Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
BOUNTIFUL — In court, the Davis County prosecutor called Kane Fairbank a "serial killer in the making" when he was sentenced to 18 years to life in June for two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
His attack began on a date with someone he met on an app. The woman who swiped right on him came forward to share her own story exclusively with KSL-TV, with tips to help others stay safe.
Hadlie Monroe and Kane Fairbank had been talking online for months before they first met. She said she trusted him by the time they met for their second date.
"It just felt like a very pretty area to have a picnic," Monroe said about the secluded location of Mueller Park in Bountiful. Monroe didn't think twice when Fairbank asked to meet there on May 12, 2022.
The pair had matched on Tinder in February and had been getting to know each other since.
"I was like staying up until 1, 2, 3 in the morning just talking to him," she added, showing KSL-TV multiple calls that lasted up to six hours.
Noting the great connection she felt they had, Monroe added they had met for the first time face to face on May 10, two days prior. "I met his mom and his dad and his niece," she said.
Monroe's thoughts of a budding romance, however, were actually a trap being set up by Fairbank as part of a murder fantasy he told detectives he had meticulously planned.
"That's why I got Tinder," he told detectives during an interrogation following his arrest.
Monroe became the victim when she swiped right.
"I could tell that she liked me and it would be easy to trick her," he responded to being asked why Monroe was his chosen target. "It's kind of a sexual thing," he admitted.
I could tell that she liked me and it would be easy to trick her.
–Kane Fairbank
After meeting Fairbank at Mueller Park, she got in his car to drive somewhere nearby.
"I wanted to go to an area that was more secluded," Fairbank told detectives.
Noting the remoteness of the location and lack of phone signal, Monroe said the first three hours of their date were spent talking and eating before going back to Fairbank's car.
"I don't remember getting back in the car," she said. "All I remember is opening my eyes to him above me with a knife at my throat."
Monroe is a survivor, however, and fought her way free.
Speaking openly about the attack to detectives, Fairbank noted that he couldn't fight her. "I was like, all right, you're too strong," he said.
His decision to let her out of his car allowed Monroe to run away to an area where she remembered seeing a group of people earlier in the day.
The group happened to be composed of doctors and nurses who immediately sprung into action to help with her injuries. It wasn't until she turned around, however, that Monroe noticed she was being chased.
"I remember turning around and seeing him standing there, just staring at me, covered in my blood," she said, adding, "He was just so focused on me and so angry I had gotten away."
Monroe had been stabbed multiple times in her face and back.
When detectives asked Fairbank after his arrest if he could start over and do anything differently, his response was, "I'd get a sharper knife."
"I've tried and tried to comb through every single interaction that I've had with him to see if there's just something that I missed," Monroe said.
I think that's what terrifies me, is because he was so good at fooling me.
–Hadlie Monroe
Yet, she finds it hard to find any sign that would warn her of what was in store.
"I think that's what terrifies me," she added, "is because he was so good at fooling me."
Health professional Dr. Julie Valentine worked with a team of researchers at Brigham Young University to study dating app-facilitated violence.
In 2022, she spoke with KSL-TV about the need for more responsibility from dating app companies.
Talking about the study, Valentine said they concluded that "violent sexual predators use dating apps as hunting grounds for vulnerable victims."
Her research found that in Utah, between 2017 and 2020, there were 274 sexual assaults that took place starting with the victim and attacker meeting online.
Most cases involved women in their late teens to early twenties. Like Monroe, over half reported battles with depression.
"My mental health was already so bad," commented Monroe. "You're not thinking straight."
When asked what she would tell someone in her position, she said, "Take him out with a couple of friends."
The first rule to dating online is to meet in public, but just because it's public doesn't make it safe.
Monroe's hand is now permanently injured from nerve and tendon damage caused by trying to stop the blade.
Showing a depiction of her hand grabbing the blade, she said "I have a tattoo that I designed," showing an illustration of a hand grabbing a knife. "I put it on my body forever to understand that's something I overcame."
She's also worked hard to heal what's hidden underneath, her mental health and confidence.
"In a way, I'm happy that it was me," Monroe said. "Because according to him, me fighting back deterred him."
Fairbank fled the scene of his attack and drove to a location nearby where he attacked another woman at random before being apprehended shortly after.
The victim of the second attack was never named on the record and remains anonymous.
Fairbank pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
