'excuse me! If this plan works, how am I going to get back my children.'"

Eighteen months later, Muhammad and the children returned to the United States. When John tried to apply for social services, police became suspicious. Soon Mildred regained custody of her three children, leaving John and a boy he brought back from Antigua named Lee Boyd Malvo. She moved to Prince George's County, Md. and shortly after, the shootings began.

"I feel ashamed that this has happened. It's difficult for me to say that it was a random shooting. I feel that if someone had just listened, then all those innocent people would not have been killed," she said.

Mildred also told WJZ, "I did all that I could do but nobody listened. If I walk into a police station [not battered], and say that I'm a victim of domestic violence, and that my husband is going to shoot me in the head, they are not going to believe me. They don't take the verbal, the economic and the mental abuse as serious as the physical. But the first things that lead to physical abuse is verbal abuse."

During the attacks, Mildred says she never even considered the possibility that Muhammad was behind the plot.

"I was looking for two people. I was looking for John and I was looking for the sniper."

But when he was arrested in a Maryland rest stop, she says that she was not surprised.

Now, Mildred has created a group for survivors of domestic violence called After the Trauma. She's also writing a book and speaking to groups about the dangers of mental abuse.

As John Muhammad sits on death row, Mildred told WJZ's Koch that she and her children cannot watch his execution, and they will not say a final good-bye.

"I can't have him speaking to them the day before his execution, and for them to replay that tape in their heads for the rest of their lives," she said.

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