WASHINGTON — More than two decades after the Washington, D.C., area was terrorized by a series of random sniper shootings, the ex-wife of convicted killer John Allen Muhammad says the violence was never random at all — it was personal.
In a new Investigation Discovery documentary, “Hunted by My Husband: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper,” Dr. Mildred Muhammad reveals that her ex-husband’s three-week killing spree in October 2002 was part of a calculated plan to murder her and make her death appear to be the work of a random gunman.
“He said to me, ‘You have become my enemy, and as my enemy, I will kill you,’” Mildred Muhammad told Fox News Digital.
The Associated Press reported that John Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others in the D.C. region during October 2002. Authorities later linked the pair to several additional shootings across the country as they traveled from Washington state to the East Coast.
According to investigators, Muhammad’s ultimate goal was to kill his ex-wife and then gain custody of their three children by appearing to be the grieving surviving parent. “They wanted it to look like a random shooting,” she told BOSSIP. “Who would believe a man came cross-country to kill his wife?”
A Life of Fear and Control
Before the killings, Mildred Muhammad had endured years of psychological abuse. Married to John for 12 years, she described a man who transformed from a charming soldier into a cold manipulator after returning from service in Operation Desert Storm.
“He was full of rage — but it was a different rage,” she told Fox News. “He was trained in psychological warfare, so he would do things that made me question everything I did.”
The abuse escalated after their separation in 1999. Despite restraining orders, John continued to stalk her. When she changed her phone number, he found it; when she moved, he appeared at her new home. “He wanted total control,” she said. “Every decision I made had to go through him.”
In 2000, John kidnapped their three children and took them to Antigua using forged documents, The Washingtonian reported. Mildred fought for over a year to bring them home. “There are no words to describe the level of pain I was in,” she said.
She was reunited with her children in 2001. But within a year, investigators knocked on her Maryland door to deliver shocking news: her ex-husband was the sniper.
“They said, ‘Didn’t you know you were the target?’” she recalled. “A man was shot two miles from you. Another was shot right down the street. Ms. Muhammad, you were the target.”
Terror Across the Capital
The sniper attacks left the D.C. region paralyzed. Victims were gunned down at gas stations, parking lots and schoolyards. Panic gripped the public as authorities scrambled to identify the shooters.
On Oct. 24, 2002, police arrested John Muhammad and 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo while they slept in their car at a Maryland rest stop. The pair’s weapon — a Bushmaster rifle — had been modified to fire from inside the trunk, allowing them to shoot undetected.
According to the BBC, their arrest ended a 21-day manhunt that killed 10 and wounded three. John Muhammad was convicted and executed by lethal injection in 2009 at age 48. Malvo, now 40, is serving multiple life sentences without parole.
From Victim to Advocate
Today, Dr. Muhammad is a domestic violence survivor and advocate. Through her nonprofit, After the Trauma, Inc., she speaks nationally about emotional abuse and coercive control — forms of violence that often go unseen.
“Eighty percent of victims don’t have physical scars,” she told BOSSIP. “We’re a visual society. If people can’t see your scars, they think they don’t exist. For a long time, I didn’t exist.”
Her message to survivors is rooted in strategy and self-preservation. “Up to 75 percent of women who try to leave are hurt or killed,” she said. “Create a plan. Open a separate bank account. Keep a bag at work. Silence is your biggest tool; the element of surprise is your biggest weapon.”
Mildred Muhammad says healing began only after she faced the pain. “You have to accept that you’re in pain,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t want to admit someone got to us, but you have to start there. Identify the emotion, work through it until it no longer stings.”
She now urges communities to see beyond visible bruises. “My help was slow because I didn’t fit their profile of what a victim should look like,” she said. “But survivors need to know — you are not alone.”
A Legacy of Awareness
For Mildred Muhammad, revisiting her story in Hunted by My Husband is not about reopening wounds, but about saving lives.
“This project allows my story to reach more audiences,” she said. “Every victim wants to leave. They just need to know how.”
Her advocacy continues as part of Investigation Discovery’s “No Excuse for Abuse” campaign, airing during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
As she told Fox News, “My help was slow in coming. But I knew I had to make it through — for my children.”
