(APR 25) This is the story of Fredia "The Cheetah" Gibbs—a legendary pioneer of female combat sports—and the uncanny, chilling parallel of how her life intersected with WBAN and the shadows of two distinct serial killers.

I got to see Fredia Gibbs in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 15,1999, where she was set to fight Hannah "The Vegas" Fox.  It was the very first female boxing match that I covered in Las Vegas. At the time, I met up with Las Vegas Photographer Mary Ann Owen, and Butch Gottlieb who both knew the ropes in the sport, and I was with them at the Orleans Hotel & Casino, when covering the match between Fox and Gibbs.

After Gibbs secured her hard-fought victory, she shared a piece of her history directly with WBAN, with me receiving one of the handwraps Gibbs wore when she fought Hannah Fox.   

And...what WBAN did not know in 1999 when receiving the handwrap of Gibbs is that Gibbs had carried a horrific, dark secret of survival---and it involved an incident with Gibbs and the serial killer "Grim Sleeper."

Fredia's Gibbs story with a serial killer....

Years prior, in 1993 in Inglewood, California, Gibbs had accepted a ride in a van after playing dominoes. She did not know that the soft-spoken man behind the wheel was Lonnie Franklin Jr., later notorious as the "Grim Sleeper"—a monstrous serial killer responsible for the deaths of over 100 Black women.

Once inside the vehicle, the monster surfaced. Franklin pulled into a secluded area, intent on making Gibbs another victim on his list. He had removed the door handles, and lunged at her. But what he didn't know is that he absolutely picked the wrong woman!

According to media sources, they wrote, "Using the combat instincts her uncle and her brutal training had instilled in her, Gibbs flipped the script on her attacker. She grabbed his shirt, used her immense athletic leverage to overpower him, stepped on his chest, and demanded the keys. Terrified, the predator realized he was trapped with a world-class fighter. Gibbs snatched the keys, struck him, unlocked the doors, and threw the keys far into the dark so he couldn't chase her as she ran to safety. She survived a monster that claimed so many others, keeping the trauma locked away in silence for years before returning to the ring."

So fast forward to 2006....WBAN's experience with a Serial Killer, had hired Photographer Dale Hausner to cover women's bouts in Arizona

During the mid-2000s, Dale Hausner used his false persona as a credentialed boxing photojournalist and radio talk show host to gain intimate access to the boxing community. In the early 2000's I paid Hausner to cover a few female bouts in Arizona. I stopped asking him to cover fights in 2003.
 
A few years later from  2005 to 2006 Hausner and his co-partner in crime decided they were going to snip people and animals at night, and work a regular jobs during the day, killing several people and animals.

The two were arrested July 31, 2006---and on this date, I was bombarded by many news TV stations and more,  because of WBAN's link to Dale Hausner via photographs that were published on WBAN.

As fate would have it, the dark clouds of serial murder would not just touch Gibb's past; they would parallel WBAN’s experience with a photographer that ultimately became a serial killer.

A few weeks before Hausner and his partner in crime were finally tracked down and arrested, Hausner actually picked up the phone and called me as I was a police detective at the time. 

The phone call lasted a short time, as when he was speaking to me, he sounded out of breath, and then asked me immediately if I had heard about the news of the "sniper" in Arizona.  I didn't know what he was talking about the killings going on in Arizona, and have to admit I did get a little rude with him and said, "No" I haven't heard anything as I live in another state.  

When the Phoenix police finally arrested Hausner,  I realized the chilling reality of that casual phone call.

I ended up filing a police report on it with my Police Agency.  I was subpoenaed to appear in court with the case, but the prosecutor decided to first interview me with his Hausner's Defense attorney about the phone call the Hausner made to me.  They had so much evidence against Hausner and his co-partner, that I did not have to testify in person.  

WBAN / IWBHF
WBAN Instagram
WBAN Facebook

WBAN / IWBHF WEBSITES
www.womensboxing.org
www.wbanmember.com
www.floridaboxing.com
www.iwbhf.com
WBAN's Group Facebook