IRON COUNTY, MI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The only surviving victim of a man’s crime spree that spanned three states, including Wisconsin, says she’s lucky to be alive
Caleb Anderson, 23, is accused of murdering a person in Green Bay and then driving to Alabama and killing another person.
And a day before the Green Bay homicide, Anderson is named the suspect in an attack on a woman in Upper Michigan.
Eighteen-year-old Aurora Dahl tells WLUC-TV that she was out for a run in Iron County on the morning of Aug. 1.
She says about a mile into her run, she heard footsteps behind her.
“I turned around, and he was right there, running towards me. He looked at me and said, ‘I’m doing a social experiment, I’m doing a social experiment.’ In his hands he was holding duct tape and what looked like mace. I didn’t know for sure,” Dahl tells WLUC.
But she didn’t fall for the ruse.
Dahl says that’s when Anderson attacked her and tried to choke her.
She said the physical assault continued for about 10 minutes. She was hit in the face and bleeding.
“There was one time when he was on top of me with his hands around my throat, and I hip thrusted him off of me,” Dahl says.
She also says that Anderson told her that he’d let her live if she threw away her phone.
After she escaped, she ran home and called the police.
Dahl told WLUC she slept with the lights on every night until Anderson was arrested, adding she doesn’t believe she will ever go running alone again. She went for her first run since the attack Thursday, but she was joined by her mother.
Michigan State Police say Dahl’s information was crucial.
“To have an eye witness that survives an attack like this is critical. Her presence of mind was incredible.,” said Iron Mountain Post Commander Lt. Jeremy Hauswirth. “She provided specific details that we would have no other way of getting and we were able to put a timeline together and vehicle description that put us way ahead of the game.”
The day after Dahl’s attack, a dead body was found in an apartment on Packerland Drive in Green Bay. Authorities say Anderson took the victim’s vehicle and drove to Alabama where the second murder occurred.
In that case, Anderson is charged with murder and first-degree burglary in Escambia County, Alabama. The victim in this case is 52-year-old Dwight Dixon.
Anderson was arrested on Aug. 3, and he remains in custody in Alabama.
Last week, Anderson waived his extradition from Alabama to Michigan. It’s unclear if he will return to Wisconsin.
FOX 11 has repeatedly contacted police for updates related to this case, but no one has been available to share any new information.
