Tommy Lynn Sells June 28, β April 3, was an American serial killer , often referred to as " the Coast to Coast Killer " due to his claims of committing murders across the United States. Though convicted of only one murder, for which he received the death penalty and was eventually executed in , he is believed to have committed at least 22 murders, with Sells himself claiming over 70 victims. Sells was born in Oakland, California , on June 28, , [ 2 ] as one of five children to an unwed mother.
Sells and his twin sister, Tammy Jean, contracted meningitis when they were 18 months old; Tammy died from the illness. When he was 5, he was returned to his mother after she discovered that Walpole wanted to adopt him.
Sells also claimed his mother encouraged the relationship, which traumatized him greatly. Sells said he would later relive those experiences while committing his crimes. Three years later, he entered his grandmother's bed nude while she was sleeping, leading to him being banned from the house. Shortly after that, his mother and siblings abandoned him by abruptly leaving town.
A few days later, in a fit of rage, he shot a woman and assaulted her, although she survived. Sells began living as a nomad permanently in , at the age of When Sells visited family in Little Rock, Arkansas , in May , his mother threw him out after he tried to molest her in the shower.
Thereafter, he failed to receive mental health assistance, his drinking worsened, and ultimately led to his first arrest in for public intoxication. Homeless, Sells hitchhiked and train-hopped across the United States from to , committing various crimes along the way.
