People Who Survived A Murder Attempt Explain How They Lived Through It
Hearing people open up about their near-death experiences is fascinating and it can reignite a sense that life is precious and can be taken away from us at any given moment.
But while a renewed perspective on life after narrowly avoiding accidental death is affirming, nothing is more terrifying when considering those who've managed to avoid death when it was motivated.
Curious to hear from those who were lucky to survive violence at the hands of someone with an intent to kill, an anonymous Redditor asked:
"Murder attempt survivors, what happened?"
These Redditors experienced sharp pains after being sliced. They live to tell their story.
Ultimate Defender
"9 years ago, buddy got jumped at a house party. I jumped in to pull the guy off of him. Attacker ended up pulling out a knife and shanking me in the stomach before fleeing to a getaway vehicle."
"Police were called. Caught the guy. We were supposed to come into court to point at him and be like 'he did it' but the day before he pleaded guilty. No idea what happened to the guy after that or what his punishment was but he probably didn't learn anything from the situation."
"Me? I feel completely fine. Sometimes I forget that I even got stabbed. I feel a little uneasy whenever someone has a knife in their hand and its not dinner time, but that's about it as far as trauma goes."
– TheBadman9001
Disturbed Patient
"I was working as a support worker for people with mental and physical disabilities. My client had schizophrenia and BPD due to childhood and substance abuse."
"She stabbed me three times in the chest (once in the heart, penetrating my right ventricle and severing a major artery) after I advised her against a medication (nicotine gum). I almost died, doctors said that it was a miracle I survived, with a 3% survival rate due to the severity of my injuries."
"That only happened back in August this year, I’m still in recovery and I’m dealing with PTSD. She’s completely ruined my life, and I’m now struggling with my identity and what I want to do in life."
– fridaskahlo
Targeting The Paramedic
"A pregnant drunk lady called an ambulance. I was working with a junior colleague but a female one. The patient said she thought she was in labour and was sat on the floor legs open knees bent with a blanket over her lower part. There was a small table next to her, glass top wooden coffee table thing. My colleague asked to examine her and for some reason she got angry and insisted I examine her not my female colleague. After a bit of back and forth I knelt down and went to lift the blanket to have a look when there was a sudden crash. My colleague had put her foot through the glass table and was standing on the patients hand which had a huge knife in it. Turns out she wanted to stab a paramedic and when we turned up she chose me. My colleague saw it just in time and saved my life."
"Patient had already had several children who were in care and had foetal alcohol syndrome. I was asked for a statement when the next one was born and they were also taken in to care."
"She got away with the premeditated attempted murder on grounds of mental health."
– AsleepPipe371
Parents are supposed to raise you, not kill you.
Going For A Spin
"I was 17 at the time. I was wicked sick one weekend and my mother decided I needed to go to the hospital. She had been drinking all day, as she was a terrible alcoholic. It turned out that I had strep throat. So they're typing out my discharge paperwork and my mother approached the desk where the nurse was sitting. Clearly stinking of alcohol, the nurse told my mother that she wouldn't be allowed to drive me home because she was clearly intoxicated. This sent my mother into a drunken rage, swearing and threatening the nurse. Who told her if she left the police would be called. My mother grabbed me and hurries me into the car. I start yelling at her about how irresponsible she is and how she is ruining her life with alcohol. This pisses her off even more. We only live less than a mile away but my mother has taken a different route than normal, when I ask why she just says it's the long way and she doesn't want to get caught. As we're traveling down this dark, Maine back road she begins speeding like crazy. We were doing at least 90 mph when she looks over at me with a blank face and says I'm sorry. She then pulled the E brake and cut the wheel sending us flying off the road."
"The next thing I remember is sitting in the front seat of a pickup truck with an EMT shining a flashlight in my eyes along who the president was. I responded that Bill Clinton was the president (2000). Apparently she had crashed us into a huge rock at the end of someone's property, directly on my side of the car. Apparently I crawled over her and staggered to the door of the property to ask for help. They put us in different ambulance and we headed back to the hospital we just left. Upon arrival, the nurse my mother fought with said 'I knew you'd be back'. My mother in a drunken semi conscious state kept saying I'm sorry I tried to kill you, I love you, over and over. She suffered several broken ribs, a broken collar bone, broken nose and cracked vertebrae. I had a concussion and some cuts on my face from the door window basically exploding on impact with the rock. She was sentenced to some alcohol program through the courts and some community service. She suffered severe depression and six months after this she took her own life in another car accident. She actually asked me if I wanted to go for a ride with her that night and I told her no, I'll see you when you get home. That was the last thing I ever said to her."
– Sentient_DMT_Crystal
Violence At Home
"my mum was incredibly abusive. on one occasion, I was around 12 and she came into my room while I was sleeping and stabbed me in the chest with a kitchen knife, puncturing my lung (I didn't know this at the time). obviously this woke me up and I just rolled out of bed and ran around the house screaming. someone on our road noticed the noise and called the police. just before the police arrived, she started choking me and I lost consciousness. I later woke up in the hospital and (mostly) recovered. she's now in jail. this is not the only time that she tried, but it was the most dramatic and came the closest to actually killing me."
– 1BUK1-M10D4
Don't Do Drugs
"I was 15 and my dad plotted to murder me. My dad had only been back around for a few months after being homeless for a while due to his 20+ year meth addiction. He had never been violent towards me before, but I later found out he had tried to kill my mother just months prior and she brushed it off as him having a PTSD episode."
"I came home from school, he surprise attacked me by suffocating me with a pillow/strangling.
"I ended up being able to get up and run to the bathroom- the only room in our house with a lock. He grabbed the door but I found a sharp object in the bathroom and told him to back up or I’d kill him. I somehow was able to shove the door shut and lock it. He tried to get in the bathroom but couldn’t."
"He actually said 'I’m leaving!' and open/closed the front door to try and lure me out. It was quiet for a while but then I heard him breathing outside the door. He eventually left after a few hours, taking my money I had hidden in my bedroom, and called a relative telling them I’d been in a terrible accident and he needed a ride to the hospital. He ended up running when dropped off and was missing for a year. Most terrifying year of my life."
"His body was found by a fisherman at his favorite lake growing up. They found high levels of meth in his system."
"Later, when investigating the home I was attacked in, they found hammers/duct tape/knives under my mom’s mattress and looked like he very much so intended to kill me."
"Edit: Thank you everyone for the kind words. Certainly the craziest life experience I ever hope to have and therapy was a long journey. The craziest part of it all was that my dad from childhood was still there simultaneously with the horrid attacker. He cried outside the door for a while telling me he was so sorry and I wouldn’t ever see him again, but would switch to trying to lure me out and being aggressive. There were many moments I could hear the duality of who he was. The murderous cracked out crazy person and someone who was regretful and really sad inside. Idk- just thought that was an interesting thing to add for context. It’s not always just so cut and dry between a crazy/bad person and a good/normal person I’ve learned."
– livinlavidaanxious
Gun violence survivors share their harrowing stories.
Obsessed
"Not me but my friend's mom. A coworker of hers was stalking her, obsessed. Convinced he was in love with her and nobody else deserved her, that kind of thing. Eventually he came to their office with a revolver."
"She was bending down to put files away, or something similar. He quickly approached her from behind and shot her in the back before immediately shooting himself in the head. She survived obviously, though the wounds were significant. Incredibly fortunate she wasn't hit in the spine or major organs."
"I often wonder how different it would have played out if she had been standing, or facing him. More than likely she would be dead."
"This was before my friend was born, and his mom made a mostly full recovery. Still has chronic pain and PTSD, but she can walk and has a job. Not reclusive or unfriendly to strangers. Terrified of guns, of course, but that seems fair. Both my friend and her are extremely lucky."
– Cutter9792
Never Welcome Strangers
"At the beginning of October my husband was trying to buy a PS5 on letgo. He wanted to make sure it actually worked so he gave the guy our address. I told him a dozen times that he was going to get robbed. He still had the kid come over."
"As soon as he got there he pulled a gun, grabbed the cash and shot twice. One hit my husband in the abdomen. The second went through the stairs behind him and traveled 30-40 feet to the kitchen."
"I heard the commotion and ran downstairs and chased him away from the house. We got to the front gate and he pulled his gun again and shot at me. He missed my head by less than 2 inches."
"He was caught and is being charged as an adult (16) for 2 counts of attempted murder and a variety of other charges."
– jmrobins00
Fortunately, these examples are of people who were extremely lucky to share their stories after a near-death experience since not everyone is able to escape their fate.
But just because one managed to avoid having their life taken from them, it doesn't mean it gets easier in the aftermath.
The lingering PTSD can be unbearable to live with, and anything can be a trigger that brings survivors back to a scary incident.
We never truly know of the trauma or horrific history of anyone around us.
With that in mind, remember that kindness in general goes a long way.
People are killed every single day. Some are murdered in horrific fashion, feeding the insatiable appetites of true crime fanatics but traumatizing the victim's surviving family members.
Many murders happen in cities of course but others happen in small towns, which many people consider idyllic safe havens from urban crime. Of course, you or your loved ones can be the victim of a crime at any time. A sad and scary fact.
People shared some info with us after Redditor RookTheBlindSnake asked the online community,
"What's your small town murder story?"
"They broke in at night..."
"The Stove Top Murder."
In Northern Ontario, in the '40s, four men got it into their heads that an old woman had a bunch of money hidden in her house. They broke in at night and tortured her for the money's location by pushing her face onto a hot stove top. She didn't have any money and died later at the hospital. Three of the men were hanged and one got life in prison."
RookTheBlindSnake
This is horrific. That poor woman.
"No one saw enough of the person..."
"An elderly woman's house was broken into and she was beaten to death inside. Nothing was stolen, she didn't have any living family to suspect, and according to neighbors she was very kind but generally kept to herself.
No one saw enough of the person leaving her house to be much help. The only info the police got was "probably male" and "left in a car or suv no one recognized". No updates or news stories on the case since about a month after it happened."
jupiter-mint
This is incredibly heartbreaking for the victim's family.
"There was an old woman..."
"There was an old woman in a small town just north of Toronto who was decapitated and her house set on fire. They still don't know who did it and this was just a couple months ago."
ToastedMaple
Scary! The killer is likely still out there, barring extraordinary events.
"He was murdered..."
"In the 90s I went to elementary school with Kirsten Hatfield- an 8-year-old girl who was abducted from her bedroom while she slept next to her three-year-old sister. The girls’ mom was on drugs and hung out with sketchy people so the community wrongly assumed her mom had something to do with her disappearance."
"In 2015, Kristen’s neighbor Anthony Palma was arrested for her abduction and murder after her bloody panties were found buried in his backyard. In 2019, two years after being sentenced to life in prison, Palma was found dead in his cell. He was murdered by another inmate."
CinnyButta
This is awful. That poor child.
"Johnny Cash's great niece..."
"Johnny Cash's great niece was murdered next to my grandma's house. Dude stuffed her body into a box."
Reddit-username-here
And the family is still seeking answers in the murder case.
"My parents..."
"My parents got a good deal on a house because the lady that lived there killed her two kids, sister and herself in a very very small town."
i-love-uwu
That's often how it works. Many people don't want to live in homes where murders occurred.
"In 1988 William Mellin, the man who owned and ran the general store in the very small town of Millican, OR was murdered by a shot to the back of the head."
"Not really a particularly remarkable story except for the fact that Millican was such a very, very small town. So small, in fact, that the official population was "1" - William Mellin. And then, after his demise, the population of Millican was "0."
JuzoItami
Wonder how in the world that happened. How will we ever know?
"I was good friends with..."
"I was good friends with the mayor's son growing up, but after he left office, the former mayor got on heavy drugs and was later murdered by his sex worker's pimp."
CoolJeweledMoon
This was a rollercoaster ride!
"I'm about 15 minutes away..."
"I’m about 15 minutes away from Delphi, IN. The murders of Abby Williams and Liberty German in 2017 are still unsolved and will probably remain that way. Such a sad and scary case."
andronicus_14
This is a remarkably creepy case and it's so disturbing that there haven't been any significant developments.
"I remember helicopters..."
"Poughkeepsie Killer - Kendall Francois was a serial killer from Poughkeepsie, New York, convicted of killing eight women, from 1996 to 1998. I remember helicopters hovering over my neighborhood for days when he was arrested."
Upyours
Terrifying.
Francois died in prison in 2014 of an AIDS-related illness at the Wende Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
Chances are your own town has secrets of its own. It's awful when a town's claim to fame is something so horrific and painful.
Have stories of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
There is the potential darkness in all of us.
We're all capable of far more wrong than we believe.
That is why it's always a shock when we learn of the evil doings of people we knew.
"We never would've believed it..."
Redditor notlayingnow wanted to hear about the people we've known with some dark pasts.
So they asked:
"Redditors who knew murderers, and other hardened criminals, what was it like knowing them, and how did you react to finding out?"
I've been shocked by the murderers I've met. Didn't see it coming.
'wisdom'
"I've know a few murderers through work. I mean, nothing much to talk about really. I remember being 18 and visiting jail for a school project and talking to a guy who killed his mother and lived with her corpse for about a week. Always struck me how boring and very human he looked."
"Up until that point I had figured that something so intense, even if it was violent and gruesome, would somehow impart some form of... 'wisdom' in you. Nope. Turns out you are still a regular human being, probably very bland and boring, only that + you killed someone."
"Makes me believe pretty much anyone can be a killer if the conditions are right."
VloekenenVentileren
40 Times
"A kid who me and my best friend used to infrequently hang out with turned out to be a murderer, stabbed his ex girlfriend about 40 times because he was so upset they broke up. Finding that out was horrifying but honestly not surprising, he always seemed kind of off when he was younger."
RenegadeOfBonk
He wouldn't have stood out...
"My father had a work friend for years. I only ever knew him as a hard working, nice guy with a good sense of humor. He'd had dinner with us many times and he was a good friend of the family."
"Years later I was reading a book by a local author about the criminal history of my area and I came across a bit about a grisly murder with three suspects and only two convictions."
"This guy was the third suspect, but dodged the charges. I asked my father about it and he confirmed it was true. I asked what he thought and he told me that chances were pretty good he was involved based on his history."
"He wouldn't have stood out in the crowd for any reason I could think of."
Theearthhasnoedges
Trigger
"Back when I was a teenager there was this guy who was into skydiving and was always wearing military fatigues. He was older than us and he had this crazy look in his eyes. I wasn’t comfortable around him but he wasn’t a threat because we liked rock music and so did he."
"I even remember him protecting some of the kids from some wannabe skinheads. A couple of years later he was involved in a robbery where the cashier girl was shot dead. Later I read in the local paper that it wasn’t him who pulled the trigger. He went to prison and I’ve never seen them again."
ronadian
A Mistake
"I worked at a knights of Columbus hall as a teenager and would usually stay until around midnight cleaning up, sweeping etc. There was an older guy who would come in, quietly sweep, take out the trash, and then go outside and smoke before leaving."
"I smoked with him one day and he told me he had been in prison for 30 years for murder. He said he was a dumb kid who made a mistake. Given the area was prone to gang violence I have to assume it was related. Nice enough guy who did his time and recognized his mistakes."
DoubleSoupVerified
That is a lot to process. Do we know anybody we've met?
The New Hire
"Had a coworker who was hired shortly after getting out of prison halfway across the country. His wife claimed it was because he got into a fight at a bar while drunk, but I don't think that's the whole story. Turned out to be an abusive, cheating, drug addict b**tard who blamed all his problems on everyone else."
Logical-Wasabi7402
Tempers
"Starting in my teens and into my twenties, I worked in a warehouse with a much older guy who had done 10 years in prison for killing a police officer when he was younger. I found out about his past after knowing him a few years, but learning it didn't change our relationship much."
"I heard from other guys that he still had a temper and could be violent, but never saw it myself. We weren't friends, but I joked and swapped stories with him much the same as I did with my other older co-workers. I can remember wondering why he wasn't still in prison, but I never heard the full story of the crime itself."
sdss9462
Experiences...
"Truthfully, it felt normal because of the environment I grew up in. Here, everyone knows someone like that. It gets frustrating though when you realize that it’s not normal and is disgusting. Like it genuinely took me to hearing about normal people’s experiences through life and reactions to those sorts of things to realize that something is fundamentally wrong. However, these things are normal in certain neighborhoods or high-crime cities."
MovieMysterious2464
The Crush
"Old buddy from high school who had an unreciprocated crush on me got involved in a gang and caught a first degree murder charge. He’s in jail now. Found out from another old buddy and while disturbed, wasn’t exactly shocked."
Micshakee
From CA
"My friend is a former gang member from CA."
"One early morning, as we were traveling between cities in Texas, he told me stories of the rival gang members he killed at point blank range, I guess he was doing so to keep me awake. Needless to say, I was up the whole 5 hour ride."
"As a mental health worker, I’ve always seen signs of PTSD. After hearing those stories, I knew my sightings were accurate. I still keep in contact with him to check up on him to this day."
BigNattyZaddy
The world is full of a lot of darkness.
Do you have any experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
History has shown us the sinister capabilities of mankind, especially serial killers.
The most terrifying thing about them is that murderers can be anyone in our midst–from a seemingly "friendly" acquaintance or a complete stranger who seems to have a good reputation in their community.
You never know if you're an eventual target or someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
While there are sadly countless evildoers in the world, there are still those who continue to haunt us long after they've been caught.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Relative_Plantain_29 asked:
"Who do you think is the worst serial killer in history?"
These were not the brightest, but nonetheless, despicable.
Plumbing Problem
"Dennis Nilsen. He lived in a London apartment building. The way he disposed of bodies was grinding them up and sending them down the plumbing. Eventually the drains for the building clogged and someone called and complained so a plumber was called to the building. The plumber ended up finding the sewer line for the building clogged with ground human meat."
"Twist: it was Dennis Nilsen who called to complain about the plumbing issue."
– Clcooper423
Dead Giveaway
"'Worst' like really bad at it? Peter Goebbels really wasn't anywhere near sophisticated and quite dumb. On his days off he'd find a woman in a secluded place and then choke them. He was immediately caught because he accidentally left his ID at a crime scene."
– shaka_sulu
Some thought those who have targeted children were the most contemptible.
Gilles de Rais
"Gilles de Montmorency-Laval (Gilles de Rais). Dude killed, assaulted, and ate 100-200 children between 1432 and 1440."
– transzient
"Moon Maniac"
"Albert Fish is disgusting. Read his wiki and it’s baaaaad."
– MontStuart
The Killer Clown
"John wayne gacy legit a serial killer there couldn't be anything worse than this."
– Time_Restaurant_9776
Milwaukee Cannibal
"Jeffery Dahmer for me, he did some truly awful and stomach turning things."
– lonesomeartis
Not The Nurturing Type
"Amelia Dyer. She pretended that she was caring for/adopting out babies from unwed mothers, but really she was just taking the money the mothers provided and killing all the babies. She got away with the scheme for 30 years and she is estimated to have killed up to 400 infants—through neglect/starvation, strangulation, and possibly other means. She just changed names and moved towns when someone got suspicious."
– qwertyuiiop145
Castle Of Terror
"Possibly Elizabeth Báthory? She was a Hungarian noblewoman who lived in the 1500s in a castle and was reputed to have tortured and killed more than 600 young women and girls."
"She was an utterly sadistic creature who thanks to her large wealth & status (which in Medieval feudal Hungaria, pretty much afforded her almost total power over the people in the lands under her care), was able to terrorize the local population unchecked for a very long time. Towards the end, she didn't even bother hiding the bodies (they were simply dumped around the castle to rot in plain sight) but young women in the local area had no power to resist her calls to the castle. The only thing that tripped her up in the end was when she killed a girl she had summoned to her court to sing for her but hadn't realized that the girl actually came from a relatively high status family. Upon their daughter disappearance, it was this noble family who then forced open an investigation at the castle, whereupon the horrifying scale of the psycho noblewoman's years-long killing spree became apparent."
– Creative_Recover
Some thought the methods by which killers committed their unspeakable acts of horror were among the worst
Taking Sight
"Andrei Chikatilo. Reading the dudes wiki pages made me cringe with horror multiple times. Something about stabbing people in the eyes before you kill them is reaaaaal gross to me"
– MonkeyDDeclan
Household Tools Were Weapons Of Choice
"The Tool Box Killers did some absolutely horrific things to their victims as well."
– Greystorms
Lady Killer
"Possibly Elizabeth Báthory? She was a Hungarian noblewoman who lived in the 1500s in a castle and was reputed to have tortured and killed more than 600 young women and girls."
"She was an utterly sadistic creature who thanks to her large wealth & status (which in Medieval feudal Hungaria, pretty much afforded her almost total power over the people in the lands under her care), was able to terrorize the local population unchecked for a very long time. Towards the end, she didn't even bother hiding the bodies (they were simply dumped around the castle to rot in plain sight) but young women in the local area had no power to resist her calls to the castle. The only thing that tripped her up in the end was when she killed a girl she had summoned to her court to sing for her but hadn't realized that the girl actually came from a relatively high status family. Upon their daughter disappearance, it was this noble family who then forced open an investigation at the castle, whereupon the horrifying scale of the psycho noblewoman's years-long killing spree became apparent."
– Creative_Recover
House Of Horrors
"H.H. Holmes. He built a literal murder castle."
– JwSatan
Elusive Malaise
"Cancer. They still haven't caught him."
– Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
For Pure Entertainment
"The Toy Box Killer wasn't the most prolific but he is probably up there with the most terrifying. The way he took his time with his victims and how much he enjoyed it. Most people haven't even heard of him, either."
– Badger_1066
Zodiac Killer
"The dude taunted the police with series of letters Claimed he killed more Made a f*king language that only he would understand and mailed the police Most of the letters aren’t still decoded and so far the ones said to decoded isn’t 100% sure Source: Based on what I’ve seen so I can’t say for sure if he did send the letters"
"But other than that -He hasn’t been caught. -Clean crime scene as he was able to escape swiftly without giving valuable evidence which could lead to his arrest. -Still no definite answer on who the zodiac killer is. Still no solid suspects."
– Scoobys_panacake
The Ripper Of Rostov
"Andrei Chikatilo. Over 200 confirmed victims over 30 years. Avoided Soviet police became he was a government employee and never suspected. This was pre-DNA days. Finally caught, they put him in a cage for his trial. He was sentenced to death."
– otcconan
People glorify sadistic torture scenes in movies.
There's something thrilling about watching a crazed masked killer on the loose on the screen because audiences who love horror films can take comfort in the fact they will come out of the experience with their lives intact.
But the real monsters are not of the Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger variety.
The notorious, real-life killers previously mentioned can outrank any of these boogeymen as "the worst," any day.
There are people in this world who have, for whatever reason, taken another's' life. For some it's a tragedy, and a hero for others. Some people didn't even know they were talking to a murderer until later.
How can you tell if someone is a murderer in the first place? They can seem just like regular people.
So VentSauxe went to Ask Reddit to find out what that experience was like.
VentSauxe asked the question:
"People who have met murderers, what were they like?"
What's most fascinating is the stories when we these people would be locked away forever are still out in life to this very day.
Dodged a bullet.
"I once accidentally scratched a car on a parking lot. When I went to find the owner to sort it out, (a friend lived there, he told me which door to knock) an old (about 60 yrs old) sweet tiny lady opened the door. She was really cool about the incident, told me not to worry about it and I went on with my day."
"Found out later that this woman had apparently been a part of several murders in the 80's where the victims had been chopped to pieces and stuffed into trash bags."
"Thanks for giving me a heads up several hours after it was necessary, unnamed friend."
"'Been a part'?"
"How was she involved? A suspect or what?"
"She was one of multiple (3 IIRC) perpetrators involved in these murders. I unfortunately don't have any more details, but I remember there were at least 3 or 4 murders."
"This is a second hand story from 5+ years ago, so take everything I say with a few grains of salt."
"How was she not in prison though? I mean you definitely dodged a bullet."
"Quite literally perhaps.Our justice system is disturbingly loose, especially regarding violent crimes. Apparently a "life" sentence means 12 years over here. (double checked, no set length for a life sentence, on average they serve 14 yrs)"
"Since these murders happened in the 80's, approximately 30 years before I met her, she could've served 2 life sentences. I'm just going to assume for my sanity's sake she did at least 10 years. Sadly I have no way to confirm if she served any time at all, or if these murders even really happened."
Not surprising.
"I have a relative who murdered someone and I saw him a few times decades before that when we were kids. He was a bully. I'm not surprised he turned out to be a murderer. He cheated on his wife and got the girl pregnant. She was going to tell his wife and he killed her."
- I_am_Mog
Was it justified?
"I owned a local bar and there was a couple who would come in about three times a week since they only lived around the corner. Both in their early sixties. He would occasionally come alone and sit on the patio and read his newspaper while having a drink. I would talk to them both together and him alone. Super nice ,friendly and great senses of humour."
"I learned that he killed his abusive father when he was nine and was in juvenile detention until being released at sixteen. It didn't change my opinion of him in the least."
- ppkgga
"I think your experience highlights the difference in situations surrounding the crimes. He was probably in living hell so its, [in my opinion], justified, whereas someone that has killed in true cold blood or taken away a life for no apparent reason does not deserve sympathy or kindness, again all in my opinion."
"It is very possible could be considered self defense or likely would not be pursued heavily given the circumstances. There was a good case that highlights this from I think Texas like a decade ago. A dad came home and found a tutor in the process of molesting his son. He either beat him to death or very very close and was never charged as the DA said and I agree, 'he was a father defending his son.' This does not obviously happen everyday but I think it is an excellent use of discretion on the part of the DA."
No regrets for revenge.
"I used have a buddy I met through work that went to prison for 25 years for killing the man that assaulted his little sister. He was a super chill person, he had no regrets about it all."
- Timshe
"He will probably get on pretty well all things considered. Most inmates will show him respect for his actions. The officers will like him too even if they aren't allowed to show it. I'm sure they all imagined being in that position of it was their little sister or daughter."
"Agreed. From what I've heard, rapists aren't treated well in jail so with what he's done, he will be alright."
He met the man that killed his father.
"Saw my dad's murderer in court. He smirked right at my younger brother when my little brother made eye contact with him."
"I think that should say enough."
"They say it's 'life time imprisonment' for his charge of second degree murder but really, he gets parole after 20 years."
"Yeah those are the kinds of people who are stains to society. I hope your family's ok."
"I hope he's off the streets in in prison for the rest of his life."
Best Excuses For Late Assignments That Were Actually True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
"Write the parole board about the incident in court. There is no way he'll ever get parole after that."
- D1rty87
"You can even attend in certain situations. Depending on the state I would visit their parole board site and read about your rights as a victim."
"Here is a a really good guide that gives an overview of rights by state, looks like it's from 2019 so fairly recent. This shows what kind of rights you have (notification, ability to write or ability to be present) for most inmate circumstance changes (early release, furlough, clemency, escape, death etc)."
"Also, once his 20 years are up there will be a few parole hearing every x amount of years so it's usually not a one-and-done. Here is an excerpt as an example:"
"For some inmates, federal law requires a parole hearing every two years. Many inmates have several parole hearings before they are found suitable for release by the Parole Commission. Some parole-eligible inmates are never released to parole supervision."
- JBits001
Not what you'd expect.
"He was an angry drunk. When he wasn't drunk, he was funny and gentlemanly. He ended up murdering my mom."
"That ending caught me off guard, I'm so sorry."
"Please tell me that guy is in prison for life without the possibility of parole. I'm so sorry for your loss. May she rest in peace. Stay strong. My heart goes out to you and your family. Hope the guy gets what's coming to him. Hope you and your family got justice and that you guys are doing ok."
"No. He only spent a year. He still lives in the same house where he shot her to death. We never got justice. He took away my best friend and a grandma to my kids."
Housing a escapee.
"An escaped convicted murderer stayed in our student house (our group took him in while drunk after he approached us claiming to be a former student who missed his bus)."
"He was small nerdy and awkward. Funniest part was us laying down the law not to eat our food just before we left him sleeping in the common room."
"It was sometime later we connected that he'd escaped that night and was convicted of murdering his parents."
The Redditor continued the story in a comment:
"In our drunken haze we were suspicious that something was awry, he was wearing an assortment of uncoordinated light clothing and it was in the middle of winter, he claimed he attended the university but had no idea about the campus layout, the classes he claimed he took didn't match up, etc."
"That all said we were too tired to figure it out and just crashed in our rooms, by the morning he was gone."
"We didn't realize he was an escapee until some time later, one of our housemates who hadn't gone out that night with us, casually asked at dinner who the f was that person was eating cereal at 4am. He'd assumed it was a friend of ours but 'he looked liked that escaped murderer that was on the news.'"
"We kept quiet."
"We never told the police or even the rest of the house what happened and he was caught shortly after."
"Yeah, you see, this is why I don't pick up hitchhikers. I know, different situation, but same idea."
"This just reinforced that rule in my head."
"The irony is that our house didn't even volunteer to take him in, after the murderer gave us the sob story of old times missing the bus etc., one of our friends from a different house said 'you can go stay at JiltedJohn's,' we were just too spaced out to say f no."
A county jail worker's perspective.
We left part of this comment out because of the extremely graphic nature.
"I worked at a county jail that housed federal inmates and also a state prison. Most of my time at the state prison I spent in a unit that housed inmates who had committed serious offenses like murder and also had some kind of mental health issue like schizophrenia or anything like that. It was one of two maximum-security units in my state.
"It goes without saying that all people, and by extension murderers, are different. Some show regret for what they've done while others are completely remorseless. One cried at night sometimes because he felt bad he'd killed a man and he knew that he would probably do it again if let out due to a number of mental health issues."
"Some are incredibly aggressive and openly violent. Almost more animal than human. They will take any opportunity presented to assault treatment, medical, or security staff. These aren't the scary ones though. I would always try to explain this to new officers I was training. The ones who are known for assaulting staff and are openly malevolent are intimidating to new officers because they're often big, loud, and show an appetite for violence."
"But, because of that you're always on guard around them. There's always extra officers present when those inmates are out of their cells and you know what to expect when you open that door. The scary ones are those that are feeble looking, smallish, and well spoken. They don't use profanity or have lots of tattoos. They aren't physically intimidating. They are always yes sir and no sir and greet you when you come on the unit for the day. They are also the ones who will be friendly with you for months while they plan to assault you or even attempt to kill you. This happened to a friend of mine. He was slashed with a sharpened toothbrush in his neck. 97 stitches and missed his jugular vein by 4 millimeters."
"Keep in mind these are the worst of the worst in my state and most of what I've said doesn't really apply to the kind of guy that has one too many beers and causes a DUI death. I guess if you want real specifics you'd have to specify what kind of killer."
A man on the run.
"The name he went by was Sid. I didn't know much about him except that he came from out West, he was quiet, Mexican and a hard worker. I was running a tire shop with a max of two other employees and some nights it was just me (27F) and Sid closing the shop."
"At one point Sid, who had only worked at my shop for about a month, stopped showing up. We had a high turnover rate, so I thought nothing of it. Months later a pair of detectives show up at my shop with some pictures of a man that looked familiar. It was Sid, of course! They wouldn't tell me why they were looking for him, but a quick Google search pulled up his warrants for arrest in several states, including Arkansas and Texas. He had murder charges for several people, not to mention firearms charges and theft. Turns out, when my company hires someone, they only check your background for local warrants, not federal , so my guy truly worked just long enough to round up a couple paychecks, and then disappeared off to who knows where!"
Many of these stories brought up questions in our justice system. Who get's to decide who is a hero and who is a villain? When they are back in society, can we justify their crimes when they integrate back?
It makes you wonder about our societies moral compass and how we decide who we want in community with us.
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