Woman Plays Dead To Try To Escape Attack By Man She Met Online, Cops Say

Online dating nearly cost a Missouri woman her life after a real-life encounter led to a violent attack inside the woman's home.

Clinton Police said they were called to the Golden Valley Memorial Hospital Emergency Room Saturday night after a woman had been "severely injured" by a man she had met online and was dating, a statement from police said that was posted on social media.

The man, identified by police as 39-year-old Michael A. Pullums of Country Club Hills, Illinois, had driven down from his Chicago-area home to visit the woman. However, the date took a violent turn after the two began to argue.

Police say Pullums "stabbed her several times with a knife and a pair of scissors and then strangled her," in her Clinton, Missouri home, according to the statement.

The woman played dead as she waited for an opportunity to escape. Eventually, she was able to run outside, but the man caught her behind her home and "beat her with a metal chair," police said.

The attack didn't stop until the man heard emergency sirens from a passing ambulance.

"The man then loaded her into her own vehicle and dropped her at the emergency room telling staff there that they had been robbed," the statement said.

Pullums was pulled over several hours later while still driving the woman's car. According to police, he was covered in blood and was attempting to return back to Illinois.

He was arrested and charged with domestic assault in the first degree with serious physical injury. He's being held on a $100,000 bond in the Henry County jail.

The woman involved in the attack, who has not been identified by police, was transferred to a Kansas City area hospital.

[Photo: Henry County Sheriff's Office]