Students Share Red Flags About Members Of The Student Body Who Went On To Be Criminals
Most people did. It's not such a surprise when we hear our high school bully is in prison for taking it too far. But it is interesting to hear the genesis of the beast.
TakinShots asked Reddit:
Here are some of the anecdotes.
Awful
YES there were warning signs. From the age of 10 till 15 I went to school with him. It was a small school. I knew he was dangerous. He bragged about torturing animals, I would never be alone with him. Now 25 years later I learn he has been in Jail for the last 20 years for murder. Seems about right
Violent Tendencies
Had a friend when I was younger that was a little odd from time to time. Invited the kid to my birthday party and he kept shooting my NERF gun at my mother and laughing. I stopped being friends with him after that. In high school, he stabbed one of my other friends with a pencil in the back about three or four times. Fast forward later and he shot two kids. One was in critical condition and one died, all over some herb.
No Shock
A former classmate was recently convicted of murder, which really shocked me. He was apparently part of a gang who beat up and stabbed another man.
At school they were the "bad boy" type, always skipping classes and getting into fights with other kids. He was always aggressive and violent towards people who he didn't like, including teachers. They were eventually kicked out of school for bad grades and poor behaviour. No one really knew or heard of him after he left school.
The news itself was a shock but looking back, I'm not surprised at the path he took.
Mob Mentality
Need to say that i don't know what happened to this guy, but back when i was 13 i was in a class with a guy that had bad friends and did all sorts of awful things (vandalism, harassing elderly, stealing, burning appartments). He and his friends got on national news and they all got a 3 month child prison sentence if i remember it right.
The guy himself was what you would say a common "tough guy". He was really full of himself, but when you met him in person you wouldn't think that he was actually doing all these things he did. I even remember that there were times when i was just with him and could just have nice casual talks. But when his friends were close by he was acting cool again.
Dark Undersides
No? not really. It was out of the blue. Although I wasn't close to the dude, I remember the guy would date the hottest girls and was well liked with just about everyone. He was one of those dudes you'd always be happy to say hi to just because you knew he was a cool guy. People liked him, teachers liked him, girls dug him and dudes would always say wussup to him. He was a charismatic dude and was always fresh with clothes, kicks, haircut, etc etc. I always knew him from a distance and was nothing more but an acquaintance.
He ended up in jail and the partner in crime killed himself.
Lizzie Borden Part Two
Im from originally from a country area in Australia and went to school with a guy that ended up killing both his parents. There were no warning signs but he was that people noticed but he was a person that generally misbehaved in school and acted out a lot. I think he got life without parole.
Anger Management
My childhood bully grew up to be a criminal, let's call him.. Albert. Albert was a troubled child from the very beginning in my small home town, no parents- living with Grandma. Now this kid was just off his meds everyday I knew him. Albert loved torturing people by making them squirm, I can remember countless times going to the Counselors office begging to be separated from him or asking him to be suspended and there were times he should have been. I think he threw rocks at me at one point and just got a small smack on the wrist. Fast forward to middle school when this menace is now grown up a bit and he ended up stabbing his own cousin in the arm. He went to juvie and after that I heard he got into selling drugs. Guy was terrible and a punk the entirety of the time I knew him. Heard he was in jail last. So yeah there was warning signs.
Bullying Killed Him
I was three grades ahead of a kid who went on to commit a double murder, he killed a young mother and her young daughter.
The kid in question lived close enough that he was often among the group of kids playing or riding bikes in our neighborhood.
For whatever reason, this kid was the butt of every joke, he was picked on by everyone, and the bullies really laid into him with gusto. It got so bad at times, that my mother would witness this from the living room window, and come out and shoo the bullies away, even though it was temporary. She patched him up with some bandages more than once.
This kid got so much verbal, mental, and physical abuse from other kids. He probably kept coming around because there were occasions when he'd be accepted ... but once one kid started on the insults, the others joined in easily.
I firmly believe it really helped form the "adult" he would grow into, and I firmly believe his horrible childhood was a big contributor to his moral compass being so screwed up that he would commit two horrendous murders.
Some of you are going to judge me. "Why didn't you stand up for him?". If you think I feel guilt-free on the matter, you're sadly mistaken. We all see things better in hindsight, we all realize things we coulda-shoulda done when it's too late.
I also ask you to consider the timeframe. When he was 10, it was 1984. The "national bullying problem" wasn't even on the radar yet, there weren't anything like school counselors. School shootings were just not a "thing", they happened but they were not sensationalized nationally, and the body count was often 0 or 1 person per incident. We as a nation simply weren't paying attention to bullies or school violence like we are today.
It's sad. News articles say he "lived a life of ridicule" and was picked on throughout his teens and into his early twenties. You probably couldn't convince me that these things, stemming from his childhood, were not a major factor in what made him snap.
Arson Unlimited
Kid in my class at school when I was six. I was very small, dainty and shy. He was very big for his age and was a year older than me, but was in our class because he'd come from another country where the education system wasn't as good. Kept following me around, trying to hold my hand, pull me onto his knee, kiss me etc. I started having nightmares about him and my mum told the school, so he was moved up into class for his age group and the teachers kept an eye out for me. I moved to a different school a year later when we moved house, but I'd occasionally see him in town and it always made me uncomfortable.
He ended up as a serial killer and hanged himself at 22 whilst in prison awaiting trial. The detective in charge of the case said "he was one of the most dangerous men I have ever met".
He was murdering old ladies, often setting the premises on fire afterwards to try and hide the evidence. Two of his crimes over here weren't picked up as murder at first, it was thought that they had died in the fires. He was caught when he left behind fingerprints whilst killing one old man who had fought back after his wife had been strangled. He attacked and seriously injured a prison doctor whilst on remand.
I was not surprised in the slightest when it came out that he committed these crimes. It was awful though go that the families got no justice, but I'm sure some a happier knowing he's dead.
Don't Do Drugs
One of my best friends, let's call him Dave, has had some troubles with the law. I've known this guy from the time we were 14 and 15. We're in our early 30s now. In high school, Dave got in a lot of trouble. One of the more notable things he did was counterfeit money on his home computer. He'd print these bills (relatively low denomination), buy something cheap from food trucks and kids fundraising at our school and get pocket the change. One day, me, Dave, and some other kids are playing cards in class when two guys show up at our classroom door asking to speak to the teacher. The teacher immediately stands up grabs a piece of chalk and pretends he was about to write something on the board like he was actually teaching (I laughed hard AF). The teacher speaks to them and say's "Dave, these gentlemen would like a word with you". Dave hands me his pouch and tells me to give it to his brother. Turns out those guys were secret service and counterfeiting money probably wasn't the move. He ended up getting sentenced to some community service hours after going to like family court or something.
Another time, it's Dave's last day in school as a senior. He parties with some guys the night before, drives to school, hits a fence, gets a DUI before school. I don't know what kind of trouble he got in for that but he didn't have to do jail time or anything.
After we'd all graduated he ended up catching a charge because he was on some kind of prescription meds and wanted to drive up the street to get some food. He lights a joint for the ride, puts it out in the ashtray, gets pulled over off a padiddle or something, the cop asks if he was on anything and Dave is like "nah". The officer points at the ash tray and say "what's that". Ooof. I think he had to go to rehab after that.
After this stint in rehab, Dave links up with a buddy who's got construction/carpentry/fixing up houses work in Alaska. He goes out there, and initially he loves it. He's working hard, making money, able to smoke in peace, things are really looking good. After a while, Dave ends up getting work as a dealer in this underground gambling house. He ends up meeting some shady dudes and they introduce him to heroin. Long story short, rehab.
Creepy Men
Went to college with someone who went on to murder his mother. I don't know that he gave off a murderous vibe, but he gave off a strange, creepy one. He was schizophrenic also, and I think that was beginning to rear it's head while we were in college.
He made people feel uncomfortable. Girls complained about him being stalkerish, peeking in windows, following them home, etc. Always in a catatonically silent way. One day he stood in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders and just stared into my eyes. Silently with an expressionless face. It was beyond creepy. Still I didn't sense anything malicious about him. Just off. Significantly off.
I think I thought "the boy ain't right", and that he needed some sort of mental help, but I didn't think he'd go on to stab his mother millions of times and bury her in his garden.
Another one I met in a yoga class (so not school like you asked, but still). This guy went on to stab his girlfriend to death. Maybe a month after I met him. Oh and he met this girl at a yoga class also!! Bizzarely he actually talked to me about her the day we met. And we met only once. He said something about how he has a girlfriend but they can't be together because she just won't let it. Which was weird. I don't know you. Why are you coming into the ladies changing room and telling me this sh-t, looking like a sad puppy. This guy was so creepy you could feel it in your bones. He had an intense presence. Also showed no regard for boundaries because he came into the ladies locker room and started talking to me.
Now again I didn't think this guy would be a murderer. But I did think this guy would be that creepy stalkery boyfriend from hell type.
Not Smart
Really minor, but a old school friend of mine (age 7 to 12) is know a small time criminal that is more often in jail then out of it.
He is only 28, but has 3 children from 3 different women. He doesn't have a job, but somehow lives (when not in jail) in a normal house with a "decent" looking car. He does drugs, although I don't know the specifics. He robbed a small store once. And a lot more of that kind of stuff.
As for warning signs? yeah I suppose, he was incredibly rebellious and always wanted to do stuff he wasn't supposed to do. He was also dumb as bricks. But then again, he wasn't the only one and all the others turned out fine.
Odd thing is, I spoke to him like a year back, and he is actually a really nice dude if you know him. Guess he just got steered to the wrong path.
Worst Among Us
I went to a prestigious law school. My classmate was heavily modified by plastic surgery, and seemed very interested in living a rich lifestyle. She ended up being a very highly paid escort instead of a lawyer. Then married a dotcom bazillionaire. Was convicted of tax evasion, eventually divorced, and I suspect is doing quite well financially.
No surprise at all.
Drugs Are Rough
Went to school with a girl from kindergarten to graduation. She was fairly popular, part of student government in 6th grade, wanted to go to community college for nursing. She got pregnant pretty young, I think.
She and her boyfriend, who I also went to high school with, showing up in the news for theft, and you can tell by their faces they're into meth or heroin or something. She doesn't have her kid anymore. Lucky for her, her sister is taking care of him.
We grew up in a nice and safe community with a good school district. But yeah, opiates moved in a while back.
Why Does It Keep Happening?
I grew up with quite several. I find most people you can usually tell what path they are going in life. A few people jump to mind:
One kid murdered his dad. This surprised me since the kid was nice, quiet, relatively shy.
One kid shot two other classmates over drug dealing. The shooter was no surprise. He and I get along well, but he always wanted to act street tough. The victim surprises me since he was a pretty preppy kid.
One kid got in trouble for selling guns and drugs. Pretty surprising since he was a very popular student athlete.
One kid has been in and out of jail his whole life. This is no surprise to me and I avoided him at all costs back then.
Wrong Crowd
I went to high school with and played football with someone who was shot and killed by police. He was a nice kid but definitely got into the wrong crowd in high school. He wasn't in a gang or anything just made bad decisions. It something you don't expect seeing honesty even if you could see it happening. He was a good kid who didn't deserve to die.
My sophomore year a kid in my grade who I saw everyday and talked with everyday was involved in a murder suicide. That one was definitely odd. He was one of the last people to commit this crime. Very unexpected no warning signs.