The survivor told the court the 2024 attack left lasting scars, nerve damage and fear long after her physical wounds healed.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A man who attacked a pregnant stranger at a drive-thru ATM in San Diego’s Mira Mesa neighborhood has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison, more than two years after the woman fought him off and survived wounds to her face, neck and shoulder.

Cole Klemke, 29, pleaded guilty to attempted murder before receiving the sentence Aug. 11. The case grew from an attack that San Diego police described from the beginning as having no apparent connection between Klemke and the woman. The victim, who was 25 and four months pregnant at the time, survived the June 15, 2024, assault and was released from a hospital the same day. At sentencing, she described consequences that continued well beyond the emergency treatment, including permanent scars, nerve damage and a lasting fear of strangers.

The woman did not appear in the courtroom for Klemke’s sentencing but delivered a statement remotely. She said that immediately after the attack she made it back into her vehicle and tried to control the bleeding, only to find that there were “too many wounds to cover with two hands.” More than two years later, she said she had worked to rebuild her life while still carrying physical and emotional effects from the assault. She also said she was unable to go into public alone for nearly a year because she feared for her safety. Authorities have not publicly identified her, and later reporting has continued to protect her identity.

The attack happened at about 10 a.m. near the Target shopping center on Mira Mesa Boulevard. The woman had driven to an ATM and got out of her vehicle so she could reach the machine. Prosecutors said during the early court proceedings that Klemke had watched her from across the parking lot for about a minute as she arrived and used the ATM. He then approached from behind. Police initially reported that the woman was wounded in the neck, chin and shoulder. Later court testimony described wounds to her face and neck and said she was knocked to the ground during the assault.

Evidence presented as the case progressed showed that the attack did not end with the first wounds. Preliminary-hearing testimony said Klemke punched the woman after she fell and tried to stab her additional times. The woman resisted by kicking him, prosecutors said, and he eventually ran from the area. Early accounts also said bystanders came to her aid. She was transported to a hospital with injuries police described at the time as not life-threatening. She was treated and released later that day, a fact police confirmed in their announcement of Klemke’s arrest.

Investigators said they found no sign that the woman and Klemke knew each other. Police also said there was no meaningful exchange before the attack and that Klemke made no demand for money or other property. Nothing was taken, according to police. Sgt. Erich Drilling, who reviewed video from the scene, told local media after the stabbing that the footage showed the woman apparently did not know anyone was approaching from behind. Authorities did not announce a motive, and the later guilty plea and sentencing reports did not provide one. The available public record therefore establishes the attack and conviction but not why Klemke chose the woman.

The investigation moved quickly after the assault. Detectives with the San Diego Police Department’s Northeastern Division obtained photographs and video showing a man inside the nearby Target shortly before the stabbing. Police released images to the public while searching for a suspect. Several community members submitted information, and investigators said those tips helped identify Klemke. Detective Kate Brooker later testified that a tipster contacted police after seeing the surveillance photographs. Klemke, then 27 and identified by police as a Carmel Valley resident, was taken into custody the following afternoon, June 16, 2024.

When Klemke first appeared in court days later, prosecutors charged him with attempted murder, mayhem and robbery in connection with the ATM attack. He pleaded not guilty at that stage and was held without bail, according to reports from the arraignment. Prosecutors also brought felony vandalism and brandishing allegations tied to a separate encounter earlier that month. Those accusations were distinct from the stabbing case, and reporting at the time did not establish them as an explanation for the ATM assault. Klemke’s later conviction resulted from his guilty plea to attempted murder.

The separate allegations became part of the early procedural history because prosecutors said they already had another Klemke case under review when the stabbing occurred. Deputy District Attorney Spencer Sharpe said that on June 1, 2024, Klemke had allegedly confronted a man who was driving to work, stood in front of the vehicle, scratched an X into its hood with a knife and demanded that the driver get out. The driver instead left. Police arrested Klemke in that matter, but Sharpe said the District Attorney’s Office was still reviewing it when the June 15 attack took place. Those claims were allegations when described at the 2024 arraignment and should not be treated as findings about the later stabbing.

The ATM case remained pending for roughly two years. At a preliminary hearing in 2026, testimony added detail about the attack and the surveillance evidence used to identify Klemke. On July 10, he changed the course of the case by pleading guilty to attempted murder. Contemporary reports said the plea called for an expected 10-year state prison sentence. That sentence was imposed the following month. The guilty plea meant prosecutors did not have to prove the attempted-murder accusation at a trial, and the sentencing hearing shifted the public focus from the evidence identifying the attacker to the damage the victim said she continued to experience.

The woman’s sentencing statement made that damage central to the final stage of the case. She said she remained grateful to have survived but described permanent physical scars, continuing nerve damage and emotional burdens affecting both her and her family. Her account also placed the brief attack in a longer timeline: what police initially recorded as non-life-threatening injuries became, for the survivor, a recovery measured in years rather than the hours she spent in the hospital that first day. Public reports do not say whether her pregnancy suffered any medical complication, and no such outcome should be inferred from the available information.

Klemke is now serving the 10-year state prison sentence imposed after his attempted-murder plea. No more recent publicly reported development was located that changes the sentence or the established account of the case. Authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the attack, while the victim’s statement at sentencing remains the clearest public account of its long-term effect on her life.

Author note: Last updated September 22, 2026.