DETROIT – On the road for six agonizing hours with her boyfriend of two years at the wheel, Serena Wright feared Lavaris Lyman was going to kill her.
"He was just saying, 'I wanna spend a little time with you before it's all over,'" she said.
She says the terrifying ordeal started when Lyman shot her son, Montez, while he was sitting in the backseat of the car.
"Then I started fighting and my son jumped out. After he lost control I jumped out, but he caught me and that's when he stabbed me in my chest," she said.
For hours Serena had no idea if her son was dead or alive as Lyman kept his foot on the gas driving all around town from Detroit to Monroe County. Serena knew if she didn't act soon death was near.
She convinced him to stop so she could use the restroom.
"Pulled up at a porta potty and he went to check it to see if it was open. I just thought to jump through the front and take off. I locked all the doors and just jumped in the front. Drove off, he was hanging to the back of the car and finally he just fell off, and I drove to the next gas station and I ran in there and they got me help," she said.
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Still determined, investigators say Lyman found a woman to give him a ride. A truck driver who saw Lyman get in the car called police.
Deputies pulled the car over and arrested Lyman.
As Serena and her son recover from their injuries she's relieved Lyman is in jail thanks to the truck driver who knew Lyman was up to no good.
"I just want to thank that truck driver, you know, because if it wasn't for him he'd probably still be on the run right now," said Serena.