The Suspicious Man At the Mall Who Helped Change a Flat Tire And Left His Killing Tools Behind–Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A woman recounts the story of being helped with a flat tire by a man in the parking lot of a shopping mall. He then asks for a ride to his car elsewhere in the mall. Suspicious, the woman makes an excuse to go back into the mall where she alerts a security guard and, later, the police. She discovers that the air had been intentionally let out of her tire and the man, who had been carrying a briefcase, accidentally left in the trunk of her car after changing the tire. Police open the locked case and find rope, duct tape, and knives in it. The eRumor makes an impassioned plea to women to be careful.
The Truth:
It pays to be cautious, and that is the theme of this eRumor, but there has not been a documented case of this particular scenario with the killer leaving behind his killing tools.
This is an oft-repeated story, which has been told regarding various cities, mostly in the United States and Canada, and which urban legends expert Jan Harold Brunvand classes as just that, an urban legend.