I think I met a Potential Serial Killer

Back in 2006, I was a freshman in college in California. I worked past midnight in the library one night and ended up walking home around 3am. It was very dark and cold that night so I had a white woolen sweater wrapped around my head and neck (think of granny style with just this one piece of clothing). I had my Airpods in and was walking very slowly and in a hypervigilant state of mind. I remember being very stressed but also very alert (adrenaline?). I pass by the police station and turn left at the next street - everything is very quiet.<br><br>I was around 10 mins from home when I encountered this man who was walking in the opposite direction. I noticed his strong cologne before I even made eye contact with him - it smelled like cheap perfume and I remember thinking "who wears perfume this strong and at this time of the night?". I looked up and I noticed this man wearing a cheap leather jacket, jeans and with a 5 o'clock shadow - not very well groomed. I was startled and jumped a bit and he noticed this. He looked at me and smiled widely and very slowly (it was so creepy) and said hi. I gave him a nod and a quick "hi" before crossing the street to keep walking. I looked back and I saw him stop and turn back and watch me. I felt uneasy but more than anything I was so fucking annoyed to have my peace disrupted like that. <br><br>I looked back constantly but he didn't move. I felt safe enough to keep walking to my home which was just around the corner and I made it safely. I didn't give it much thought for the rest of the night. <br><br>Fast forward 2 weeks, I'm walking to class and I see him again. This time he was walking in the same direction as me, but I saw him walking slowly to my right. I saw him when I crossed the street and I thought "what the fuck, why are you in my town and why are you walking so slowly?". I didn't give him too much thought but as I was walking to class I noticed he was walking behind me. I couldn't see him but I could smell his perfume (I'm sure it was him). It's not everyday you smell someone like that, especially in broad daylight. He kept walking behind me all the way to my class and when I turned back he was just sitting on a bench about 30 feet away, with his eyes fixed on me.<br><br>I was so uncomforable I called my then-boyfriend to tell him what happened. He was the type to always dismiss my concerns and make fun of me for being "paranoid" and "too jumpy" so his response was "Oh that's weird!" and "just be aware of your surroundings". It wasn't very comforting. I was actually in shock and my mind went blank afterwards and I didn't know what to do. As my class started I made my way inside and I felt trapped. I kept looking around the large glass window but I didn't see him anymore. I didn't give him much thought afterwards and thought that his weird obsession with me was over.<br><br>Fast forward another 2 weeks, I'm walking home past midnight again. This time I saw him walking towards me. I saw him from afar and I crossed the street. I didn't even dare to look at him or pretend to say hi. I was walking fast and looking back constantly. I didn't dare to look back and instead walked to the nearest store that was open past midnight. By the time I got there, I looked back and he was nowhere to be seen. I went inside the store and bought something, and as I was walking out I saw him past the glass windows of the store walking past it, slowly. I freaked out and told the owner, "I think that man is following me, they've been doing that past week". I don't know why, but the owner looked at me and told me to get out of the store through the back door past the storage room past the back alley. I ended up running out of the backdoor and running past the alleys to get home.<br><br>When I got home, I was so shaken up I called my mom in the Philippines (both my parents live there and I was an international student in the US). I was crying and told her everything. I told her I think his cologne is a marker or a way of letting me know he was around. She was so concerned, but I knew she couldn't do anything and I didn't want to worry her (and by extension my dad). So we talked and she told me to tell my boyfriend or my friends or even the police and I refused. I remember I didn't even dare to walk alone at night again, and if I had to I would take a longer route to avoid his path. I even considered aUber or Lyft but I didn't have Lyft and Ubers were too expensive and rare at the time. I didn't even want to take the bus and I didn't have a car. I even considered calling campus security but that would just mean a security guard walking me to my destination. I remember taking so many back alleys and avoiding crowded streets because I felt like he was waiting around every corner. It felt like I was being watched 24/7, even when I was alone past midnight in my apartment. <br><br>This all happened when I was 19 and I'm 37 now with 3 kids and married to a different man. <br><br>Fast forward 2016 - I saw in the news a story about a serial killer who was caught in Northern California and when I saw his picture I fainted (shaking and everything). It WAS HIM. I was so physically shaken up and my then-boyfriend (now-husband) was asking me what happened when I saw the news. I told him everything and he was surprised but also thought this was all too much to be a coincidence. I felt like my world was crushed. I never thought anything of him until now, and I didn't even believe it until I read the news article. The article mentioned that they found the remains of multiple women and that he attacked and killed them in the 1990s, and that he was also prolific in the 2000s. It ended up that he was killing women in the 2000s as well. <br><br>I looked him up everyday, even his Wikipedia page. I ended up buying the book about his case and read the part where he would attack his victims using stealth attacks (it shook me to this day to think that if he saw me he would have killed me past midnight when he saw me walking alone). What's fkn creepy is that he would attack his victims when it's dark in isolated areas. He's currently in jail for life and I'm just glad he won't be attacking women again.<br><br>I'm still shaken up about this but I'm glad that in the end I was able to escape unscathed, past midnight walking alone.