‘Your Subaru saved your life’: Woman is saved from a date with a murderer when her car fakes its own death

In Re:Zero anime, the main character, Subaru, has the ability to come back from death, and he uses this power to save the people he cares about, even if it means dying over and over again.

That’s what happened in real life when a woman’s Subaru “died” unexpectedly, and took the metaphorical bullet to save her from a potentially deadly encounter. This TikTok video, posted by user @oliviariche, recounts a personal story about a Bumble date she had in 2018. Olivia, like many others, ventured into the world of online dating and matched with a man who seemed decent enough at first glance — blond, blue-eyed, and with a friendly smile. Their initial conversations were promising enough to set up a date. Things, however, took a strange turn on their actual meetup. The guy, while looking like the harmless boy next door, started showing some unsettling colors — mixing inappropriate jokes with casual mentions of serious personal issues.

Despite the red flags, Olivia chalked it up to nervous rambling and agreed to a more extended visit to his hometown in Baltimore. 

After one date.

Well, her trusty Subaru had other plans. An hour into the drive, Subie starts billowing smoke like it’s trying to send a message via smoke signal. Olivia finds herself stranded on the side of Route 1, cursing her luck and mentally calculating her impending financial doom. A quick check later, it turned out to be an oil issue — too much of it. Stuck and unable to proceed, Olivia had to cancel her trip and head back home. The guy gets super weird when she tells him she’s not coming, offering to get her a rental car at 8 o’clock at night. It takes a few creepy voicemails for our girl to realize she dodged a bullet.

This hiccup in her travels turned out to be the universe’s way of yelling, “Abort mission!” Olivia dodged just dodged a future Crime Watch Daily special. Years later, she’s scrolling through Facebook and sees a photo of the guy on a wanted poster. Turns out, he did have a kid and he murdered the poor child, confirming her worst fears about his capacity for violence. Olivia concludes the story reflecting on the bizarre and horrifying turn of events. 

Naturally, social media users couldn’t help but chime in with their own reactions and hot takes. Some saw the hand of a higher power at work, suggesting that Subie’s breakdown was nothing short of divine intervention: “Divine intervention right there.” Others pointed out the delicious irony of the phrase “dodged a bullet.” One particular detail in the video, however, stood out to them: the revelation that Olivia’s almost-second-date was none other than “Evil Treadmill Dad.” “Omg, the treadmill dad! That video was scary,” one user exclaimed.

For those who haven’t been keeping up with the latest true crime sagas, this individual named, Christopher Gregor has made headlines for allegedly pushing his child to run faster on a treadmill while biting his head, causing the poor little kid to repeatedly fall face-first off the treadmill and sustain injuries.

As per USA Today, the man inflicted blunt-force injuries on his child the day he died as punishment after the boy’s mother was 14 hours late bringing him home. For his crimes, Gregor was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison — 20 years for the aggravated manslaughter charge, and an additional 5 years for the child endangerment offense.

Online dating can indeed lead to successful outcomes, but they also hint at the vast number of individuals who may be exposed to potential risks. A study by researchers at Brigham Young University analyzed sexual assault cases in Utah from 2017-2020, and found that 14% of acquaintance rapes occurred during an initial meetup arranged through a dating app. These dating app-facilitated assaults were significantly more violent, with 32% of victims being strangled compared to 22% of non-dating app victims. The study also found that 60% of dating app assault victims reported having a mental illness.

So, what can individuals do to protect themselves? Experts recommend a variety of strategies, from conducting background checks, to setting clear boundaries and maintaining open lines of communication with friends and family members. As for Olivia, she now gets to watch her Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Murderous date on Court TV and TikTok, thanking her lucky stars (and her dramatic Subaru) for the narrow escape.