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).
An Arizona woman was found stabbed and “brutally beaten” in a Burger King parking lot after pulling over to exchange info with a man she got into a minor car crash with, who attacked her “without provocation,” according to police.
Joseph Sellers, 30, is charged with attempted second-degree murder for the Feb. 20 incident, which left the victim hospitalized with a collapsed lung and 19 “individual stab wounds around a half inch in length on her face, neck, and left torso, causing serious and disfiguring injury to the victim,” according to court documents obtained by Law&Crime.
A probable cause affidavit for Sellers’ arrest says he told police the two of them pulled over near the Mesa Burger King where his victim was found “brutally beaten and severely bleeding” after getting into a minor vehicle collision with him.
“The defendant stated he was angry about the collision and believed he was being ‘gang stalked,'” the affidavit alleges. “He pulled over to exchange information, when the victim reached into her purse and he knew Arizona to be an ‘open carry state’ so he began punching the victim multiple times, lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute, matching the surveillance of the incident.”
Sellers allegedly admitted that “it was reasonable that she may have been attempting to grab her information for him,” but he didn’t care, according to 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.
