Crime Reporter’s Notebook: The chilling story of the bathtub killer and one woman’s survival

ARLINGTON, Texas — In the fall of 1996, fear gripped the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a serial rapist and murderer terrorized the community. Known as the Bathtub Killer, he left a trail of horror, taking the lives of two women before being brought to justice years later.

His first known victim was 26-year-old elementary school teacher Christine Vu. Three months later, on Christmas Eve, he struck again, murdering a teacher’s aide, Wendie Prescott. Both women lived in the Peachtree Apartments in Arlington.

“Both strangled within three months and left with a little water in their bathtubs,” an early report on the case stated.

The killer, later identified as Dale Scheanette, became known for his brutal pattern — binding his victims with duct tape, raping them, strangling them and leaving their bodies in bathtubs with a small amount of water.

Scheanette didn’t stop with murder. He attacked four other women, including a University of Texas at Arlington student, a Dallas police officer and a woman named Adriene Fields.

“The more I saw it, the more I had the feeling that I was next,” Fields recalled.

Fields lived in Arlington and feared she would be a victim. Her unease was so strong she moved to Grand Prairie, thinking she would be safer. But at 3 a.m. on Oct. 26, 1999, her worst fears became a reality.

“It was like something clicked, and I just had a strong feeling that I was next,” she said. “I couldn’t shake it.”

She awoke to an eerie sound—”swish, swish, swish, swish.” The noise came from the parachute-style pants her attacker was wearing. She prayed no one was in her apartment.

“As I turn over, he takes off running towards me and jumps on my bed, grabs my mouth. I’m screaming at this point. He’s telling me to be quiet, don’t scream, and if you scream, I’m going to kill you,” Fields recalled.

For two hours, she endured a horrific assault. She pleaded for her life.

“So he’s like, stop crying, and I’m like, are you going to kill me? And he just looks at me for a while, like he’s thinking about it, and then says no.”

Fields didn’t know her attacker, but he knew her name. He had worked as a bouncer at a bar she and her friends would sometimes visit. 

When she asked him why he was doing this, he responded: “The devil made me do it.”

“I was like, oh my God, you’ve done this before,” she said.

After he left, Fields lived in constant fear that he would return. It wasn’t until September 2000 that she finally got a call that brought some relief.

“They called and said we got him.”

Scheanette was caught burglarizing a building in DeSoto. When police took his fingerprints, they matched a print left at Wendie Prescott’s apartment. DNA evidence later linked him to other crimes. He was arrested at his home in Arlington.

“Last night, of course, we executed a search warrant on the home, and we spent about two hours out there — and found some things we found promising that will help us with the case,” Arlington police spokesperson James Hawthorne said at the time.

Fields didn’t see her attacker again until his trial. In January 2003, he was found guilty of capital murder. On Feb. 10, 2009 — Fields’ birthday — Scheanette was executed.

“It was like God would say to me, on the day that I gave you life, I took his life,” she reflected.

Today, Fields runs a charity called Rip the Bandage, dedicated to helping survivors of sexual assault. She hopes her story will inspire others to overcome their fears and find peace in their healing.

Her survival stands as a testament to resilience, and her mission is clear: To help others reclaim their lives after trauma.