[ cheers and applause ] nd applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, stalked, stabbed, striking back. >> someone has been stabbed. >> the woman fighting back in a shocking and deadly encounter with her own stepfather. here heroic escape. >> this guy tried to kill me. >> what she learned from the walking dead that she said saved her life. >> the real life saga behind the wildly popular dirty john podcast hit show and documentary. plus, showdown of the ages. tom brady taking on super young gun jared goff. the biggest age difference in starting quarterbacks in super bowl history. does brady have words of wisdom for the rookie? >> i'm not giving him any advice.

>> and halftime spotlight. maroon five and sugar now stepping on to the super bowl stage after skies like rihanna and cardi b said pass. adam levine breaking his silence tonight. first the night line five.

good evening. thank you for joining us. we begin with the deadly confrontation between a woman and her stepfather. a conartist who stopped and tormented the women in his life. but one taking matters into her own hands during a vicious stabbing attack. it turns out her true crime family saga is now at the root of the wildly popular dirty john podcasts and shows. here's abc's marcy gonzalez. >> i need an ambulance right away and the police. someone has been stabbed and he attacked a girl. >> reporter: it is just after 5:00 p.m. and tara has just heroically saved her own life by stabbing her stepfather 13 times. her hulking assailant, john plea han, the man infamously known as dirty john.

her mother's estrankd husband who terrorized and stalk their family. he attacked her in this parking lot, knife in hand. >> he looks me in the eyes and says, do you remember me? >> terry realizes she is in a fight for her life. >> i started trying to get away from him. he keeps grabbing me. at this point stabbing me but i'm not aware that he's stabbing me because the knife is in a del taco bag. i think he is punching me. we fall down and he is on his knees. and i'm on my back and i'm pedal kicking his forearms as he was trying to come down and stabbed me. >> she has an inch deep stab wound. >> the knife lands in that position. i pick it up and i just start whaling back on him. >> she flashes to her favorite

show, the walking dead. >> i'm pushing him off me but i'm holding his head. because watch the walking dead and i don't want him to bite me. >> that's what you were thinking. >> yeah. and i thought, i don't want him to wake up and just try hurt me again because i think he'll try to kill me again. so did i the second to last one here and then the last one was in the eye. that's the softest point of entry. so i wanted to kill his brain like a zombie, essentially. >> neighbors rush over to help. >> i told my mom to call 911 and say that somebody was being stabbed. >> newport beach 911. >> there is a man and a girl screaming. >> when they arrive, john is near death. ending a nightmare that has engulfed her family for nearly two years. first chronicled in the "los angeles times" podcast called dirty john. >> is there something about

john's past he's trying to hide? >> which was then put into a bravo show starring connie briton and eric banna. y john, the dirty truth.ygen. >> you enjoy your time left on this earth. >> i thought he would hurt her, my sister or me. but i always had the sense that it was going to be me for some reason. >> that eerie hunch started in 2014. soon after tara's mother, deborah newell, a successful interior designer met john online. >> she said i liked everything on his profile. he had his daughters, he had animals. he was an anesthesiologist. >> the then 59-year-old went on her first date with a tall, good looking doctor. >> he started calling every day and we would meet after work.

he started saying he was in love with me. i was the soul mate. he's been waiting for me. i ate it up. >> tara was initially optimistic that maybe this relationship would last. >> we were on the phone and she was just telling me. i met a great guy. oh, well, i would love to meet him. >> but when she did, she instantly got a bad feeling about him. >> the first time i met him, he's not that warm. >> even though deborah had only known john for two months, she agreed to marry him while on a trip to las vegas. he seemed like the man of her dreams. >> we would take walks at the end of the day. he wanted to hear all about my day. >> so you thought i've got the perfect husband. >> i thought so. >> they moved into this water front home on ritzy balboa island. she paid for everything. overlooking red nag after red flag, her children picked up on from the beginning. >> well, my sister was telling

me, there is something not right with him. he says he's an anesthesiologist. he's driving around my mom's car. he says all of his stuff got stolen. >> john said his car was stolen while he was serving in iraq with doctors without borders. but that was just one fictional tale in a web he was setting. >> almost everything was a lie. >> he tried to isolate her from her children to control every aspect of her life and wealth. >> he accused me of trying to separate my mom from him, saying that i wanted my mom because i wanted her money. >> he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. >> he would send my sister text tens but from my mom's phone pretending to be my mom and telling my sister she should kill herself. >> your sister thought they were coming from your mother? >> at first she did, yeah.

then i looked at it and i said our mom doesn't talk like this. >> but deborah was still under john's spell? he had an excuse for her for everything. >> she was brainwashed. >> yes. >> she didn't realize how much danger she was in. >> he was the most evil person i've ever met. >> the stalking allegations made by another woman in 2013. she said she's learned of at least 50 victims since. >> someone he is latched on to is never free of him. >> the detective arrested him after finding cyanide capsules, a gun, and ammo he had stashed. >> if we had not arrested him, something horrible would have happened. he was released from prison and two days later he met deborah and zeroed in. it would take more than a 84 before deborah realized the

scope of the duplicity after she uncovered his history of tormenting dozen of other women. she hid away for good. hiding for months. still, he stalked her. finding her car and setting it on fire. >> when he set fire to my my myy car, i was hoping he might get arrested and we hoped we wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. he called my work and made an appointment. he did a fake french accident. i was thinking, this sounds weird. >> one day later he made his move in that parking lot. >> someone has been stabbed and he attacked a girl.

>> i was so angry when they did that. this guy just tried to kill me. and if he is able to survive by any chance, then he will still try to kill us. >> i know he's going to kill me! >> deborah frantically arrives at the scene. >> my daughter! >> hang on. >> john is rushed to a hospital where he dies four days later. after the attack, tara is flooded with an array of extreme emotions. >> i felt guilty after all of this, right? >> i did. >> why? >> i thought he can have a family. he can have someone that cares about him and i don't want the people who loved him to feel bad. >> but she's reassured by john's sisters, ex-wife and daughters. >> did anyone thank you? >> his ex-wife. >> she said thank you?

>> uh-huh she knows it would have been her next. >> and what's next for tara and her mom. >> it was hard. it was her husband. >> do you forgive her? >> you know, i forgive her but i don't forgive him fully? i like him. >> she's a lot more cautious. same bubbly personality. but cautious. >> tara is working on herself, too. she wrote a book talking about her ongoing struggles with trauma. >> i definitely struggle with ptsd. i have good days and really bad days. >> so what kind of days are still tough for you? >> sometimes loud noises.

and those sometimes get to me. and sometimes when someone touches me abruptly, that can be triggering. >> she said with the wild popularity of her family's real life saga, she now gets recognized in public but said she is proud to share what she survived. >> i feel like this experience has changed me. in such positive ways. >> for "nightline" in los angeles. oxygen's documentary dirty john, the dirty truth, is available on demand. up next, the super bowl seasoned champ versus the rising young quarterback. ! oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven?

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you could call at this time age game. dooling quarterbacks. and fans are talking about the spread. the record setting age spread, that is. here's t.j. holmes. >> he could be the most loved -- >> the greatest quarterback of all time -- >> or loathed -- >> i'm tired of all this winning. >> i'm a begrudgingly give him love. >> tom brady, the winner of five super bowls has an enviable life. >> he has a beautiful wife and family. too good to be true. >> the patriots! >> at 41 years old, brady, one of the oldest players in the

league, is heading to the super bowl this week. he recently sat down with jeff darlington. >> this is your ninth super bowl. that's insane. does that resonate with you as well as it does the rest of us? >> in some ways, yes. in some ways, no. yes in the fact i've just been so lucky to be a part of this organization for a long time. >> in a sport where the average age is 26 and the average nfl career is just 3 years long, brady is an anomaly. >> is there any chance this is your last game? >> zero. zero. i've said that for a long time. i'm asked that a lot and i feel like i repeat the same

you look at his body. it was mushy. dangly arms, he had a little muffin top. what he's gotten older, he's prepared in a different way than did he when he was younger. >> he first led the patriots to the super bowl in he was the same age as the rams quarterback jared goff who is preparing to be in the super bowl this weekend. >> what sort of advice would you give this guy as he gets ready to take on the big bad patriots? >> i'm not giving him any advice. >> the 17-year age gap between two players is the largest between starting quarterbacks in super bowl history. >> you can argue jared goff has the edge in terms of new fresh

approach to the game. but tom brady has the experience. >> but it's not just the quarterbacks. it is the coaches, too. bill belichick is 66 years old and has won fiveuper bowls as the head coach of the team. and the other coach is these, half his age. >> what better way to pit the new hot young guy in mcvay against the grizzled veteran, bill belichick. >> it remains to be seen if they can compete with the force, belichick and brady. >> never a more accomplished, more productive, more prolific duo than bill belichick and tom brady. >> brady has always been known for his fanatical preparation as noted in last year's documentary. tom versus time. his wife giselle has stood by her husband's side through it all. >> he has the cool and

>> we are following new developments in deflategate. >> he was accused of playing with a deflated football. >> i have no knowledge of anything. no knowledge of any wrongdoing. >> while brady has now gotten past that controversy, another one lingers for the nfl. as fans are still divided over colin kaepernick's anthem protests. >> he is still in many ways supported by many players. supported by many fans. >> several notable musicians including rihanna and reportedbly eth performe hft showng the 'sepnick. >> we view as the league is not doing something right with kaepernick. >> but maroon 5 agreed to perform. adam levine spoke about it. >> i'm not in the right

profession if i can't handle a little controversy. >> kaepernick is that his lawyers filed a grievance with the nfl alleging owners colluded to freeze him out of league but they deny any wrongdoing. >> if a team decides that colin kaepernick or any other team went, that's what they'll do. >> as for this next game, brady could be the first player ever to win six super bowls. >> i'm blessed. even in the position i've been in. you just count your blessing every day. >> in atlanta, georgia. up next, the snow blowing granny who says vortex schwartzex. lobsterfest is on at red lobster. with the most lobster at'll oo?

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finally tonight, true grit winter style. meet 82-year-old marlene fisher downing. the michigan grandmother snow blowing her neighbor's driveway in must keegan, going viral. she still rides her harley.

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