WWE Superstar Sonya Deville has opened up in harrowing detail about the 2020 home invasion that nearly turned tragic, revealing just how close she and fellow WWE star Mandy Rose came to a deadly encounter.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on a recent episode of Insight, Deville recounted the terrifying events of that night, from being awakened by her alarm at 2:43 a.m. to the chilling moment she came face-to-face with an armed intruder.
“I run to the living room by myself. I turn on all the lights… I go to the small one, and I peel back the curtain, and the door shut, but I’m just checking the lock. It’s locked. When I’m going to check the lock, I look up and the man is standing right at the door, as close as you are to me right now,” Deville recalled.
“I’m looking at him, and I scream, ‘What the f*** do you want?’…”
She continued, “He has a black mask on, a black backpack, all black clothes. I’m looking at him, and I scream, ‘What the f*** do you want?’… Then he advances toward the door. As soon as he moves, I run to grab Mandy to tell her, ‘Holy s***, there’s someone in the house.’ We run out the garage door next to Mandy’s bedroom and take off in her car.”
Police arrived within three minutes and arrested the man, later identified as Phillip Thomas II, who was waiting inside the home with a knife and pepper spray. Investigators later revealed that Thomas had been stalking Deville for years and had spent the night watching both women through the windows before attempting to carry out a violent attack.
Deville reflected on how dangerously close the night came to ending in tragedy: “If one thing happened differently… like, had we slept on the couch? He had the door open—the door’s right behind the couch. We would have both been maced before we could even wake up.”
She added, “Had I not set my alarm that night because I was being lazy and just went to sleep, which I’ve done many nights, we would be dead. One different move in any scenario, we wouldn’t have made it. I’m the luckiest person on the planet. People say, ‘Wow, you got really lucky.’ Because if one thing went differently, me, or Mandy, or both of us would not be here right now.”
The Incident
Phillip Thomas II was convicted and sentenced in 2023 to 15 years in prison on multiple charges, including armed burglary, attempted armed kidnapping, aggravated stalking, and criminal mischief.
The incident remains one of the most chilling real-life events in recent wrestling history, and Deville’s powerful retelling offers a stark reminder of the dangers public figures can face, even in the supposed safety of their own homes.
PWMania.com commends Deville for her courage in sharing her story and continuing to raise awareness about stalking and personal safety.
