How a woman escaped almost certain death after an encounter with the Cook brothers

Shortly after midnight on January 27, 1981, Cheryl Bartlett Fann, then 18, surprised her fiancéeBud Coates, 22, by meeting him after his shift at the grocery store in Toledo, Ohio, where he worked as a butcher.

On the way home, the young couple were attacked by two brothers – Anthony and Nathaniel Cook – who raped her and then shot her in the back.

Dazed from the blood she was rapidly losing, all she could think about was her 15-month-old son, Eric, and what would happen to him if she died. She had no idea that she was one of the many victims of the infamous Cook brothers, who carried out a horrific killing spree in Ohio in the early 1970s and 1980s.

Although Fann provided details about what her attackers looked like, she was dismayed that authorities could not use her description to convict Anthony and Nathaniel.

“I was angry and felt abandoned,” she tells PEOPLE.

But in 1982, Anthony was found guilty of murdering businessman Peter Sawicki and sentenced to life in prison. Nathaniel was arrested in 1998 for the murder of Thomas Gordon. The prosecutor at the time offered both brothers a deal in Gordon’s death – something Fann did not want.

Under the terms of the agreement, Anthony would remain in prison, but Nathaniel would be eligible for parole in 20 years if both confessed to all of their rapes and murders. Anthony confessed to eight murders between 1971 and 1983, and Nathaniel confessed to three. (Anthony was already in prison for killing his ninth victim.)

In 2018, Nathaniel was released from prison on parole.

The now 61-year-old Fann, who appeared in a new episode of People Magazine investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer on Sunday, June 9th at 9/8c on ID and streaming on Max — tells PEOPLE in her own words how she managed to escape death when so many others failed. (Watch an exclusive clip from the episode below.)

In January 1981, Bud and I moved into our own apartment in Toledo, across town from where my parents lived. We had only been living in our apartment for about a week or two when this happened.

On January 27, 1981, Bud’s brother Donnie cut my hair and did my makeup, and I thought, “I’ll just go to the store where Bud worked and surprise him.”

When I walked in the door, Bud was mad at me for going up there alone. Then he calmed down and it was about 1 a.m. when we went home. We talked about our wedding and about having another baby.

Suddenly my whole body started shaking as if something bad was about to happen. I started to panic.

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A week ago, I dreamed that I had been shot. The night before, I dreamed that I had been raped and shot. But I couldn’t see the faces of the perpetrators.

I told my mom about it and she said, “You have to stay in the house. Don’t go out.” But I was 18 years old and I thought, “Oh, I can take care of myself.”

After I had completely freaked out, I saw a man – who I later found out was Anthony – walking across the street from where we were.

I said, “Bud, something is wrong.” And he screamed, “You have to calm down. Nothing is going to happen. I’m going to protect you.” I hate those words to this day.

I was more freaked out by the dream than anything else. It was like “the dream coming true.”

I wanted to run away, but I didn’t know exactly where I was because we had just moved there.

Anthony approached us and I offered him my gold and diamond engagement and wedding rings so he would let us go. Bud gave him his wallet.

Anthony threw ski masks at us and told us to cover our faces. I kept pulling mine up and seeing what he looked like. Anthony yelled at me to put the mask back on. Then he sent us into an alley.

Just before we got to the garage where it happened, I saw another guy coming from across the street. He directed us into the garage.

I was scared. I was sure I was going to die. I thought I would never see Eric again. I thought, “Who’s going to raise him? I’m going to miss him going to school, graduating, getting married, having kids, all that.”

I also thought I should have listened to my mother. I kept hearing my mother’s words in my head and my father begging me, “Don’t go out,” and I thought I wouldn’t make it through this.

“Then they shot me in the back”

When they were finished abusing me, they forced me to stand up and get dressed. Then they told Bud to hold me down. Then they shot me in the back.

I heard the gun click. There were no bullets left in it.

If they had had more bullets, we would have been dead there until someone found us.

They started running and I just started screaming and I heard one of them shouting to the other, “Let’s go, Tony.”

I didn’t know I had been shot because I didn’t feel the bullet.

Bud grabbed me and we ran around the front of the house and when we stopped he said, “You got hit,” because my back was bleeding.

That made it even worse because I started to really hyperventilate. I thought, “Now I’m definitely dead because I got shot.”

We went to two houses where people didn’t want to help us. We went to a third house where the guy said I could come in, but also, “I don’t want you to smear blood all over everything.”

Bud ran to the apartment to tell Donnie what happened because they had stolen his wallet. They had to hurry and get Eric out of there if they came to our apartment. Bud and Donnie took Eric to the neighbors we knew who kept him with them.

I was at the stranger’s house and the next thing I remember is passing out. The emergency team came and took me to Ohio Medical Career College.

I was in hospital for three and a half weeks. Since then, I have had to undergo over 20 operations because of the bullet that broke apart when I was shot.

Ripple effects of a traumatic event

Afterwards, the doctors had to give Bud sedatives because he had lost his mind.

I thought there was nothing I could do about it because it had already happened. I had to live my life and take care of my child.

But Bud was angry that he couldn’t protect me and left us because I was raped.

I was so in love with him and had a hard time after Bud left us. I started taking my anger out on men. They fell in love with me. Then I thought, “No, it’s time to push him away” and left them.

Meet and marry your “hero”

I was married three times and had three sons before I met my husband Danny (Fann) at 26. I met him when I moved to Tennessee to get away from everything in Ohio. We have been together for almost 37 years. I have spent more than half my life with him. He is my hero.

After the attack, I started seeing a therapist, but then stopped. Now my husband, Danny, is my best therapy. He listens. He doesn’t sit there and say, “You shouldn’t have gone out.” He doesn’t criticize.

One of the things that still bothers me to this day is that I never got my rings back. The police told me that it wasn’t Anthony and Nathaniel’s modus operandi to rob people, but how would they know that since most of the other people are dead. But I would like the rings back. I would like to give them to my son Eric, especially since his father died in 2009. Maybe someone knows what happened to the rings. My goodness.

Jelly Roll’s Song save me is one of my favorite songs because it reminds me of my past life – how I went through hell and how I overcame it all. This song is me.

Now I’m just a person who lives day by day and tries to put things behind me. If I could help someone else, that would be nice. I always asked myself: what is my purpose in life? Now I know what it is.

People Magazine investigates: Surviving a serial killer will air on Sunday, June 9th at 9/8c on ID and stream on Max.